Gripla - 20.12.2016, Side 116

GRIPLA116
18 years later, another son of Sighvatur’s, Þórður kakali, returned to
Skagafjörður for an attack on Kolbeinn and his successor, Brandur. Jón
Johannesson summarizes the subsequent events thus: “Þórður finally gath-
ered his followers and advanced into Skagafjörður, where Brandur and
his men stood ready to oppose him. the armies, numbering over 1200
men, met at Haugnes on the southern bank of the river Djúpadalsá on
april 19, 1246, and there they fought the fiercest battle ever to take place
in Iceland.”72 this battle site came to be known as róðagrund according
to the marker erected there in memory of the 110 fatalities, 70 of whom
were men from Skagafjörður. In addition to these two dramatic clashes,
Skagafjörður remained the center of political intrigue all the way until
1264, as vividly described in Sturla Þórðarson’s account, including the
burning at Flugumýri.73
Carefully noting place-names in Þórðar saga hreðu with an ear to how
they might relate to the Sturlungaöld events does yield some intriguing
possibilities for how fourteenth- and fifteenth-century audiences may
have made a connection between the saga narrative and the Sturlungaöld
history.
there is one skirmish location mentioned in Þórðar saga hreðu that also
saw unrest during the Sturlungaöld: flatatunga. there are also parallels
between the events: in both cases, a group of local people who see men
gathering to battle arrive to stop the bloodshed. In Sturla Þórðarson’s con-
temporary record,74 Sighvatur had gathered up 600 men and positioned
himself at flatatunga, and Kolbeinn the Younger was preparing to move
in on Sighvatur there. But when the troops met at flatatunga, “gengu
stórbændr ór Eyjafirði ór liði Sighvats ok enn nökkurir af liði Kolbeins
ok leituðu um sættir í milli þeira” [‘leading men from Eyjafjörður who
were part of Sighvatur’s troops and some from Kolbeinn’s side {from
Skagafjörður} came together to arrange a truce’].75 In the account of events
72 Ibid., 261.
73 úlfar Bragason argues in fact that the entire narrative structure of Íslendingasaga is
“intended to focus the attention of the listener/reader specifically on two events in the story
…: the battle of Örlygsstaðir, and the burning of flugumýri.” úlfar Bragason, Ætt og saga:
um frásagnarfræði Sturlungu eða Íslendinga sögu hinnar miklu (reykjavík: Háskólaútgáfan,
2010), 296.
74 “Íslendingasaga,” in Sturlungasaga, chapter 98.
75 Ibid., 244.