Gissur Thorvaldsson (1208 – 12 January 1268;
Modern Icelandic
Icelandic (; is, íslenska, link=no ) is a North Germanic language spoken by about 314,000 people, the vast majority of whom live in Iceland, where it is the national language. Due to being a West Scandinavian language, it is most closely re ...
: ;
Old Norse: ) was a medieval Icelandic chieftain or ''
goði
Gothi or (plural , fem. ; Old Norse: ) was a position of political and social prominence in the Icelandic Commonwealth. The term originally had a religious significance, referring to a pagan leader responsible for a religious structure and com ...
'' of the
Haukdælir family clan, and great-grandson of
Jón Loftsson
Jón Loftsson (1124–1197; Modern Icelandic: ; Old Norse: ) was chieftain of Oddi at Rangárvellir in the south part of Iceland.
Jón Loftsson was a member of the Oddaverjar family clan. His parents were Loftur Sæmundsson and Þóra M ...
.
Gissur played a major role in the period of civil war which is now known as
Age of the Sturlungs
The Age of the Sturlungs or the Sturlung Era ( is, Sturlungaöld ) was a 42–44 year period of violent internal strife in mid-13th century Iceland. It is documented in the Sturlunga saga. This period is marked by the conflicts of local chieftain ...
: he fought alongside
Kolbeinn the Young against the forces of
Sturla Sighvatsson of the
Sturlungar clan in the
Battle of Örlygsstaðir in 1238 and led the force of men who murdered saga-writer
Snorri Sturluson
Snorri Sturluson ( ; ; 1179 – 22 September 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was elected twice as lawspeaker of the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He is commonly thought to have authored or compiled portions of the ...
in 1241, at the behest of
Haakon IV
Haakon IV Haakonsson ( – 16 December 1263; Old Norse: ''Hákon Hákonarson'' ; Norwegian: ''Håkon Håkonsson''), sometimes called Haakon the Old in contrast to his namesake son, was King of Norway from 1217 to 1263. His reign lasted for 46 ...
, King of Norway. In 1258, he was made Earl of Iceland ( is, jarl) for his loyal service to the king. He held this title until his death.
Gissur worked actively to promote the
Old Covenant
The Mosaic covenant (named after Moses), also known as the Sinaitic covenant (after the biblical Mount Sinai), refers to a covenant between God and the Israelites, including their proselytes, not limited to the ten commandments, nor the event ...
( is, Gamli sáttmáli), an agreement which brought
Iceland under the sovereignty of the Norwegian crown in 1264. The covenant is hence sometimes known as Gissur's Covenant, or ''Gissurarsáttmáli''.
1208 births
1268 deaths
Gissur Thorvaldsson
Norwegian earls
Goðar
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