Sturla Þórðarson (

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

pronunciation: ; ; 29 July 1214–30 July 1284) was an

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

ic chieftain and writer of sagas and contemporary history during the 13th century. Much academic debate is dedicated to evaluating his life, bias as an historian of medieval Iceland and Norway.

Biography

The life of Sturla Þórðarson was chronicled in the

Sturlunga saga ''Sturlunga saga'' (often called simply ''Sturlunga'') is a collection of Icelandic Norse saga, sagas by various authors from the 12th and 13th centuries; it was assembled in about 1300, in Old Norse. It mostly deals with the story of the Sturlun ...

. Sturla was the son of Icelandic chieftain Þórður Sturluson and his mistress Þóra, and grandson of Sturla Þórðarson the elder. He was raised by his grandmother, Guðný Böðvarsdóttir. He was a nephew and pupil of the famous 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 th ...

. His brother was Icelandic skald and scholar Ólafur Þórðarson hvítaskáld. He fought alongside

Þórður kakali Sighvatsson Þórður is an Icelandic given name. Notable people with the name include: * Þórður Friðjónsson (Thordur Fridjonsson), (1952–2011), Vice President of Iceland Stock Exchange and President of NASDAQ OMX Iceland * Þórður Guðjónsson, (Th ...

during the Age of the Sturlungs. Sturla was appointed law speaker over all of

for a brief period after the dissolution of the

Icelandic Commonwealth The Icelandic Commonwealth, also known as the Icelandic Free State, was the political unit existing in Iceland between the establishment of the Althing () in 930 and the pledge of fealty to the Norwegian king with the Old Covenant in 1262. W ...

, and wrote the law book '' Járnsíða.'' Like his uncle, Snorri, and his brother, Óláfr, Sturla was a prolific poet. He is reported in ''Sturlu þáttr'' as telling a saga called '' Huldar saga''.Úlfar Bragason,
Um hvað fjallaði Huldar saga?', ''Tímarit Máls og menningar'', 51.4 (1990), 76-81.
/ref> He is best known for writing '' Íslendinga saga'', the longest saga within ''

,'' and ''

Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar ''Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar'' ("The Saga of Haakon Haakonarson") or ''Hákonar saga gamla'' ("The Saga of Old Haakon") is an Old Norse Kings' Saga, telling the story of the life and reign of King Haakon Haakonarson of Norway. Content and styl ...

,'' the story of

Haakon IV of Norway Haakon IV Haakonsson ( – 16 December 1263; ; ), sometimes called Haakon the Old in contrast to his namesake son, was King of Norway from 1217 to 1263. His reign lasted for 46 years, longer than any Norwegian king since Harald Fairhair. Haak ...

. He also wrote a saga of Haakon's son, Magnus the lawmender ('' Magnúss saga lagabœtis''), of which only fragments have survived. Some scholars also believe him to have written '' Kristni saga'' and '' Sturlubók'', a transcript of '' Landnáma''. He is moreover listed in ''

Skáldatal ''Skáldatal'' (''Catalogue of Poets'') is a short prose work by Snorri Sturluson in Old Norse. It was preserved in two manuscripts: DG 11, or ''Codex Uppsaliensis'', which is one of the four main manuscripts of the ''Prose Edda'' (first quarter of ...

'' as the court ''

skald A skald, or skáld (Old Norse: ; , meaning "poet"), is one of the often named poets who composed skaldic poetry, one of the two kinds of Old Norse poetry in alliterative verse, the other being Eddic poetry. Skaldic poems were traditionally compo ...

'' of the Swedish ruler

Birger Jarl Birger Jarl or Birger Magnusson (21 October 1266) was a Swedish statesman and regent, ''Swedish jarls, jarl'', and a member of the House of Bjälbo, who played a pivotal role in consolidating Sweden after the civil wars between the House of Eri ...

References

Other sources

* Jón Viðar Sigurðsson; Sverrir Jakobsson (2017) ''Sturla Þórðarson: Skald, Chieftain and Lawman'' (Boston: Brill)

External links

* * 1214 births 1284 deaths Icelandic writers Sturlungar family clan 13th-century writers Scandinavian folklore Lawspeakers 13th-century Icelandic people Goðar {{Iceland-writer-stub