Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2005, Page 14

Torfi Tulinius
obviously written by authors who, in
most cases, had first- or second-hand
knowledge of the events depicted. Of
particular interest for the Westfjords area
is Hrafns saga Sveinbjamarsonar, which
has also been preserved in an independ-
ent and more complete version.4 It is
the biography of a chieftain, Hrafn
Sveinbjamarson (ca. 1160-1213), who
acquired significant power in the
Amarfjörður-Dýrafjörður area, but was
killed by his rival, Þorvaldur Snorrason
(ca. 1160-1228), chieftain of the ísa-
fjörður area and residing in Vatnsfjörð-
ur.
Hrafns saga is of manifold inter-
est as a source of knowledge on the
Westfjords around the year 1200. Hrafn
travelled extensively in Europe, had
some leaming in medicine, and is shown
to be deeply religious as well as having a
good relationship with the Church. All of
this is of relevance for understanding
Icelandic society as it was evolving in the
period. Hrafn seems to model himself, as
a chieftain, on ideas about aristocracy
from other parts of Europe, and it is
coherent with what we know about the
evolution of the dominant class in
Iceland at the time. Of particular note is
the importance of leaming among this
class, which is to be related to the partic-
ularly vibrant literary production of the
period. Hrafns saga also gives us tanta-
lizing information about how the stmggle
of power took place within this class. His
conflict with Þorvaldur can be seen as
revolving around the control over the
whole of the peninsula, something that is
only achieved several decades later by
Hrafn's grandson and namesake Hrafn
Oddsson.5 6
Other parts of the Sturlunga
compilation tell us about different
aspects of this ongoing stmggle and give
us as well glimpses about life in the area.
One example is the violent conflict
between Þórður kakali of the Sturlung
family and Kolbeinn ungi from
Skagaíjörður in the 1240s. Þórður had
sought support in the Westfjords, so
Kolbeinn and his men decided to bum
any stocks of whale meat that were kept
there so their enemy could not feed his
men. Among the items of information we
get from such an account is the fact that
whale meat was preserved for extensive
periods of time, that it therefore had
value as such, and finally that there were
stocks of it in the Westfjords.4
It is noteworthy that the richest
and most powerful family in the
Westfjords in the centuries after Iceland
became part of the Norwegian kingdom
in 1262-4, seems to be descended from
both of the feuding families in the early
thirteenth century. Indeed, Eiríkur
Sveinbjamarson (1277-1342) is believed
to be the great-grandson of both enemies,
Hrafn Sveinbjarnarson and Þorvaldur
SnoiTason. Eiríkur lived in Vatnsfjörður
and was not only the richest magnate of
the area but also served as head of the
Norwegian court (hirðstjóri) for the North
and West of Iceland. His wife is titled
"hertogainna", i.e. duchess, in contempo-
rary documents. His descendants were to
be the magnates in control of the
4 Hrafns saga Sveinbjarnarsonar, ed. by Guðrún P. Helgadóttir, Clarendon Press, Oxford 1987.
5 On the struggle for control of the Westfjords in the thirteenth century see Jón Viðar Sigurðsson, "Baráttan um Vestfirði á
Sturlungaöld", Ársrií Sögufélags Ísfirðinga 43 (2003), p. 53-66.
6 Sturlunga saga II, p. 528.
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