The Battle of Haugsnes () was fought at Haugsnes, a low peninsula south of Flugumýri in
Skagafjörður
Skagafjörður () is a deep fjord and its valley in northern Iceland.
Location
Skagafjörður, the fjord, is about 40 km long and 15 km wide, situated between Tröllaskagi to the east and the Skagi Peninsula to the west. There are t ...
, Northern
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 s ...
. The battle was fought on April 19, 1246 between the forces of
Þórður kakali Sighvatsson
Þórður kakali Sighvatsson (c.1210-56) (the nickname ''kakali'' probably means "The Stammerer", although Cleasby-Vigfússon and Elizabeth Ashman-Rowe translate it as “the Claypot”) was a 13th-century Icelandic chieftain during the Age of the ...
and those of Brandur Kolbeinsson. Þórður was victorious. It was the bloodiest battle ever to be fought in
Icelandic history, with about 110 casualties in total, amongst them
Brandur Kolbeinsson, chieftain of the
Ásbirningar family clan. Defeat in battle led to the end of power for the Ásbirningar.
The artist and farmer Sigurður Hansen of
Kringlumýri created a memorial for the battle at the site, consisting of more than 1100 boulders in battle order, each representing a combatant. Those who fell are marked with iron crosses.
Haugsnesbardagi í túninu heima (video about the memorial)
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References
*Árni Daníel Júlíusson, Jón Ólafur Ísberg, Helgi Skúli Kjartansson ''Íslenskur sögu atlas: 1. bindi: Frá öndverðu til 18. aldar'' (Almenna bókafélagið, Reykjavík: 1989)
13th century in Iceland
Haugsnes
Haugsnes
1246 in Europe
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