Sturlunga saga (often called simplySturlunga) is a collection of Icelandicsagas by various authors from the 12th and 13th centuries; it was assembled in about 1300[disputed –discuss], inOld Norse. It mostly deals with the story of theSturlungs, a powerful family clan during the eponymousAge of the Sturlungs period of theIcelandic Commonwealth.
Sturlunga saga mostly covers the history of Iceland between 1117 and 1264.[1] It begins withGeirmundar þáttr heljarskinns [no], thelegend ofGeirmundr heljarskinn, a regional ruler in late 9th-century Norway, who moves to Iceland to escape the growing power of KingHarald Finehair.[2] The more historical sagas commence in 1117 withÞorgils saga ok Hafliða. Other sagas included in the collection areSturlu saga,Prestssaga Guðmundar Arasonar,Guðmundar saga biskups,Hrafns saga Sveinbjarnarsonar,Þórðar saga kakala,Svínfellinga saga andÍslendinga saga, composed bySturla Þórðarson, which constitutes almost half of the compilation and covers the period 1183–1264.[1] The compiler assembled the components in chronological order, addedþættir includingGeirmundar þáttr andHaukdæla þáttr and genealogies, and endeavoured to combine them into a single work, usually replacing the beginning and the ending with a linking passage.[3] In some cases he broke up sagas to achieve chronological order.[1][4] The compilation is often thought of as containing the main texts belonging to the textual corpus (or sub-genre) commonly referred to as thesamtíðarsögur or 'contemporary sagas'. While it has been treated as a purely historical source, recent decades show acknowledgement that these are constructed texts representing a narrativised version of the past.[5][6]
Sturlunga saga is the main source of Icelandic history during the 12th and 13th centuries and was written by people who experienced the internal power struggle which ended in Iceland's loss of sovereignty and submission toNorway in 1262–64; the descriptions of wounds inÍslendinga saga are so detailed that they may be based on eyewitness accounts used in compensation claims.[7] It is also indispensable for the details of social history which it contains.[1] Indirect evidence suggests that it was compiled byÞórðr Narfason (d. 1308),[8] who may also have writtenGeirmundar þáttr andHaukdæla þáttr and possibly alsoSturlu þáttr.[1]
The work is preserved in somewhat differing versions in two defective Western Icelandic parchments dating to the second half of the 14th century, the Króksfjarðarbók and the Reykjafjarðarbók (AM 122 a fol. and AM 122 b fol.),[2] and in 17th-century paper manuscripts derived from these. The former also contains material fromHákonar saga Hákonarsonar; the latter contains interpolations fromÞorgils saga Skarða and also containsSturlu þáttr and two sagas which are not usually counted as part ofSturlunga saga,Jartegna saga Guðmundar biskups andArna saga biskups.[1][3]
It has been translated into English by Julia H. McGrew, with the occasional assistance ofSigurður Nordal. This translation features oddities such as excerpts from a letter or aLorem ipsum placeholder in the middle of the text.