Árni beiskur or Árni the Bitter (died 22 October 1253;

Modern Icelandic Icelandic ( ; , ) is a North Germanic language from the Indo-European language family spoken by about 314,000 people, the vast majority of whom live in Iceland, where it is the national language. Since it is a West Scandinavian language, it ...

: ;

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was 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 ...

: ) was an

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

er. He was a follower of

Gissur Þorvaldsson Gissur Þorvaldsson (; Old Norse: ; 1208 – 12 January 1268) was a medieval Icelandic chieftain or '' goði'' of the Haukdælir family clan, and great-grandson of Jón Loftsson. Gissur played a major role in the period of civil war which is ...

who undertook the task of killing

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 ...

. ''

Íslendinga saga ''Íslendinga saga'' ''(Saga of Icelanders)'' makes up a large part of ''Sturlunga saga'', a compilation of secular contemporary sagas written in thirteenth-century Iceland. The ''terminus ante quem'' of the compilation is disputed (between the o ...

'' reports the event in an almost newspaper style: ''After that they discovered where Snorri was and those entered the cellar: Markús Marðarson, Símon knútur, Árni beiskur, Þorsteinn Guðinason, Þórarinn Ásgrímsson. Símon knútur asked Árni beiskur to kill him.'' ''Thou shalt not hew, said Snorri.'' ''Hew thou, said Símon.'' ''Thou shalt not hew, said Snorri.'' ''Then Árni dealt him a fatal blow, and after that both he and Þorsteinn added further injuries.'' It would have been an act of irony, if the killer of Iceland's greatest writer of the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

had escaped punishment. He didn't. He was captured in another battle and executed ( Flugumýrarbrenna). He didn't ask for mercy, and the last words spoken of him were those of Kolbeinn Dufgusson: ''Nobody remembers Snorri Sturluson, if you are to be spared.'' Árni beiskur is otherwise an obscure character in Icelandic history, but his own last words, as recorded, point to a certain strength of character. In the words of

, after he had run out from Flugumýrarbrenna, being aged, he stumbled and lay defenseless: ''Árni beiskur is here, says he, and I will not ask for clemency. I also see that not far from me lies another whom I wish to follow.'' (The one lying beside him was Hallur Gissurarson, son of Gissur Þorvaldsson).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arni Beiskur 13th-century Icelandic people 1253 deaths Year of birth unknown Place of birth unknown