Iceland review - 2016, Page 59

ICELAND REVIEW 57
The escalating violence during the Age of the Sturlungs climaxed
in the fight at Örlygsstaðir in Skagafjörður, North Iceland, on August
21, 1238—the largest battle in Icelandic history—where 2,600 men
fought alongside the ruling chieftains.
HISTORY
Beware! Beware!
For the wind blows high.
Blood will rain down
On men’s bared bodies.
Point and edge will share
All men’s inheritance,
Now that the sword-age
Cuts sharply upon us.
(From Sturlunga Saga.)
The above verse was dreamt by a
man named Jón Grettisson before
the fateful Örlygsstaðabardagi.
With 2,600 men fighting and 56 fatali-
ties, it was to become the largest battle in
Icelandic history. There were many other
violent struggles during the Age of the
Sturlungs (Sturlungaöld) and Jón’s dream
was one of many forebodings Icelanders
of high and low rank had about the savage
times that lay ahead.
THE SWORD AGE’S SHARP CUTS
The so-called Age of the Sturlungs was
named after the sons of Sturla Þórðarson
of Hvammur in Dalir, West Iceland, called
Hvamm-Sturla (1116-1183), and their kin.
They ruled chieftainships in a large part
of Iceland: Þórður Sturluson (1165-1237)
in Snæfellsnes, West Iceland; Sighvatur
Sturluson (1170-1238) in Eyjafjörður,
Vaðlaheiði and Þingeyjaþing, Northeast
Iceland; and Snorri Sturluson (1179-1241)
in Mýrar and Borgarfjörður, West Iceland,
Vestur Húnaþing, Northwest Iceland, and
the entire West Fjords. The period is gen-
erally said to have begun in 1220 when
Snorri, author, chronicler and lawspeak-
er—and the most powerful man in Iceland
at the time—pledged his allegiance to
Norwegian King Haakon the Old (IV),
who sought to make Iceland part of his