Gripla - 01.01.1984, Page 103

DISPUTE RESOLUTION IN THE SAGAS
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Helgi twice keeps Geitir out of court (ch. 6), and thwarts all further
attempts by Geitir to negotiate a settlement. In the end Geitir has no
recourse but violence. A highly calculated example of rejected resolu-
tion is found in the earlier mentioned feud between Guðmundr inn ríki
and Þorkell hákr. Guðmundr, having determined from the start that he
will reject any form of settlement, carefully schemes the destruction of
his enemy. The tale is both complex and sordid.
Women in medieval Iceland generally had more rights than their
counterparts in Europe. Nevertheless, in the literature women play a
decidedly backstage role in the political dealings and court cases that
normally precede resolutions.13 The reasoning behind curbing a woman’s
right to lead a prosecution comes forth in an example from Eyrbyggja
saga after the death of Arnkell goði (7F 4, ch. 38);
Eptir víg Arnkels váru konur til erfðar ok aðilðar, ok var fyrir því
eigi svá mikill reki at görr um vígit, sem ván myndi þykkja um svá
göfgan mann; en þó var sæzk á vígit á þingi, ok urðu þær einar
mannsekðir, at Þorleifr kimbi skyldi vera útan þrjá vetr, því at hon-
um var kennt banasár Arnkels. En með því at eptirmálit varð eigi
svá sœmiligt, sem líkligt þótti um svá mikinn höfðingja, sem Arnkell
var, þá fœrðu landsstjórnarmenn lög á því, at aldri síðan skyldi
kona vera vígsakaraðili né yngri karlmaðr en sextán vetra, ok hefir
þat haldizk jafnan síðan.
This agrees with Grágás: “Allz huergi huerfr víg sauk undir kono.”14
Because women were blocked from leading prosecutions for revenge
and material compensation, they often rejected resolutions negotiated
by kinsmen and initiated blood vengeance. By inciting, shaming, and
goading their kinsmen, women thus set in motion a type of resolution in
which they had more power to control the outcome of events. The sagas
contain many colorful and dramatic rejected resolutions initiated by
women. Such rejections often provide a cohesion to the dramatic activity
of the saga, linking earlier actions such as the killing of a character to
13 For example, consider the troubles that Þorgerðr Þorbeinisdóttir undergoes
when seeking her kinsmen’s help to prosecute the killers of her husband Vigfúss
Bjarnarson (Eyrbyggja saga, ÍF 4, chs. 26-27).
14 Grágás II, p. 335. Grágás efter det Arnamagnœanske Haandskrift Nr. 334
fol., Staðarhólsbók, ed. Vilhjálmur Finsen (Copenhagen: Gyldendalske Boghandel,
1879).