Gripla - 2023, Blaðsíða 132
130 GRIPLA
general to allow much speculation. The level of obligation is unclear. At
this point, the saga author is more interested in Guðmundr’s deplorable
behavior towards women when out and about than in the exact nature of
the hospitality offered by his þingmenn.41
Neither is enforced hospitality a characteristic of the political cul-
ture depicted in the saga world of Íslendingasögur. The anomaly is Ófeigs
þáttr, a short thirteenth-century tale associated with Ljósvetninga saga. The
tale tells of Guðmundr dýri’s namesake and great-great-great-grandfather
through the direct male line, Guðmundr ríki (dýrr and ríkr both mean ‘pow-
erful’). He was likewise a chieftain in Eyjafjörður and it was his routine:42
at fara norðr um heruð á várit ok hitta þingmenn sína ok ræða um
heraðsstjórn ok skipa málum með mǫnnum. Ok stóð þeim af því
hallæri mikit, er hǫfðu lítt áðr skipat til búa sinna. Hann reið opt
með þrjá tigu manna ok sat víða sjau nætr ok hafði jafnmarga hesta.
to proceed to the northern districts in the spring, meet with his
thingmen, deal with local governance, and arrange matters with
people. This placed great financial strain on those who had by that
point scarcely made provision for their households. He frequently
rode with thirty men, staying seven nights in many places, and
bringing as many horses.
However, the tale’s protagonist, Ófeigr, leads the farmers’ resistance, and
new limits are negotiated between the parties. It is evident from the þáttr
that Guðmundr ríki had little financial stake in exacting hospitality with
force, rather it was about demonstrating a strong hand. Given the relations
between the two Guðmundar, and that Sturlunga alludes to Guðmundr dýri
imposing himself on his þingmenn in Svarfaðardalur, it is tempting to link
the two together. The tale in Ófeigs þáttr may have originated during the
days of Guðmundur dýri or shortly thereafter, warning against overbearing
behavior among the politically strong.43
41 Cf. Sturlunga saga, 1: 175‒76.
42 Ófeigs þáttr, ed. Björn Sigfússon, Íslenzk fornrit, vol. 10 (Reykjavík: Hið íslenzka fornrita-
félag, 1940), 117.
43 On Guðmundr ríki, see Gísli Sigurðsson, “The Immanent Saga of Guðmundur ríki,” in Judy
Quinn, Kate Heslop, and Tarrin Wills, eds. Learning and Understanding in the Old Norse