The Sturlungs ( Icelandic: ) were a powerful family clan in 13th century

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 ...

, in the time of the

Icelandic Commonwealth The Icelandic Commonwealth, also known as the Icelandic Free State, was the political unit existing in Iceland between the establishment of the Althing in 930 and the pledge of fealty to the Norwegian king with the Old Covenant in 1262. With t ...

. Their story is partly told in '' Sturlunga saga'', and members of the clan were significant participants in the civil war of the

Age of the Sturlungs The Age of the Sturlungs or the Sturlung Era ( is, Sturlungaöld ) 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 chieftai ...

. The Sturlungs were a wealthy and influential clan. They controlled western Iceland, the

Westfjords The Westfjords or West Fjords ( is, Vestfirðir , ISO 3166-2:IS: IS-4) is a large peninsula in northwestern Iceland and an administrative district, the least populous administrative district. It lies on the Denmark Strait, facing the east coast ...

and north eastern Iceland. The patriarch of the Sturlungs was Sturla Þórðarson, whom scholars believe was born around 1115. He inherited 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 ...

'' (domain, realm or area of influence) from his father Þórður Gilsson. Sturla quarrelled extensively with Einar Þorgilsson of Staðarhóll and many other chieftains.

Jón Loftsson Jón Loftsson (1124–1197; Modern Icelandic: ; Old Norse: ) was chieftain of Oddi at Rangárvellir in the south part of Iceland. Jón Loftsson was a member of the Oddaverjar family clan. His parents were Loftur Sæmundsson and Þóra M ...

, a well-respected man, mediated in one of these disputes. Following this, he was entrusted with the upbringing of Sturla's son

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 the ...

, who later became the most influential of the Sturlungs and the most famous because of his literary endeavours. Snorri had two brothers, Þórður Sturluson and

Sighvatur Sturluson Sighvatr Sturluson (Old Norse: ; given name also ''Sigvatr'' ; Modern Icelandic: ''Sighvatur Sturluson'' ; c. 1170 – 1238) was a skaldic poet, ''goði'' and member of the Icelandic Sturlungar clan. His parents were Sturla Þórðarson of H ...

. The descendants of Sturla played an important role in the Age of the Sturlungs civil war, most notably his sons Snorri and Sighvatur, and Sighvatur's son

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 ...

. Another notable Sturlung was

Sturla Þórðarson Sturla Þórðarson ( ; ; 29 July 1214–30 July 1284) was an Icelandic chieftain and writer of sagas and contemporary history during the 13th century. Biography The life of Sturla Þórðarson was chronicled in the Sturlunga saga. Sturla was th ...

, son of Þórður Sturluson, who fought with Þórður kakali. He wrote ''

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 ...

'', the longest part of ''Sturlunga saga'', and ''Hákonar saga gamla'', the story of Haakon IV of Norway. Some scholars also attribute to him the authorship of '' Kristni saga'' and a transcript of ''

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 ...

''. The writing of the

Icelandic sagas 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 ...

began with the Sturlungs, and many of those written before 1280 were their work, or were written at their behest.

References

* Árni Daníel Júlíusson, Jón Ólafur Ísberg, Helgi Skúli Kjartansson ''Íslenskur sögu atlas: 1. bindi: Frá öndverðu til 18. aldar'' Almenna bókafélagið, Reykjavík 1989 {{Europe-hist-stub