Saga - 2001, Blaðsíða 206

204
HERMANN PÁLSSON
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Summary
The essential purpose of the present article is to offer a critical study of
Sturla Þórðarson's celebrated description in his íslendinga saga of the
Battle of Örlygsstaðir, which took place on the 21st of August 1238. I
attempt to read this account in the light of several works, both native and
foreign, which educated Icelanders in the second half of the thirteenth
century are likely to have read. The leaders on the losing side at
Örlygsstaðir were Sturla's uncle Sighvatr (born c. 1170) and his son Sturla
(b. 1199); they lost their lives after suffering a crushing defeat at the hands
of Gissur Þorvaldsson (b. 1209) and Kolbeinn Arnórsson (b. about 1208)-
Gissur claimed descent from King Magnús Barelegs of Norway (d. 1103)
and was therefore related to King Sverrir of Norway (d. 1202) and his
grandson King Hákon the Old (1204-63).
Following a well-known narrative convention, Sturla opens the account
of the catastrophic day by alluding to the dreams of the principal leaders