Flugumýri is a town and church site in the Blönduhlíð district of

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, Skagi Peninsula to the west. Ther ...

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 ...

, at the base of Glóðafeykir mountain. It was, and is, a manorial estate. The town was the homestead of Þórir dúfunef (the dove-nosed) and, according to the ''

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 ov ...

'', it was named for the mare , a quality horse that owned.

History

has, as a rule, been home to a large farm and various chieftains have lived there. During the

Age of the Sturlungs The Age of the Sturlungs or the Sturlung Era ( ) was a 42-/44-year period of violent internal strife in mid-13th-century Iceland. It is documented in the '' Sturlunga saga''. This period is marked by the conflicts of local chieftains, '' goðar'' ...

, was one of the

Ásbirningar The Ásbirnings or Ásbirningar (Old Norse: ; Modern Icelandic: ) were a powerful family clan in the medieval Icelandic Commonwealth. They dominated Skagafjörður in the 12th and 13th centuries until their last leader died in the Battle of Haugsn ...

family clan's estates, and Kolbeinn ungi ("the young") Arnórsson lived there from 1233 until he died in 1245. His widow gave the land to the

Hólar Hólar (; also Hólar í Hjaltadal ) is a small community in the Skagafjörður district of northern Iceland. Location Hólar is in the valley Hjaltadalur, some from the national capital of Reykjavík. It has a population of around 100. It is t ...

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, prov ...

, but

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 ...

bought it from them, settled there in spring 1253, and built a large farm there. He got good use out of it, albeit not for long because on October 22, after the wedding feast for Gissur and Ingibjörg Sturludóttir's son Hallur, Gissur's enemies arrived in and tried to lock him inside the farm and burn it down. This event, known as the

Flugumýri arson The Flugumýrarbrenna () was a quickfire that took place 22 October 1253 in Iceland during the Age of the Sturlungs. The powerful Icelandic ''goði'' (chieftain) Gissur Þorvaldsson had returned from Norway with the Norwegian King's favour, and ha ...

, is the most well-known in 's history. In 1360, the diocese reacquired the land when Bishop Jón skalli ("the bald") Eiríksson bought it, and the diocese owned the land until the turn of the 19th century when the farms were sold. In centuries past, the diocese's priests typically held their annual meetings in . The town was a medical center in the early 19th century, when the region's doctor, Ari Arason, lived there. The Skagafjörður Women’s School () was in from 1880–1882, before it was closed down. The school had previously been in from 1878–1880 and, before that, was in in Hegranes in 1877, where it was founded. Now there is a large horse farm in and a tourist services operate out of the town.

Geography

hill overlooks the town of , abutting Glóðafeykir mountain, and there are ruins that may have been part of fortifications, possibly from the Age of the Sturlungs. The artifacts are protected. Two valleys run along the mountain: to the south and to the west. The river that runs through it is called but it used to be named . The side valley Ranghali splits off from the main valley to the northeast, and an old hiking trail goes through it over to Hjaltadalur.

Flugumýri church

There has been a church in for centuries and it is first mentioned in the ''

Sturlunga saga ''Sturlunga saga'' (often called simply ''Sturlunga'') is a collection of Icelandic Norse saga, sagas by various authors from the 12th and 13th centuries; it was assembled in about 1300, in Old Norse. It mostly deals with the story of the Sturlun ...

'' in relation to the arson. 's on Hallur was carried into the church, where he died from fatal wounds. Gissur himself was also brought into the church after he emerged from his hiding place in the

skyr Skyr ( ; ) is a traditional Icelandic cultured dairy product. It has the consistency of strained yogurt, but a milder flavor. Skyr can be classified as a fresh sour milk cheese, similar to curd cheese consumed like a yogurt in the Baltic ...

-curdling barrel. The church was dedicated to the

Apostle Peter An apostle (), in its literal sense, is an emissary. The word is derived from Ancient Greek ἀπόστολος (''apóstolos''), literally "one who is sent off", itself derived from the verb ἀποστέλλειν (''apostéllein''), "to se ...

. The current church was built during 1929 and 1930. It is served by priests from Miklibær.

References

{{coord, 65, 34, 38, N, 19, 19, 27, W, display=title, region:IS_type:city Skagafjörður Churches in Iceland Populated places in Northeastern Region (Iceland)