Thorgeir Ljosvetningagodi

Thorgeir Ljosvetningagodi Thorkelsson (Old Norse: Þorgeir Ljósvetningagoði Þorkelsson) (born ca. 940) was a lawspeaker in Iceland's Althing from 985 to 1001.

This is an Icelandic name. The last name is patronymic, not a family name; this person is referred to by the given name Thorgeir, or with his title as Thorgeir Ljosvetningagodi.

In the year 999 or 1000, Iceland's legislative assembly was debating which religion they should practice: Norse paganism or Christianity. Thorgeir, himself a pagan priest and chieftain (a gothi), decided in favour of Christianity after a day and a night of silent meditation under a fur blanket, thus averting potentially disastrous civil conflict. Under the compromise, pagans could still practice their religion in private and several of the old customs were retained. After his decision, Thorgeir himself converted to Christianity. Upon returning to his farm Ljósavatn, he is said to have thrown the idols of his gods into a nearby waterfall, for which it is now known in Icelandic as Godafoss, the "waterfall of the gods". Thorgeir's story is preserved in Ari Thorgilsson's Íslendingabók.[1]

References
  1. "Thorgeir Ljosvetningagodi - Conversion to Christianity". The Saga Museum. Retrieved October 31, 2015.
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