The Sturlungs (
Icelandic: ) were a powerful family clan in 13th century
Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...
, in the time 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. With th ...
. Their story is partly told in ''
Sturlunga saga
''Sturlunga saga'' (often called simply ''Sturlunga'') is a collection of Icelandic sagas by various authors from the 12th and 13th centuries; it was assembled in about 1300. It mostly deals with the story of the Sturlungs, a powerful family cl ...
'', and members of the clan were significant participants in the civil war of the
Age of the Sturlungs. The Sturlungs were a wealthy and influential clan. They controlled western Iceland, the
Westfjords and north eastern Iceland.
The patriarch of the Sturlungs was Sturla Þórðarson, whom scholars believe was born around 1115. He inherited his ''
goðorð'' (domain, realm or area of influence) from his father Þórður Gilsson. Sturla quarrelled extensively with Einar Þorgilsson of Staðarhóll and many other chieftains.
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 ...
, a well-respected man, mediated in one of these disputes. Following this, he was entrusted with the upbringing of Sturla's son
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 ...
, who later became the most influential of the Sturlungs and the most famous because of his literary endeavours. Snorri had two brothers, Þórður Sturluson and
Sighvatur Sturluson.
The descendants of Sturla played an important role in the Age of the Sturlungs civil war, most notably his sons Snorri and Sighvatur, and Sighvatur's son
Þórður kakali Sighvatsson. Another notable Sturlung was
Sturla Þórðarson, son of Þórður Sturluson, who fought with Þórður kakali. He wrote ''
Íslendinga saga'', the longest part of ''Sturlunga saga'', and ''Hákonar saga gamla'', the story of
Haakon IV of Norway
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 ...
. Some scholars also attribute to him the authorship of ''
Kristni saga'' and a transcript of ''
Landnámabók''.
The writing of the
Icelandic sagas
The sagas of Icelanders ( is, Íslendingasögur, ), also known as family sagas, are one genre of Icelandic sagas. They are prose narratives mostly based on historical events that mostly took place in Iceland in the ninth, tenth, and early e ...
began with the Sturlungs, and many of those written before 1280 were their work, or were written at their behest.
References
* Árni Daníel Júlíusson, Jón Ólafur Ísberg, Helgi Skúli Kjartansson ''Íslenskur sögu atlas: 1. bindi: Frá öndverðu til 18. aldar'' Almenna bókafélagið, Reykjavík 1989
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