Gripla - 01.01.1995, Qupperneq 131

„1236: ÓRÆKJA MEIDDR OK HEILL GQRR"
129
versation with King Hákon, including Hákon’s admonition to seize
power by forcing people to leave Iceland.39 But, although he mentions
the subsequent dealings between Sturla and Órækja, he explicitly re-
frains from mentioning the Surtshellir incident, and states that „þarf
þeira skipti eigi hér at skrifa. En sá varð endir á, at Órækja fór útan
þat sumar með ráði Magnúss biskups af Skálaholti.“40
Similarly, in the same saga, Sturla records the arrival of the men
from the Hebrides at the court of Hákon in 1224 after the castration of
Guðrpðr in 1223, but, although he must have been aware of the rea-
sons behind their mission, he categorically refrains from going into de-
tail and merely states that they brought many letters concerning the
plight of their country.41 This lack of information has led historians to
speculate about the nature of the Hebridean mission.42 As Alexander
Bugge correctly remarks, the messengers, Gillikristr and Óttarr Snæ-
kollsson, must have brought news about the treaty that granted Óláfr
Guðrpðarson absolute power in Man and the Hebrides. „The plight“
of the islanders, however, most certainly referred to the events that
took place prior to that treaty, namely, to the castration and blinding
of the royal pretender Guðrpðr at the hands of his uncle, Óláfr.43
Sturla’s lack of reference to that event is even more puzzling in view of
the fact that it is mentioned in the „Annales Reseniani,“ and, as
Hákon’s chronicler, he undoubtedly would have had first-hand access
to the information contained in the Hebridean letters.44
The only time Sturla makes reference to blinding and emasculation
as a means to disempower enemies is in the following quotation from
Hákonar saga, describing how Híði, retainer of Earl Hákon galinn, of-
fers to rid the earl of the young pretender Hákon Hákonarson. That
conversation is reported by Sturla as follows:45
„Hér er sveinn sá með yðr, er kallaðr er sonr Hákonar konungs,
39 Flat m, 109-10.
40 Ibid., p. 110.
41 Ibid., p. 61.
4“ Regesta Norvegica I: 822-1236 (ed. Erik Gunnes, Oslo, 1989), p. 168, nl; Alexan-
der Bugge, tr., Norges kongesagaer IV: Haakons, Guttorms, Inges saga, Haakon Haa-
konssdns saga, Magntts Haakonss0ns saga (Kristiania [Oslo], 1914), p. 117, n2.
43 Anderson, Early Sources, pp. 456-59.
44 Storm, Islandske annaler, p. 24.
45 Flat III, 11.
5 Gripla IX