Gripla - 01.01.1995, Page 122

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GRIPLA
shed with full outlawry.10 Not only is there no mention of any legal ac-
tion against Sturla Sighvatsson after the incident, but the sum that
Orækja received from Magnús is considerably lower than what would
normally be awarded even for a superficial wound.11 The men wound-
ed in Sturla Sighvatsson’s raid on Hvammr in 1228, for example, re-
ceived twenty hundreds for their wounds, and, upon hearing the ver-
dict, Sturla remarked drily: „Eigi er of mikit gert til handa sáramönn-
um, ok þat skal vel gjalda.“12
We must conclude, then, that Orækja’s version of the incident as
told in his confession, and to which Sturla Þórðarson certainly was
privy, did not entitle him to the restitution that should have been
awarded for the crimes of castration and blinding. Moreover, the epi-
sode must have entailed humiliating circumstances for Órækja, since
he would never be able to further his case in Iceland and was advised
10 See Grágás: Konungsbók (ed. Vilhjálmur Finsen, 1852; rpt. Odense, 1974), pp.
147-48; Grágás: Staðarhólsbók (ed. Vilhjálmur Finsen, 1879; rpt. Odense, 1974), pp. 299;
Frostaþingshpg, in Norges Gamle Love indtil 1387 I-V (henceforth abbreviated NGL
I-V) (ed. R. Keyser, P. A. Munch, Gustav Storm, and Ebbe Hertzberg, Christiania
(Oslo), 1846-95), I, 171; LandslQg (NGL II, 50); Jónsbók (NGL IV, 207). Grágás men-
tions the right to castrate landlopers, clearly as a preventive measure to protect female
relatives (Konungsbók, p. 203; Staðarltólsbók, p. 151). See also Lúövík Ingvarsson. Refs-
ingar á íslandi á þjóðveldistímanum, Reykjavík, 1970, p. 381. Frostaþingslqg grants a
slave owner the right to castrate his run-away foreign slave (NGL I, 226), and in both
Gulaþingshpg and Frostaþingslipg castration is mentioned as the punishment for bestiali-
ty (NGL 1,18,123). However, none of these sections would apply in Órækja’s case. The
Church laws also stipulate that no castrated man may marry (Gulathings-Christenret,
NGL II, 333; Biskop Arnes kristenret for Island, NGL V, 38). Although these Church
laws are later than the castration episode in íslendinga saga, they do point to an ecclesi-
astic tradition of prohibition of marriage for men who were unable to procreate, which,
in turn, could account for Sturla Sighvatsson’s comment that Órækja should „remember
Arnbjörg” (ísl, p. 395).
11 For fines incurred for various crimes (including manslaughter and maiming) in the
age of the Sturlungs, see Lúðvík Ingvarsson, Refsingar, pp. 364-76. See also Valtýr Guð-
mundsson, „Manngjöld-hundrað,” in Germanistische Abhandlungen zum LXX. Ge-
burtstag Konrad Maurers (ed. Oscar Brenner et al., Göttingen, 1893), pp. 521-54. Valtýr
(pp. 538-45) argues that the unspecified „hundreds” awarded as compensation in Sturl-
unga saga refers to „hundrað verðaura” and not to „hundrað alna vaðmála," the latter
of which is always specified by a qualifier. If that is the case, the compensation awarded
Órækja was very low indeed compared to the compensation for other crimes.
12 ísl, p. 318.