Gripla - 2020, Page 227

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held – jarls in Landnámabók and church builder and the king’s godson in
the Oddernes-inscription – seem to confirm Olsen’s hypothesis.
Landnámabók provides information about other men who fought
against Haraldr in Hafrsfjord without revealing any link to Agder.
About a certain Balki, who is supposed to have been “son Blæings
Sótasonar af Sótanesi” (i.e. Sotenäs in Västergötland), it is told that “hann
barðisk á mót Haraldi konungi í Hafrsfirði”. Balki took the whole of
Hrútafjörður and lived at Bær.92 Balki was the paternal great-grandfather
of Bjǫrn Hítdœlakappi, the main character of Bjarnar saga. Likewise,
Landnámabók places a Hallvarðr súgandi, who “var í orrostu móti Haraldi
konungi i Hafrsfirði”, in “Súgandafjǫrðr ok Skálavík til Stiga”,93 which
is in ísafjarðarsýsla in North-West Iceland, close to the aforementioned
Eyvindr kné.94 Finally, Ǫnundr tréfótr, “son Ófeigs burlufótar, Ívarssonar
beytils”, was “í móti Haraldi konungi í Hafrsfirði ok lét þar fót sinn”.
Afterwards, he left for Iceland and settled in Strandir in the Westfjords
and lived at Kaldbakr,95 not far from one of the farms of Geirmundr
heljarskinn. Ǫnundr, according to Landnámabók, was the paternal great-
grandfather of Grettir Ásmundarson, the hero of Grettis saga, and the
brother of Guðbjǫrg, who was supposedly the paternal grandmother of
Ásta Guðbrandsdóttir, the mother of óláfr inn helgi. The historicity of
this last lineage could be contested, but it would not be surprising if óláfr,
who was clearly of Norwegian descent, had ancestors in the fallen king-
dom of Agder.
To sum up: there is a clear match in Landnámabók between an Agder
origin and participation in or association with the battle of Hafrsfjord.
That applies to Geirmundr heljarskinn and his men, as well as to Þrándr
mjǫksiglandi, who came to Iceland “late in the settlement period”, Alfr inn
egzki and Ormr inn gamli, the son of a jarl and probably of the Oddernes-
family. This is hardly accidental, but lends credence to the hypothesis that
Haraldr’s main adversaries in Hafrsfjord were aristocrats from Agder.
92 Íslendingabók. Landnámabók, ed. Jakob Benediktsson, 89, 200.
93 Íslendingabók. Landnámabók, ed. Jakob Benediktsson, 186.
94 See the settlement map of the Westfjords in Íslendingabók. Landnámabók, ed. Jakob
Benediktsson, “Vestfirðir”.
95 Íslendingabók. Landnámabók, ed. Jakob Benediktsson, 198.