Medieval Icelandic chieftain and writer
Sturla Þórðarson (Old Norse pronunciation: Old Norse pronunciation: [ˈsturlɑ ˈθoːrðɑrˌson] ; Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈstʏ(r)tla ˈθourðarˌsɔːn] ; 29 July 1214–30 July 1284) was an Icelandic chieftain and writer of sagas and contemporary history during the 13th century.
[ 1] Much academic debate is dedicated to evaluating his life, bias as an historian of medieval Iceland and Norway.[ 2]
Biography
The life of Sturla Þórðarson was chronicled in the Sturlunga saga .
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 . His brother was Icelandic skald and scholar Ólafur Þórðarson hvítaskáld .[ 3]
He fought alongside Þórður kakali Sighvatsson during the Age of the Sturlungs . Sturla was appointed law speaker over all of Iceland for a brief period after the dissolution of the Icelandic Commonwealth , 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 .[ 4] He is best known for writing Íslendinga saga , the longest saga within Sturlunga saga , and Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar , the story of Haakon IV of Norway . 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 as the court skald of the Swedish ruler Birger Jarl .
References
Other sources
Jón Viðar Sigurðsson; Sverrir Jakobsson (2017) Sturla Þórðarson: Skald, Chieftain and Lawman (Boston: Brill) ISBN 9789004342361
External links
Media related to Sturla Þórðarson at Wikimedia Commons
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