Skáldskaparmál - 01.01.1997, Blaðsíða 164

Hostellers in Landnámabók
A Trial Irish Institution?
WILLIAM SAYERS
Three quite similar settler portraits from Landnámabók deal with persons of
exceptional generosity who provided food to passers-by from the homes they
constructed by or even on frequented roads. None of the portraits is especially
noteworthy in itself, at least in this literary context, and all seem at home in the
lightly archaic dimension of this work of foundation history, the Icelandic ‘master
story,’ that otherwise has frequent extraordinary and marvelous touches: super-
natural animals serving settlers, apparitions before lava outbreaks, rivers changing
courses. The briefest of these examples is as follows:
Þorbrandr orrek nam upp frá Bólstaðará Silfrastaðahlíð alla ok Norðrárdal allan fyrir
norðan ok bjó á Þorbrandsstpðum ok lét þar gera eldhús svá mikit, at allir þeir menn,
er þeim megin fóru, skyldu þar bera klyfjar í gegnum ok vera pllum matr heimill. Við
hann er kennd 0rreksheiðr upp frá Hukustpðum. Hann var enn gpfgasti maðr ok enn
kynstœrsti. (Landnámabók 1968: S200, H168)
Here the hosteller, as I shall call the generous host in the following, is male and
information on his economic and social situation and kinship is limited to land
ownership, good reputation, and successful offspring. A slightly more complex
situation is given in another entry:
Váli enn sterki hét hirðmaðr Haralds konungs ens hárfagra; hann vá víg í véum ok
varð útlægr. Hann fór til Suðreyja ok staðfestisk þar, en synir hans þrír fóru til íslands.
Hlíf hestageldir var móðir þeira. Hét einn Atli, annarr Alfarinn, þriði Auðun stoti; þeir
fóru allir til íslands. Atli Válason ok Ásmundr son hans námu land frá Furu til Lýsu.
Ásmundr bjó í Langaholti at Þórutóptum; hann átti Langaholts-Þóru. Þá erÁsmundr
eldisk, bjó hann í Qxl, en Þóra bjó þá eptir ok lét gera skála sinn um þvera þjóðbraut
ok lét þar jafnan standa borð, en hon sat úti á stóli ok laðaði þar gesti, hvern er mat
vildi eta. (S72)
In this instance, the hosteller is a woman apparently living on her own in the
latter part of her life and the hospitality is not that of the passive kind that was
everywhere expected by travellers in the early North but was actively offered.
Guests were solicited. In the Hauksbók account (Landnámabók 1968: H60)
Ásmundr divorces Þóra because of the traffic of guests (mannkvamð) at their
home, possibly putting the economic resources under strain.1 Reference to
1 Cf. the generous Þórdís todda, wife of Helgi Ásbjarnarson in Fljótsdœla saga, who eventually