Skáldskaparmál - 01.01.1997, Qupperneq 109

Betrothal and Women’s Autonomy
in Laxdœla Saga and the Poets’ Sagas1
ALISON FINLAY
A recurrent theme in Laxdœla saga is that of women wearing the trousers. Even
the prelude to the saga gives a feminine slant to the conventional saga opening,
in which the founding father of a family sets out from Norway, often hastened
on his way by the greedy hostility of King Haraldr hárfagri, and establishes the
basis of his family’s identity and future fortunes in Iceland. In Laxdœla saga, this
opening section is dominated not by a male ancestor, but by the matriarchal figure
of Unnr djúpúðga, who travels throughout the northern world bestowing her
granddaughters in marriage, one to become the ancestress of the great line of
Orkney jarls, the next to found the ruling family of the Faroe Islands. Another
duly becomes the progenitress of the family which is the saga’s main focus through
several generations: Laxárdalr, where the saga is set, is bestowed as her dowry. In
this opening section, a conventional saga element is recast with a female central
figure. The reversal of gender roles is further emphasized when Unnr’s grandson,
Óláfr feilan, also defers to her judgement in the matter of his marriage. Her
masterminding of this arrangement invokes formulas commonly used to recount
the arrangement of a marriage for a young man by his father or male patron:2
. . . hon kallar til sín Óláf feilan ok mælti: ‘Þat hefir mér komit í hug, frændi, at þú
munir staðfesta ráð þitt ok kvænask.’ Óláfr tók því vel ok kvezk hennar forsjá hlíta
mundu um þat mál. (ÍF 5, 11)
She called Óláfr feilan to her and said, ‘I have been thinking, kinsman, that you must
settle your way of Iife and get married.’ Óláfr agreed to this and said that he would
accept her guidance in this matter.
In a more satirical mode are the paired anecdotes narrating the divorces of the
strong-minded heroine, Guðrún Ósvífrsdóttir, and her lover Þórðr Ingunnarson,
so that they can marry each other. Þórðr, one of the clever lawyers so admiringly
characterized in the sagas, advises Guðrún to make her husband a shirt so low-cut
that it exposes his nipples, which gives her the pretext for divorcing him on the
1 A shorter version of this paper was given at the 30th I nternational Congress on Medieval Studies,
Kalamazoo, Michigan, in May 1995.
2 Landnámabók attests to the important part played in the settlement by Unnr (there called Auðr),
who is referred to as a ‘landnámskona’ (ÍF 1, 136—47). However, althougli Landnámabók
confirms her fostering of Óláfr, and tells of the magnificent feast at which she dies, it is the
author ofLaxdœlasaga who relates these historical elements to the marriage theme by suggesting
that the feast was held to celebrate the wedding of Óláfr feilati.