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these depictions is that some thirteenth-century Icelanders chose to fight
rather with poor and legendary weapons than actually good but historically
insignificant ones.25 It shows an interesting attitude towards the past, but
no hints at either religious understanding of the practice or feelings of
inappropriateness, religious or other.
The third and last type of mythological references in Sturlunga is when
personal characteristics are described through references to the Norse
pantheon. Snorri’s self-reference is a close kin, but the examples gathered
here are both more explicit in the text and used negatively. Only two gods
are referred to: Óðinn and Freyr.
One of the two men in Sturlunga to be compared openly to Óðinn is
Snorri’s father, Hvamm-Sturla, a remarkable fact. He was witty and slick,
not uncontrollably greedy yet determined and firm in his quest for power.
He could play his role rather relentlessly, to great success, and his oppo-
nents frequently tired of what they felt to be excessive stubbornness and
unjust demands of the self-seeker. One of those was Þorbjörg, the wife
of Páll Sölvason in Reykholt, with whom Sturla so famously disputed in
Deildartungumál. During talks between the rival parties in 1180, Þorbjörg
lost her patience:
Þorbjörg ... var grimmúðig í skapi ok líkaði stórilla þóf þetta. Hon
hljóp fram milli manna ok hafði kníf í hendi ok lagði til Sturlu ok
stefndi í augat ok mælti þetta við: “Hví skal ek eigi gera þik þeim
líkastan, er þú vill líkastr vera, – en þar er Óðinn?”26
Þorbjörg does not explain what characteristics exactly she is referring to,
but it is obvious to all: the generally Machiavellian character of the two.
Or to use Bishop Brandr’s famous description of Sturla given the following
year: “Engi maðr frýr þér vits, en meir ertu grunaðr um græzku.”27
The latter instance of an Óðinn reference is when Sturla sagnaritari
compares Gissur Þorvaldsson to Óðinn. In 1261 Hallvarður gullskór, on
king’s orders, puts Hrafn Oddsson in charge of the Borgarfjörður region,
thus replacing Gissur. Gissur himself had consigned the region to Sturla,
25 Unless, of course, Gísli’s Grásíða was so superbly made that after two and a half centuries
in use it was still one of the best around, which is doubtful.
26 Ibid., 109.
27 Ibid., 113. On Deildartungumál, see: Ibid., 109–114.
PAGAN MYTHOLOGY IN CHRISTIAN SOCIETY