Þorleifur Edmundsson

was a Swedish salesman and musician who was based in Livonia most of his life. Edmundsson was born on the island of Gotland to Norwegian Vikings, who most likely had to flee from the Atlantic to the safer region of the Baltic Sea a few years before Þorleifur was born. He had one older brother and possibly one or two sisters. Young Þorleifur received a limited formal education, but his singing talent was noticed by a local priest, and he learned to play flute and lute. It is not clear what made Þorleifur leave the church and Gotland and become an amateur secular musician and... Read