|
|
|
| Current Issue |
|
|
| Resources |
|
|
|
Icelandic Sagas: A Window on a Medieval World
| Article
# : |
19892 |
|
|
Section : |
CULTURE
|
| Issue
Date : |
4 / 1992 |
2,997 Words |
| Author
: |
E. Paul Durrenberger
E. Paul Durrenberger is professor of anthropology at Penn
State University. |
One summer in the thirteenth century, an Icelandic chieftain named Gissur, the son of Thorvaid, received a letter from Haakon, the king of Norway. It commanded Gissur to return a man named Snorri Sturluson to Norway, or to kill him. Knowing that Snorri would never willingly return to Norway after having offended the king, Gissur took seventy of his followers and a larger force in reserve. They traveled to Snorri's establishment, found him in a cellar, and stabbed him to death.
Thus died one of Iceland's greatest authors, a shrewd political maneuvered, astute and cunning arranger of marriages and alliances, keeper of Iceland's laws, and masterful accumulator of wealth and power. He wrote a handbook of poetry, a history of the kings of Norway, and possibly a saga of his ancestor, Egil Skallagrimsson. When he was killed, Snorri was probably the richest and most powerful man n Iceland.
Such a death could not go unavenged. About five hundred of Snorri's followers rode toward Gissur's house. Gissur and his men left their Christmas feast to take refuge at the bishopric at Skalholt, where the bishop armed his clerics and helped with the defense. When Snorri's followers attacked, the bishop leapt up on the rafters and began to excommunicate Snorri's followers. When both sides agreed to reconciliation, the bishop freed the men from excommunication and offered them food.
Gissur subsequently made several trips to Norway, where the king gave him the title of earl and the right to rule Iceland in his own name. Gissur isolated and killed those who opposed his plans to unite Iceland under his rule on behalf of the king of Norway. The year was 1264. Thus ended the Sturlunga period, a time of chaos that took its name from Snorri's relatives, the descendants of Sturla, who were the most powerful family in Iceland for most of the thirteenth century.
Iceland Quickly Settled
In the ninth century A.D., Norse chieftains moved to Iceland with their followers and slaves from Norway and the British Isles to claim land on the uninhabited island. Within sixty years the land was fully claimed, and in another seventy years families with insufficient land began to send some members to work for larger holdings during part of the year. This source of part-time labor made less demand on the large household's funds than did year-round support of slaves. Large landowners and chieftains could pay for feasts and presents to cement alliances with the
...
Read Full Article
Look for this article in Ask.com
|
|
