Gripla - 20.12.2010, Page 202

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summarised in Landnámabók (ÍF I, II, 314–317), according to which
Hrollaugr settles an enormous tract of land from Horn to Kvíá in the East
of Iceland between Vatnajǫkull and the sea. Like a number of the early set-
tlers Hrollaugr selects his land by means of throwing his high-seat pillars
overboard and making his farmstead at the place where they are eventually
washed ashore. While this process undoubtedly had very real and mundane
benefits (selecting the place which in future years was most likely to ben-
efit from driftage), it also had a symbolic function. The high-seat pillars
that had been transported from Norway represented the settler’s former
home. These were then being accepted into the new land through a proc-
ess, not of chance, but one over which the settler had no direct control,
similar to Hrollaugr’s spirits associating themselves with Iceland without
his knowledge or forethought.
Unlike many of the early settlers of Iceland, Hrollaugr comes to the
land with the approval of King Haraldr hárfagri. Landnámabók then tells
of Hrollaugr’s descendants. His son is Ǫzurr keiliselgr, who marries Gróa,
the daughter of a neighbouring landnámsmaðr Þórðr illugi. Their daughter
is Þórdís who is Síðu-Hallr’s mother, thus completing the picture of Hallr’s
maternal ancestry.
Landnámabók also tells Hallr’s paternal ancestry, though in rather less
detail (ÍF I, II, 310–311). Bǫðvarr enn hvíti is also a landnámsmaðr descend-
ed from Viking kings. He settles land in the south east of Iceland, a little to
the north east of Hrollaugr’s land and builds a temple at Hof. Bǫðvarr’s
son Þorsteinn marries Þórdís, daughter of Ǫzurr keiliselgr and Gróa, there-
by forming a powerful alliance between the descendants of Hrollaugr,
Bǫðvarr enn hvíti and Þórðr illugi. Relatively little is known about this
Þorsteinn. He was a goði probably in the oldest sense, with his power
linked to the administration of the large temple at Hof and Landnámabók
lists him among the most important chieftains of the east quarter (ÍF I, II,
396). From Landnámabók and Orkneyinga saga we have therefore built up
a picture of Hallr’s ancestors; a picture which agrees in most details. It is of
course possible to assume a direct relationship between these texts to
explain their agreement, but not necessary to do so. The events referred to
in Rǫgnvaldr’s prophecy in Orkneyinga saga – the success of Hrollaugr and
his family in Iceland – are not really elaborated on in the preserved text of