Þorsteins saga Síðu-Hallssonar () is one of the

sagas of Icelanders 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 el ...

from the 13th century. The saga is only partially preserved and features a number of dreams and interpretations. Torstein Side-Hallsson (''Þorstein Síðu-Hallssonar'') has a series adventures in the Orkney Islands, Ireland, Norway and Iceland during the early 1000s. The story also tells of Torstein participating in the

Battle of Clontarf The Battle of Clontarf ( ga, Cath Chluain Tarbh) took place on 23 April 1014 at Clontarf, near Dublin, on the east coast of Ireland. It pitted an army led by Brian Boru, High King of Ireland, against a Norse-Irish alliance comprising the forc ...

in 1014.

Plot

As the saga is only partially preserved in surviving manuscripts, the first part has been lost. The text resumes with the protagonist Þorsteinn Síðu-Hallsson going abroad, entrusting his

goðorð Gothi or (plural , fem. ; Old Norse: ) was a position of political and social prominence in the Icelandic Commonwealth. The term originally had a religious significance, referring to a pagan leader responsible for a religious structure and com ...

(chieftaincy) to his friend Þórhaddr. Þorsteinn enters the service of Jarl Sigurðr of Orkney and fights at the

. Meanwhile in Iceland, Þórhaddr mistreats his son-in-law Haukr. When Þorsteinn returns to Iceland, Haukr appeals to him for help, and Þorsteinn demands his goðorð back. Þórhaddr refuses, so Þorsteinn forcibly ejects him from the district. Þórhaddr retaliates by slandering Þorsteinn, but then has a series of disturbing dreams in which it is implied that he and his sons will be killed by Þorsteinn, but that Þorsteinn will later be killed by a mere

thrall A thrall ( non, þræll, is, þræll, fo, trælur, no, trell, træl, da, træl, sv, träl) was a slave or serf in Scandinavian lands during the Viking Age. The corresponding term in Old English was . The status of slave (, ) contrasts with ...

. Soon afterwards, Þorsteinn personally kills Þórhaddr’s three sons, and although the ending of the saga has also been lost, we can assume that he subsequently kills Þórhaddr himself in a second encounter. Þorsteinn's fate is related in a separate ''

þáttr The ''þættir'' (Old Norse singular ''þáttr'', literally meaning a "strand" of rope or yarn)O'Donoghue (2004:226). are short stories written mostly in Iceland during the 13th and 14th centuries. The majority of ''þættir'' occur in two compend ...

'' (a short-story version of a saga) called '' Draumr Þorsteins Síðu-Hallssonar'' ('The Dream of Þorsteinn Síðu-Hallsson').

References

External links

Proverbs in ''Þorsteins saga Síðu-Hallssonar''Full text at the Icelandic Saga Database
Sagas of Icelanders {{Iceland-saga-stub

Plot

See also

References

External links