Sturla, at age twenty-six, one of the foremost chieftains
of western Iceland (1240). Sturla acknowledged his debt
by naming his oldest son after his uncle and by join-
ing Órækja in seeking blood revenge for the slaying of
Snorri (1241).
In the internecine struggles of the thirties and forties,
the power of Sturla’s clan, the Sturlungar, had been trun-
cated. Increasingly, the Norwegian king manipulated the
internal jockeying for power. Sturla was embroiled in
these fi ghts, both because two of the main contestants,
Þórðr Kakali and Þorgils Skarði, were his cousin and
nephew respectively, and because he felt compelled
to protect his own territorial interests. His fortunes
fl uctuated as he participated, sometimes reluctantly,
sometimes actively, in bitter feuds. Tragedy also touched
his life. In 1253, Sturla had allied himself with Gizurr
Þorvaldsson, the chieftain who had ordered Snorri’s
death. To strengthen the alliance, Sturla had affi anced
his daughter to Gizurr’s son Hallr. At the end of the
wedding celebration, Gizurr’s manor, Flugumýrr, was
put to the torch. The bride barely escaped in the attack
that was futilely launched in revenge for the slaying of
both Snorri and of Snorri’s nephew, Sturla Sighvatsson.
Moreover, Þorgils Skarði, for a brief time the major
chieftain in northern Iceland and Sturla’s close associ-
ate, was slain in 1258.
A period of uncertainty, dashed hopes, ill-fated alli-
ances, and ventures ended in Sturla’s exile to Norway
in 1263. His stay at the court was prolonged. It was
also an intellectually busy and fruitful time. Appointed
court historian, he composed the offi cial history of
Magnús’s father, King Hákon Hákonarson, a work
based on eyewitness reports and on records in the royal
chancery. Sturla was also busy with the revision of the
provincial laws, including Icelandic law. He returned
to Iceland with the fi rst codifi cation of the amended
law, the so-called Jámsiða (“iron side”), in 1272. He
then assumed the highest judiciary post. In 1277, his
jurisdiction as lawman was restricted to northern and
western Iceland. Concomitantly, he was summoned to
Norway on charges that he was less active in discharging
his duties than the newly appointed lawman for eastern
and southern Iceland. Still, he was honored by the king,
who appointed him a member of the court with the rank
of knight (skutilsveinn). Again he assumed the post of
royal biographer by writing the history of Magnus’s
reign, of which only one page survives. He resigned
his post as lawman when he felt unable to cope with
the question of jurisdiction over church property that
pitted landowners against the bishop. He died in 1284,
respected by his contemporaries for his scholarliness
and integrity.
His literary work was extensive. He probably wrote,
as a prologue to Landnámabók, an account of Iceland’s
christianization, Kristni saga, and also a lost version
of Grettis saga. A 14th-century clerical author credits
Sturla with a fantastic story about the troll-woman
Selkolla. Less certain is the conjecture that he was
responsible for the oldest versions of Icelandic annals
and for a list of lawspeakers that has survived only in a
MS of the 17th century.
See also Hákon Hákonarson;
Magnús Hákonarson; Snorri SturlusonFurther Reading
The primary sources for Sturla’s life are his own Íslendinga saga,
other sagas in the collection known as Sturlunga saga, and
Árna saga biskups.
Literature
Ker, William Paton. Sturla the Historian. The Romanes Lecture,- Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1906; rpt. in Col-
lected Essays of W. P. Ker. Ed. Charles Whibley. London:
Macmillan, 1925.
Einar Ól. Sveinsson. The Age of the Sturlungs: Icelandic Civiliza-
tion in the Thirteenth Century. Trans. Jóhann S. Hannesson.
Islandica, 36. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1953; rpt. New
York: Kraus, 1966.
Magerøy, Hallvard. “Sturla Tordsson.” In Norsk biografisk
leksikon 15. Oslo: Aschehoug, 1966, pp. 188–201 [contains
bibliography].
Jón Jóhannesson. A History of the Old Icelandic Commonwealth:
Íslendinga saga. Trans. Haraldur Bessason. University of
Manitoba Icelandic Studies, 2. Winnipeg: University of
Manitoba Press, 1974.
Ciklamini, Marlene. “Biographical Refl ections in Íslendinga
saga: A Mirror of Personal Values.” Scandinavian Studies
55 (1983), 205–21.
Guðrún Ása Grímsdóttir and Jónas Kristjánsson, eds. Sturlus-
tefna. Ráðstefna haldin á sjö alda ártið Sturlu Pórðarsonar
sagnaritara 1984. Reykjavik: Stofnun Árna Magnússonar,
Marlene Ciklamini
SUCHENWIRT, PETER (FL. 14TH C.)
Neither the birth date nor death date is known for this
most famous German herald of the fourteenth century.
The name Suchenwirt is apparently a professional one
derived from such den wirt (get the innkeeper); he calls
himself chnappe von den wappen (page of the weapons,
poem 30, II. 169–189). His name appears in twelve
documents from 1377 to 1407, all dealing with his house
in Vienna. His name also appears in a eulogy by Hugo
von Montfort (1357–1423), who was with him on Duke
Albrecht III’s Prussian crusade of 1377. Suchenwirt’s
language, perspective, and sympathies suggest that he
was an Austrian. The best source of information about
his life is found in his poetry.
There are fi fty two poems by Peter Suchenwirt extant
in at least thirty three manuscripts. The main manuscript
containing Suchenwirt’s works, called “A,” is in the Na-
tional Library in Vienna (no. a3045, 503 pages from be-STURLA ÞÓRÐDARSON