Gripla - 20.12.2016, Side 117

117
at Flatatunga found in Þórðar saga hreðu, we find Þórður and Özurr about
to battle for the second time when men from the area intervene and break
up the fight. although the details of the troop composition and move-
ments are not similar, it is the only skirmish in the saga broken up by men
from the area, rather than by Þórður’s foster son, Eiður Skeggjason. that,
combined with the overlap in place-names, may suggest some influence by
the Sturlunga events on the saga.
another instance comes in regard to the place-name Miklabær. there
are two farms of that name in Skagafjörður: one the place where Sighvatur
was killed during the battle of Örlygsstaðir; the other the home of Ólöf,
the widow who marries Þórður at the end of the saga, and the farm
where Þórður stays during much of the saga. Ólöf’s farm Miklabær is in
Óslandshlíð, whereas the farmstead where Sighvatur was killed, also called
Miklabær, is in central Skagafjörður, about a dozen kilometers south of
Miklabær á Óslandshlíð. Both farms are in Skagafjörður, but Þórður’s farm
is on the northern end of the valley, near Hjaltadalur, whereas the other
one is in the more populated central valley. for an audience familiar with
both places, hearing the farm name Miklabær may have caused temporary
confusion that would have required extra effort on the part of the audience
to comprehend which farm is being referenced. the reason Ólöf’s farm
has the descriptive appellation of “á Óslandshlíð” may well have been to
distinguish it from this more southerly Miklabær. for listeners aware of
the bloodshed at the other Miklabær, the saga would have invited in the
events of the Sturlungaöld while ironically also distancing the saga, both
geographically and historically, from those traumatic events.
this sort of “negative map” was also noted above, in that the Complete
version of Þórðar saga hreðu is noticeably missing any reference to places
in the central area of Skagafjörður; and it was suggested that this was a pull
towards Hólar. But it could simultaneously also be a push away from the
violent sites of the Sturlungaöld.
another example of the saga working to evoke and then redirect mem-
ories of the Sturlungaöld might also be found in the skirmish when Þórður
spares Özurr for the first time on his way home from Kálfsstaðir. that
ambush takes place, as the text says, after Þórður “nam staðar nær Viðvík,
þar sem heitir Garðshvammr, skammt frá bænum í Viðvík” [‘arrived close
COMPLETING Þ Ó R Ð A R S A G A H R E Ð U