Mord Sighvatsson (c. 900–968;

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is 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 of Scandinavia and t ...

: ;

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 ...

: ), better known as Mord "Fiddle" (O.N.: ; M.I.: ) was a wealthy

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 ...

ic farmer and expert on

Icelandic law Law of Iceland during the Commonwealth (930—1262) was decided by the Althing. It has changed over the years but the legislative body is still called Althing. History Prior to 1262 the law-code was ''Grágás''. Following the ''Gamli sáttmál ...

who lived during the late

Settlement Period Settlement may refer to: *Human settlement, a community where people live *Settlement (structural), the distortion or disruption of parts of a building *Closing (real estate), the final step in executing a real estate transaction *Settlement (fina ...

and early Commonwealth Period. According to '' Njals Saga'', he was the son of Sighvat the Red, but ''

Landnámabók (, "Book of Settlements"), often shortened to , is a medieval Icelandic written work which describes in considerable detail the settlement () of Iceland by the Norse in the 9th and 10th centuries CE. is divided into five parts and over ...

'' asserts that Mord was Sighvat's grandson. Mord was the father of Unn Mordardottir, who for a time was married to Hrútr Herjólfsson.

Gunnhild, Mother of Kings Gunnhildr konungamóðir (''mother of kings'') or Gunnhildr Gormsdóttir, whose name is often Anglicised as Gunnhild (c. 910 – c. 980) is a quasi-historical figure who appears in the Icelandic Sagas, according to which she was ...

, the mother of

Harald II of Norway Harald Greycloak (Old Norse: ''Haraldr gráfeldr'', lit. "Harald Grey-hide"; Norwegian: ; Danish: ; c. 935 – c. 970) was a king of Norway from the Fairhair dynasty. Harald acquired his nickname "Gray-hide" after an encounter with the crew of a ...

and his brothers and Queen Mother of Norway, had been Hrútr's patron and lover while he sojourned in that land. When Hrútr returned home, Gunnhild gave him many presents, but she cursed Hrútr with

priapism Priapism is a condition in which a penis remains erect for hours in the absence of stimulation or after stimulation has ended. There are three types: ischemic (low-flow), nonischemic (high-flow), and recurrent ischemic (intermittent). Most cases ...

to ruin his marriage to Unn. It was Mord who masterminded Unn's divorce from Hrútr by advising her on procedures she could use to name witnesses and announce the divorce while Hrut was away.Byock 14-17.

Notes

References

*Ari the Learned. ''The Book of the Settlement of Iceland'' ''(

)''. Ellwood, T., transl. Kendal: T. Wilson, Printer and Publisher, 1898. *Byock, Jesse L. ''Viking Age Iceland''. Penguin, 2001. *Fox, Denton. "Njals Saga and the Western Literary Tradition." ''Comparative Literature'', Vol. 15, No. 4 (Autumn, 1963), p. 289–310. *Magnusson, Magnus, and Hermann Palsson, trans. ''Njal's Saga''. Penguin Classics, 1960. *Ordower, Henry. "Exploring the Literary Function of Law and Litigation in 'Njal's Saga.'" ''Cardozo Studies in Law and Literature'', Vol. 3, No. 1 (Spring – Summer 1991), pp. 41–61. *Smiley, Jane, ed. ''Laxdaela Saga''. The Sagas of Icelanders. Penguin, 2001. {{DEFAULTSORT:Mord Fiddle 10th-century Icelandic people 900s births 968 deaths Year of birth uncertain