Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1970, Page 153

On legal terms in Fareyinga saga
161
about legal matters clearly cannot be used with complete
safety unless there is evidence to show that it is probably not
an addition or alteration by Snorri. The chapters tell of the
death of Pórálfr úr Dímun in Norway and of Karl mærski
in the Faroes. Possibly significant points are these:
(1) After the death of Pórálfr at Hernar in Hordaland an
qrvarping was held.
(2) Sigurðr Porláksson offers to clear himself of a charge
of murdering Pórálfr with oaths svá sem Iqg yður liggja til,
or failing that by járnburðr.
(3) Sigurðr is later made to say of King Óláfr: er konungr
sjá brqgðóttr .... let hann fyrst drepa Pórálf, en nú vill hann
gera oss at óbótamqnnum.
(4) The Faroese leader Gilli is four times given the title
Iqgsqgumaðr (discounting the instance FJ 69/6).
(5) PórshQÍn on Straumsey is the site of the Faroese
assembly.
(6) The assembly was held in late spring or early summer
and lasted some days.
(7) At the assembly Prándr is made to refer to silver which
his landbúar have delivered to him.
(8) At the assembly Sigurðr Porláksson was útlægr fyrir
áverka við pann búðarmann Gilla, er hann hafði á unnit, en
Pórðr ok Gautr fyrir víg Karls.
Of these points (5) is obviously a Faroese fact and (6)
hardly a distinctive detail: both are also paralleled elsewhere
in the text of Færeyinga saga, so that it is likely that Snorri
is faithfully reproducing his original5. The other points merit
a word or two of discussion.
5 See FJ 7/1, 37/20—21, 41/27—8, 43/5—6, 70/23; 40/7, 48/4, 53/4;
ÓH 10, 48, 52, 53, 97; 50, 60, 68. In the last three instances cited the
phrase stefna ping is used, as if the writer was thinking of ad hoc meetings.
The season for the assembly is given as at vári, um várit and um sumarit
(FJ 41/27, 43/5, 70/23; ÓH 52, 53, 97); on its duration cf. FJ 70/24,
ÓH 97. It is not possible to see whether the writer thought of a spring-
time assembly followed by a summertime one, and he seems to have had
little notion of local assemblies elsewhere in the Faroes. On thing-places