Coercion, vengeance, feud and accommodation: Homicide in medieval Iceland

Early Medieval Europe

Volumn 20, Issue 2, 2012, Pages 139-175

  Firth, Hugh ^a  

^a NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

MEDIEVAL; RURAL AREA; SOCIAL PROBLEM;

ICELAND;

EID: 84860289785     PISSN: 09639462     EISSN: 14680254     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-0254.2012.00339.x     Document Type: Article

References (384)

1. R. Samson, 'Gooar: Democrats or Despots?', G. Pálsson (ed.), From Sagas to Society: Comparative Approaches to Early Iceland ( , at p. 167.Enfield, 1992), pp. 167-88
2. Gooar and goooro were not exactly chieftains and chieftaincies; Vésteinsson has argued in favour of Kjartansson's view that goooro represented primarily a right to representation at the Alping, rather than a local 'chieftain' role, and that 'chieftains' were of many sorts - some with, some without goõorõ. In both samtíõarsögur and íslendingasögur the term goõorõ is used to refer specifically to the role (for example buying, or holding, a goõorõ), whereas the person holding the role is occasionally described as goõorõsmaõr, but usually described by the term höfõingi (pl. höfõingjar), commonly translated as chieftain. Their authority over men is sometimes referred to as mannaforráõ. In the analysis and discussion of the data, I have used the terms goõorõsmaõr (sing.) and goõorõsmenn (pl.) to facilitate clarity when referring to the holders of goõorõ. In the broader discussion of relationships between farmers and their goõorõsmenn, I have however generally chosen the terms höfõingjar or chieftain deliberately to include Vésteinsson's wider range of local power holders. See also Guõrún Helgadóttir (ed.), Hrafns saga Sveinbjarnarsonar (Oxford, 1987), note 1/16, p. 58
3. Helgi Skúli Kjartansson, Fjöldi goõorõa samkvæmt Grágás: Erindi flutt á málstefnu Stofnunar Sigurõar Nordals 24-26 júlí 1988 (Reykjavík, 1989)
4. Orri Vésteinsson, The Christianization of Iceland: Priests, Power, and Social Change 1000-1300 (Oxford, 2000), pp. 7-9
5. Orri Vésteinsson, 'A Divided Society: Peasants and Aristocracy in Medieval Iceland', Viking and Medieval Scandinavia 3 (2007) pp. 117-39.
6. For examples, see Austfirõinga sögur, ed. Jón Jóhannesson, 58, 142, 218, 305 Íslenzk Fornrit[henceforth ÍF] 11 (Reykjavík, 1950), pp. 4-5
7. The Complete Sagas of Icelanders including 49 Tales, ed. Viõar Hreinsson, 5 vols (Reykjavík, 1997), IV, pp. 304, 324, 357, 381, 451 (trans.); Sturlunga saga, ed. Jón , I, pp. 243, 257; II, pp. 161, 163 Jóhannesson, Magnús Finnbogason and Kristján Eldjárn, 2 vols (Reykyavík, 1946)
8. J. McGrew, 2 vols (New York, 1970), II, p. 133, 149; II, pp. 148
9. W.I. Miller, Bloodtaking and Peacemaking: Feud, Law, and Society in Saga Iceland (Chicago, 1990): The anthropological literature is addressed 179-89
10. J. Byock, Medieval Iceland: Society, Sagas and Power (Berkeley, 1988), pp. 111-12
11. J. Byock, Viking Age Iceland (London, 2001), pp. 119-28.
12. Samson, 'Goõar: Democrats or Despots?'; Jón V. Sigurõsson, Chieftains and Power in the Icelandic Commonwealth, trans. Jean Lundskær-Nielsen (Odense, 1999), pp. 39-101
13. Vésteinsson, Christianization of Iceland, pp. 1-16
14. Vésteinsson, 'A Divided Society', pp. 117-39.
15. Miller, Bloodtaking, pp. 179-89
16. Contrast Samson, 'Goõar: Democrats or Despots?', pp. 173-81
17. Sigurõsson, Chieftains and Power, pp. 53-60
18. Vésteinsson, 'A Divided Society', pp. 128-37.
19. Miller, Bloodtaking, pp. 68-76
20. Byock, Viking Age Iceland, pp. 207
21. Byock, Medieval Iceland, especially pp. 110
22. C. Boehm, Blood Revenge: The Enactment and Management of Conflict in Montenegro and other Tribal Societies (Pennsylvania, 1987 148
23. C. Boehm, 'Ambivalence and Compromise in Human Nature', American Anthropologist 91 (1989), pp. 921-39
24. C. Boehm, 'Emergency Decisions, Cultural Selection Mechanics, and Group Selection', Current Anthropology 37 (1996), pp. 763-93.
25. A. Heusler, Das Strafrecht der Isländersagas (Leipzig, 1911)
26. A. Heusler, Zum isländischen Fehdewesen in der Sturlungzeit (Berlin, 1912)
27. J.M. Wallace-Hadrill, 'The Bloodfeud of the Franks', J.M. Wallace-Hadrill (ed.), The Long-Haired Kings and Other Studies in Frankish History (London, 1962), pp. 121-47
28. Boehm , S. Wilson, Feuding, Conflict and Banditry in Nineteenth-Century Corsica (Cambridge, 1988
29. Miller, Bloodtaking; Samson, 'Goõar: Democrats or Despots?'; Sigurõsson, Chieftains and Power, pp. 151-85
30. Byock, Viking Age Iceland; P.R. Hyams, Rancor and Reconciliation in Medieval England (Ithaca, 2003)
31. S.D. White, Re-Thinking Kinship and Feudalism in Early Medieval Europe, Variorum Collected Studies 823 (Aldershot, 2005).
32. Miller, Bloodtaking, p. 304.
33. W.I. Miller, 'Feud in the Icelandic Saga' (Review), Speculum (1984), pp. 376-9
34. J. Black-Michaud, Cohesive Force: Feud in the Mediterranean and the Middle-East (New York, 1975)
35. M. Gluckman, Custom and Conflict in Africa (Oxford, 1956), pp. 1-26
36. Gluckman's analysis was based on Evans-Pritchard's work: E.E. Evans-Pritchard, The Nuer (Oxford, 1940)
37. For the influence of this perspective on the debates about feuding in early medieval societies, see I. Wood, 'The Bloodfeud of the Franks: A Historiographical Legend', EME 14 (2006), pp. 489-504
38. P. Hyams, 'Feud and the State in Late Anglo-Saxon England', Journal of British Studies 40 (2001), pp. 1-43.
39. Wallace-Hadrill, 'Bloodfeud of the Franks', at p. 147.
40. D. Whitelock, The Beginnings of English Society (Harmondsworth, 1965), pp. 31-43.
41. Miller, Bloodtaking, pp. 43-51
42. Byock, Viking Age Iceland, pp. 324-47
43. Sigurõsson, Chieftains and Power, pp. 39-83
44. Vésteinsson, Christianization of Iceland, pp. 238-46.
45. J. McGrew, 'Introduction', in Sturlunga saga, ed. McGrew, I, pp. 15-23
46. Úlfar Bragason, 'Sagas of Contemporary History (Sturlunga saga): texts and research', in R. McTurk (ed.), A Companion to Old Norse-Icelandic Literature and Culture , at pp. 428-33. (Oxford, 2005), pp. 427-46
47. The variant manuscripts differ chiefly in their accounts of events after 1246.
48. Bragason, 'Sagas of Contemporary History'.
49. Bragason, 'Sagas of Contemporary History', at pp. 440-2
50. Sigurõsson, Chieftains and Power, p. 18
51. Ólafír Einarsdóttir, Studier in kronologisk metode I tidlig islansk historieskrivning (Lund, 1964).
52. Magnús Jónsson, Guõmundar saga dỳra: Nokkrar athuganir um uppruna hennar og samsetning (Reykjavík, 1940)
53. Jacqueline Simpson, 'Advocacy and Art in Guõmundar saga dỳra', Saga-Book of the Viking Society 15 (1961), pp. 327-45
54. Bragason, 'Sagas', at pp. 435-6.
55. Guõrún Helgadóttir, 'Introduction', in Hrafns saga Sveinbjarnarsonar, ed. Guõrún Helgadóttir (Oxford, 1987), pp. xi-cxvi
56. Simpson, 'Advocacy and Art in Guõmundar saga dỳra', pp. 328-9
57. Bragason, 'Sagas', at pp. 433-42.
58. Vésteinn Ólason, 'Family Sagas', in McTurk (ed.), Companion to Old Norse-Icelandic Literature, pp. 101-18
59. Vésteinn Ólason, Dialogues with the Viking Age: Narration and Representation in the Sagas of the Icelanders, trans. A. Wawn (Reykjavík, 1998), pp. 61-2
60. Gísli Sigurõsson, 'Orality and Literacy in the Sagas of Icelanders', in McTurk (ed.), Companion to Old Norse-Icelandic Literature, pp. 285-301.
61. Edwin Jessen, 'Glaubwürdigkeit der Egils-Saga und Anderer Isländer-Saga's', Historische Zeitschrift 28 (1872), pp. 61-100
62. Heusler, Das Strafrecht der Isländersagas; Knut Leistøl, The Origin of the Icelandic Family Sagas, trans. A.G. Jayne (Oslo, 1930), p. 250.
63. A good historiographical summary is Theodore Andersson, The Problem of Icelandic Saga , pp. 41-50, 61-4, 129-33. Origins (New Haven, 1964)
64. Sigurõur Nordal, Hrafnkels Saga Freysgoõi: A Study, trans. G. Thomas (Cardiff, 1958), pp. 26-7
65. Sigurõsson, Chieftains and Power, p. 31.
66. Sigurõur Nordal, The Historical Element in the Icelandic Family Sagas (Glasgow, 1957), pp. 21-2
67. Nordal, Hrafnkels Saga Freysgoõi, p. 65.
68. Nordal, Hrafnkels Saga Freysgoõi, pp. 15-16
69. Sigurõur Nordal took the view that 120-130 years was a very credible timescale for the recollection of historical events, but 250 years was not: The Historical Element, p. 18.
70. The debates over saga dating and historicity can be traced through Sturlunga Saga, ed. G. Vígfusson, 2 vols (Oxford, 1878), I, pp. xxi-lxxxii
71. Leistøl, Origin of the Icelandic Family Sagas; Nordal, The Historical Element; Nordal, Hrafnkels Saga Freysgoõa, p. 26
72. Andersson, The Problem of Icelandic Saga Origins, pp. 41-64
73. Jakob Benediktsson, 'Landnámabók: Some Remarks on its Value as a Historical Source', Saga-Book of the Viking Society 17 (1969), pp. 275-92
74. Sturlunga saga, McGrew, I, pp. 15-23, 31-45
75. C.J. Clover, 'Icelandic Family Sagas (Íslendigasögur)', in C.J. Clover and J. Lindow (eds), Old Norse Icelandic Literature: A Critical Guide (Ithaca, 1985), pp. 239-316
76. Miller, Bloodtaking, pp. 43-51
77. O. Falk, 'Bystanders and Hearsayers First: Reassessing the Role of the Audience in Duelling', in M. Meyerson, D. Thiery and O. Falk (eds), A Great Effusion of Blood? (Toronto, 2004), pp. 98-130
78. Gísli Pálsson, 'Text, Life and Saga', in Pálsson (ed.), From Sagas to Society, pp. 1-25
79. Sigurõsson, Chieftains and Power, pp. 17-38
80. J.H. BarrettAdolf Friõriksson and Orri Vésteinsson, 'Creating a Past: A Historiography of the Settlement of Iceland', in (ed.), Contact, Continuity and Collapse (Turnhout, 2003), pp. 139-61
81. H. O'Donoghue, Old Norse-Icelandic Literature: A Short Introduction (Oxford, 2004), pp. 36-47
82. J. Byock, 'History and the Sagas: The Effect of Nationalism', in McTurk (ed.), Companion to Old Norse-Icelandic Literature (Oxford, 2005), pp. 43-59
83. Byock, Viking Age Iceland, pp. 142-58
84. Ólason, 'Family Sagas', pp. 101-18
85. C. Callow, 'Reconstructing the Past in Medieval Iceland', EME 14 (2006) pp. 304-24.
86. C. Callow, 'Reconstructing the Past in Medieval Iceland'.
87. J. Byock, P. Walker, J. Erlandson, P. Holck, D. Zori, M. Guõmundsson and M. Tveskov, 'A Viking-age Valley in Iceland: The Mosfell Archaeological Project', Medieval Archaeology 49 (2005), pp. 195-218
88. G. Ólafsson, T. McGovern and K. Smith, 'Outlaws of Surtshellir Cave', in J. Arneborg and B. Grønnow (eds), Dynamics of Northern Societies (Copenhagen, 2006), pp. 395-404.
89. J.L. Byock, 'The Skull and Bones in Egil's Saga: A Viking, A Grave, and Paget's Disease', Viator (1993), pp. 23-50
90. Byock, 'A Viking-age Valley in Iceland', at pp. 198-9
91. Contrast literary and symbolic interpretations -'fictionalised biography written by an historian': O'Donoghue, Old Norse-Icelandic Literature, at p. 52
92. Kaaren Grimstad, 'The Giant as Heroic Model: The Case of Egill and Starkaõr', Scandinavian Studies 48 (1976), pp. 284-98
93. M.C. Ross, 'The Art of Poetry and the Figure of the Poet in Egil's Saga', in J. Tucker (ed.), Sagas of Icelanders: A Book of Essays 1989), pp. 126-45.
94. Benedicktsson, 'Landnámabók: Some Remarks'; Kristín Geirsdóttir, 'Fáein alpỳõleg orõ', Skírnir 153 (1979), pp. 5-41
95. Callow, 'Reconstructing the Past', pp. 300-3
96. J. Fox, 'A Rotinese Dynastic Genealogy', in T.O. Beidelman London, (ed.), The Translation of Culture (1973), pp. 37-77
97. L. Bohannan, 'A Genealogical Charter', Africa 22 (1952), pp. 301-15.
98. Ólason, 'Family Sagas', at p. 108
99. On Fljótsdæla saga see Gísli Sigurõsson, 'Orality and Literacy in the Sagas of Icelanders', at p. 295.
100. A less sceptical view of Hrafnkels saga is set out by Clover, 'Icelandic Family Sagas (Íslendigasögur)', at pp. 243-5.
101. Ólason, 'Family Sagas'.
102. Ólason, Dialogues with the Viking Age, pp. 19-20.
103. For another primarily literary approach, see Pálsson, 'Text, Life and Saga'.
104. Sigurõsson, 'Orality and Literacy in the Sagas of Icelanders', at p. 297.
105. P. Wormald, 'Viking Studies: Whence and Whither?', R.T. Farrell (ed.), The Vikings (London, 1982)
106. Miller, Bloodtaking; Byock, Viking Age Iceland.
107. Byock, Viking Age Iceland, pp. 143-58.
108. Miller, Bloodtaking, pp. 43-76
109. T. Andersson and W.I. Miller, Law and Literature in Medieval Iceland: Ljosvetninga Saga and Valla-Ljot's Saga (Stanford, 1989).
110. Ólason, Dialogues with the Viking 195
111. Sigurõsson, Chieftains and Power, pp. 24-31.
112. Sigurõsson, Chieftains and Power, pp. 32-8.
113. Sigurõsson, Chieftains and Power, pp. 15-16, 17-38
114. Miller, Bloodtaking, pp. 43-51.
115. Miller, Bloodtaking, p. 303
116. Byock, Viking Age Iceland, pp. 142-58.
117. Gunnar Karlsson, Iceland's 1100 Years: History of a Marginal Society (London, 2000), pp. 44-51.
118. Vésteinsson has discussed differing interpretations of Gizurr's 1097 census: Christianization of Iceland, p. 11.
119. Jón Steffensen, 'Islands folkemængde gennem tiderne', Medicinsk Forum (1963), pp. 129-52.
120. Karlsson, Iceland's 1100 Years, p. 45.
121. No estimate of population has been made in relation to the íslendingasögur data, as this is unsuitable for estimating homicide rates. Projecting population estimates backward into the tenth-eleventh centuries would however be uncertain given the lack of scholarly consensus on likely population during and following the settlement period. See Jón Jóhannesson, A History of the Old Icelandic Commonwealth: Íslendinga saga (Manitoba, 1974), pp. 31-4
122. K. Hastrup, Culture and History in Medieval Iceland: An Anthropological Analysis of Structure and Change (Oxford, 1985), pp. 169-75
123. Karlsson, Iceland's 1100 Years, pp. 44-51.
124. M. Daly and M. Wilson, Homicide (New York, 1988), pp. 13-15
125. C. Boehm, Blood Revenge (Pennsylvania 192-201, 1987), pp. 66, 89,
126. J. Given, Society and Homicide in Thirteenth Century England (Stanford, 1977), pp. 38-40.
127. G.H. Gudjonsson and H. Petursson, 'Some Criminological and Psychiatric Aspects of Homicide in Iceland', Medicine, Science and the Law 22 (1982), pp. 91-8
128. Daly and Wilson, Homicide, pp. 275-91.
129. Differing studies use slightly different, but overlapping definitions. The modern Icelandic data, for example, included both intentional homicide, and violence and negligence resulting in death (whether prosecuted or not), but excluded automobile fatalities, and infanticide.
130. Given, Society and Homicide, pp. 38-9
131. Boehm, Blood Revenge, p. 194
132. Daly and Wilson, Homicide, p. 275.
133. Infanticide was also present in Iceland at this time: E. Christiansen, The Norsemen in the Viking Age (Oxford, 2002), pp. 39-40.
134. However, infanticide is not included in comparable studies of homicide rates (see below note 87), and was not evident in this sample. All homicide rates here and in the following discussion are reported per annum per 100,000 total population.
135. Vésteinsson, 'A Divided Society', at pp. 122-30.
136. Ólason, 'Family Sagas'.
137. Where similar events were described in different sources, only one was used. For six incidents an estimate of deaths was necessary, and in one instance deaths were adjusted to compensate for poetic licence: see Miller, Bloodtaking, p. 319
138. Kjalnesinga saga, Jóhannes Halldórsson, ÍF 14 (Reykjavík, 1959), p. 353.
139. All recorded victims were male. The number of unrecorded female victims is thought to be small (see discussion below). These 105 homicides are referenced at: Íslendingabók, ed. Jakob Benediktsson, ÍF 1 (Reykjavík, 1968), p. 8
140. Landnámabók, ed. Jakob Benediktsson, ÍF 1 (Reykjavík, 1968), pp. 292
141. Austfirõinga sögur, ed. Jóhannesson, ÍF 11 (Reykjavík, 23-63, 69-73, 104-31, 142-80, 185, 198-210, 217-48, 297-320 1950), pp. 11-18
142. Brennu-Njáls saga, Einar Ólafur Sveinsson, 220, 291, 417-8, 430-5ÍF 12 (Reykjavík, 1954), pp. 209
143. Kjalnesinga saga, ÍF 14, pp. 341-79
144. Íslendingabók, Kristni Saga, trans. S. Grønlie (London, 2006), p. 5
145. The Book of Settlements: Landnámabók, trans. H. Pálsson and P. Edwards (Winnipeg, 1972), pp. 111, 115, 124-6
146. Complete Sagas, ed. Hreinsson, III, pp. 99-206
147. IV, 313-33, 336-7, 359-78, 381-99, 436-41, 443, 447-59307-8
148. Interestingly, the geographical distribution of these homicides in íslendingasögur broadly matches the likely population, excepting fewer homicides in the well-populated lower Fljótsdal: Austfirõinga sögur, ÍF 11, p. 218
149. Complete Sagas, ed. Hreinsson, IV, p. 381.
150. Compare the land-takes at settlement, Byock, Viking Age Iceland, p. 85.
151. Jón Viõar Sigurõsson has argued that this development was well under way by the early twelfth century: Frá goõorõum til ríkja. próun goõavalds á 12. og 13 öld (Reykjavík, 1989)
152. Sigurõsson, Chieftains and Power, pp. 62-83.
153. Other scholars perceive this concentration beginning only at the end of the twelfth century: Karlsson, Iceland's 1100 Years, pp. 72-82
154. Byock, Medieval Iceland, pp. 1-13
155. Vésteinsson, Christianization of Iceland, pp. 8-9
156. Lúõvík Ingvarsson, Goõorõ og goõorõsmenn (Egilstöõum, 1986), I, pp. 257-61.
157. Sigurõsson, Chieftains and Power, pp. 13
158. Karlsson, Iceland's 1100 Years, pp. 74-6.
159. Sturlunga saga, ed. Jóhannesson, 115-279
160. Sturlunga saga, ed. McGrew, I, pp. 115-73
161. The 24 homicides in Eyjafjörõ-Reykjadal are referenced at Sturlunga saga, ed. Jóhannesson, I, pp. 167
162. Sturlunga saga, ed. McGrew, II, pp. 155-6, 159-64, 181, 186, 190-1, 196, 200, 203-4. The 6 homicides in Arnarfjörõ and Dỳrafjörõ are at Sturlunga saga, ed. Jóhannesson, I, pp. , 218, 221, 226-8216
163. Sturlunga saga, McGrew, 212
164. For example, 28 men died during just two battles between Kolbeinn Tumason and Bishop Guõmundr's supporters in 1208: Sturlunga saga, ed. Jóhannesson, I, pp. 244-54
165. Sturlunga saga, ed. McGrew, 134-45.
166. Sturlunga saga, Jóhannesson, 115-244
167. Sturlunga saga, McGrew, 115-33
168. In 1097, either 3,800 or 4,560 householders were assessed for tithes throughout Iceland. Some 1,200 or 1,440 (31.5%) lived in the Northern Quarter (Íslendingabók, ed. Benediktsson, ÍF 1, p. 23
169. Íslendingabók, trans. Grønlie, p. 12
170. Vésteinsson, The Christianization of Iceland, p. 11).
171. In 1200 Eyjafjörõur and Reykjadalur may be assumed to have been the site of one-third to half of all farms in the Northern Quarter, based on geography, likely population density, and the probable presence of at least five goõorõ in the district, at least three held by porvaldr Guõmundarson and one each by Ögmundr sneis and Hallr Kleppjárnsson (Sigurõsson, Chieftains and Power, pp. 39-41
172. Byock, Viking Age Iceland, pp. 128-32
173. These figures suggest Eyjafjörõur and Reykjadalur held 11-16% (420-730) of Icelandic households around 1200. In 1700, 656 farms were situated in Eyjafjörõur-Reykjadalur, of 4,014 throughout Iceland (16.3%). This range of figures suggests Eyjafjörõur and Reykjadalur in 1200 were thus a likely domicile for somewhat less than 16% of the population, or around 550-650 households.
174. This approach to understanding the processes involved in vengeance (also adopted by Sigurõsson, Chieftains and Power, pp. 156-70
175. Is clearly preferable to Heusler's analysis of individual conflicts (Heusler, Zum isländischen Fehdewesen in der Sturlungzeit; and Das Strafrecht der Isländersagas). Sigurõsson however does not distinguish samtíõarsögur from íslendingasögur in his analysis.
176. The analysis distinguished individuals identified as holders of goõorõ together with their first-degree relatives (father, brother, son) from other farmers, merchants, farmhands, servants and slaves. Infanticide was not evident in this sample: see notes 49 and 87.
177. Sturlunga saga, ed. Jóhannesson, I, pp. 195-9
178. Sturlunga saga, McGrew, I, pp. 224-7
179. Sturlunga saga, Jóhannesson, I, pp. 171-2
180. Sturlunga saga, ed. McGrew, II, p. 161. Whether women were frequently victims is discussed further in the next section.
181. Miller, Bloodtaking, pp. 205-10
182. Notes 49 and 87 regarding infanticide.
183. I have added a further 50% to allow for possible homicides by goõorõsmenn by way of 'summary justice', not recorded in samtíõarsögur. For examples of homicides by ordinary men, see Sturlunga saga, ed. Jóhannesson, I, pp. 172-3
184. Sturlunga saga, McGrew, II, pp. 161-2
185. Sigurõsson, Chieftains and Power, p. 157.
186. Hyams, 'Feud and the State'.
187. B. Hanawalt, Crime and Conflict in English Communities 1300-1348 (London, 1979), pp. 131-2.
188. Wilson, Feuding, Conflict and Banditry, pp. 53-7.
189. Sturlunga saga, ed. Jóhannesson, 181-3
190. Sturlunga saga, McGrew, II, pp. 171-3.
191. Sturlunga saga, ed. Jóhannesson, I, pp. 174-5
192. Sturlunga saga, ed. McGrew, II, pp. 163-5.
193. Analysis above for Eyjafjörõur-Reykjadalur based on the 1097 census (see note 58 above) suggests a potential outer range of between 420-730 households (11% of 3,800 to 16% of 4,560; mid-point 575). Probable stability in farm sites and population between 1097 and 1700 (656 farms) lends support for a figure close to or slightly above the mid-range (575), or some 600 households around 1200 (Sigurõsson, Chieftains and Power, pp. 79-83
194. O. Vésteinsson, 'Central Areas in Iceland', in Arneborg and Grønnow (eds), Dynamics of Northern Societies, 307-22
195. Guõmundar saga dỳra and Íslendinga saga refer to some 150 individuals (excluding individuals within the same household) within Eyjafjörõ and Reykjadal at this time. The sources thus appear to reference approximately one quarter of all households. Recorded homicides by farmers and others were therefore multiplied by a factor of four for this estimate.
196. Note that the estimates for homicides rates are based on data from 1184-1204 for the Eyjafjörõ-Reykjadal district, whereas the patterns and sequences of conflict have been analysed using the combined data from both Eyjafjörõur-Reykjadalur from 1184-1204, and Arnarfjörõur and Dỳrafjörõur from 1204-14.
197. C.R. Hallpike, Bloodshed and Vengeance in the Papuan Mountains: The Generation of Conflict in Tauade Society (Oxford, 1977), pp. 188-95
198. J. Nash, 'Death as a Way of Life: The Increasing Resort to Homicide in a Maya Indian Community', American Anthropologist 69 (1967), pp. 455-70
199. H. Rose, 'Lethal Aspects of Urban Violence: An Overview', Lethal Aspects of Urban Violence (Lexington, 1979).
200. Daly and Wilson, Homicide, pp. 34-5.
201. N. Chagnon Evolutionary Biology and Human Social Behavior (North Scituate, 1979), pp. 86-126
202. An evolutionary perspective predicts few homicides amongst blood relatives. In this sample, with one exception, no blood relative was killed. The killing of foster fathers was portrayed twice, that of affines only once: Íslendingabók, ed. Benediktsson, ÍF 1, p. 8
203. Austfirõinga sögur, ed. Jóhannesson, ÍF 11, pp. 52
204. Brennu-Njáls saga, Sveinsson, ÍF 12, pp. 416-18
205. Íslendingabók, ed. Grønlie, p. 5
206. Complete Sagas, Hreinsson, 198205-7
207. Daly and Wilson, Homicide, pp. 123-36
208. Grágás: Lagasafn íslenska pjóõveldisins, ed. G. Karlsson, K. Sveinsson and M. Árnason (Reykjavík, 1997), pp. 209-64
209. A. Dennis, P. Foote and R. PerkinsLaws of Early Iceland: Grágás, The Codex Regius of Grágás, ed. (Winnipeg, 1980), pp. 139-69
210. Miller, Bloodtaking, pp. 61-7, 189-93.
211. The extent to which this body of law described actual practice is debatable: see Vésteinsson, Christianization of Iceland, pp. 4-7.
212. Hallpike, Bloodshed and Vengeance, pp. 188-95
213. From Hallpike's data, Knauft calculated a homicide rate: B. Knauft, 'Reconsidering Violence in Simple Human Societies: Homicide amongst the Gebusi of New Guinea', Current Anthropology 28 (1987), pp. 457-500.
214. Compare Miller, Bloodtaking, p. 182.
215. R.B. Lee, The !Kung San: Men, Women and Work in a Foraging Society (Cambridge 397-400., 1979), pp. 370-5,
216. R. Roth, American Homicide (Cambridge, 2009), pp. 455-68.
217. M.E. Wolfgang, Patterns in Criminal Homicide (Philadelphia , 65-70, 188-210. , 1958), pp. 24-7
218. Rose, 'Lethal Aspects of Urban Violence', p. 10.
219. E. Anderson, Code of the Street: Decency, Violence, and the Moral Life of the Inner City (New York, 1999), at pp. 72-3.
220. W. Miller, 'Gift, Sale, Payment, Raid: Case Studies in the Negotiation and Classification of Exchange in Medieval Iceland', Speculum (1986), pp. 18-50.
221. T.R. Gurr, 'Historical Trends in Violent Crime: A Critical Review of the Evidence', Crime and Justice: An Annual Review of Research 3 (1981), pp. 295-353
222. Given, Society and Homicide; P.E.H. Hair, 'Deaths from Violence in Britain: A Tentative Secular Survey', Population Studies 25 (1971), pp. 5-24
223. C. Hammer, 'Patterns of Homicide in a Medieval University Town: Fourteenth-Century Oxford', Past and Present 78 (1978), pp. 3-23
224. B. Hanawalt, 'Violent Death in Fourteenth- and Early Fifteenth-Century England', Comparative Studies in Society and History 18 (1976), pp. 297-320.
225. Hair, 'Deaths from Violence', p. 18.
226. Given, Society and Homicide, pp. 15-25
227. Norfolk had the lowest, Oxfordshire the highest rates. The ranges are dependent on population estimates adopted.
228. Given's lower values for Bristol and London, based only on two years' data, are probably unreliable: Given, Society and Homicide, pp. 84-5
229. Hanawalt, 'Violent Death', pp. 301-2
230. Hammer, 'Patterns of Homicide', pp. 11-13
231. M. Becker, 'Changing Patterns of Violence and Justice in Fourteenth- and Fifteenth-Century Florence', Comparative Studies in Society and History 18 (1976), pp. 281-96
232. Infanticide is absent or omitted from all these studies.
233. Excluding the estimates based on two years' data, in Given, Society and Homicide, pp. 84-5
234. Daly and Wilson, Homicide, pp. 231-5.
235. Hammer, 'Patterns of Homicide', p. 20.
236. C. Wickham, 'Problems of Comparing Rural Societies in Early Medieval Western Europe', Transactions of Royal Historical Society, 6th series 2 (1992), pp. 221-46.
237. Austfirõinga sögur, ed. Jóhannesson, ÍF 11, pp. 13
238. Complete Sagas, ed. Hreinsson, IV, pp. 307
239. Boehm, 'Ambivalence and Compromise'; Boehm, Blood Revenge, pp. 103-6
240. Given, Society and Homicide, pp. 48
241. Miller, Bloodtaking, pp. 205-10.
242. Sturlunga saga Jóhannesson, I, pp. 171-2
243. Sturlunga saga,McGrew, 161.
244. Given, Society and Homicide, pp. 106
245. P. Wormald, The Making of English Law: King Alfred to the Twelfth Century, 1 Legislation and its Limits (Oxford, 1999), pp. 126
246. This process is neatly illustrated by Guõmundr dỳri's actions following the death of Hrafn Brandsson, discussed below: Sturlunga saga, ed. Jóhannesson, I, pp. 168-70
247. Sturlunga saga, McGrew,157-60
248. Byock, Viking Age Iceland, p. 349.
249. On the environmental context, see for example: T.H. McGovern et al., 'Landscapes of Settlement in Northern Iceland', American Anthropologist 109 (2007), pp. 27-51.
250. Austfirõinga sögur, ed. Jóhannesson, ÍF 11, pp. 24
251. Austfirõinga sögur, ed. Jóhannesson, ÍF 11, pp. 13
252. Complete Sagas, Hreinsson, 307
253. For clarity, in the quantitative analysis, homicides were categorized by whether they were committed by goõorõsmenn (or their first-degree blood relatives), or by others - whether storbændr, bændr, merchants, farmhands or slaves.
254. Brennu-Njáls saga, ed. Sveinsson, ÍF 12, p. 209
255. Complete Sagas, ed. Hreinsson, III, p. 99.
256. Austfirõinga sögur, ed. Jóhannesson, ÍF 11, pp. 7-16
257. Complete Sagas, ed. Hreinsson, IV, pp. 304-9.
258. Austfirõinga sögur, ed. Jóhannesson, ÍF 11, pp. 24-6
259. Complete Sagas, Hreinsson, III, 99
260. Austfirõinga sögur, Jóhannesson, ÍF 11, 7-16
261. Complete Sagas, Hreinsson, IV, pp. 304-9.
262. Sigurõsson in Chieftains and Power, and 164, takes issue with pp. 103-4
263. Byock and Miller: W.I. Miller, 'Avoiding Legal Judgement: The Submission of Legal Disputes to Arbitration in Medieval Iceland', American Journal of Legal History 28 (1984), pp. 95-134
264. Byock, Medieval Iceland, p. 5.
265. Contrast Austfirõinga sögur, ed. Jóhannesson, ÍF 11, pp. 7-16 and pp. 24-6 (Complete Sagas, ed. Hreinsson, IV, pp. 304-9
266. With Sturlunga saga, ed. Jóhannesson, I, pp. 170-1, 174-5, 209-10 (Sturlunga saga, ed. McGrew, II, 164-5, 203-4). 159-160
267. Interestingly, porgils saga ok Hafliõi, in the early twelfth century, describes a dispute whose patterns perhaps lie between those of íslendingasögur and the later twelfth- and early thirteenth-century disputes. Both Hafliõi and porgils became involved in organizing the killing of men working for their rival, but only as a result of their already developing rivalry. The prosecution of these cases led to large-scale armed confrontations, negotiation and mediation of the type that occurred frequently during the thirteenth century: Sturlunga saga, ed. Jóhannesson, I, pp. 12-50
268. Sturlunga saga, McGrew, II, pp. 25-70.
269. For discussion of differing thirteenth-century perceptions of the past, see for example E.P. Durrenberger and J. Wilcox, 'Humor as a Guide to Social Change: Bandamanna saga and Heroic Values', in Pálsson (ed.), From Sagas to Society, pp. 111-23
270. Ólason, Dialogues with the Viking Age, pp. 195
271. Bragason, 'Sagas of Contemporary History', at pp. 436-40
272. Sigurõsson, Chieftains and Power, p. 31.
273. Austfirõinga sögur, ed. Jóhannesson, ÍF 11, pp. 105
274. Complete Sagas, ed. Hreinsson, IV, p. 381
275. Austfirõinga sögur, ed. Jóhannesson, ÍF 11, pp. 153-75
276. Complete Sagas, ed. Hreinsson, IV, pp. 364-73
277. Austfirõinga sögur, ed. Jóhannesson, ÍF 11, pp. 30
278. Complete Sagas, ed. Hreinsson, IV, pp. 316
279. For the purpose of this example, I have presumed the morõ of Hrafn was instigated, although not committed, by either Brodd-Helgi or Geitir, both goõorõsmenn.
280. Samson, 'Goõar: Democrats or Despots?'; Sigurõsson, Chieftains and Power, pp. 151-85.
281. The deaths of Halldórr and Arnórr Örnólfsson, Önundr töskubak and prúm-Ketill: Landnámabók, ed. Benediktsson, ÍF 1, pp. 328
282. Austfirõinga sögur, ed. Jóhannesson, ÍF 11, pp. 156200
283. Book of Settlements, trans. Pálsson and Edwards, pp. 124-6
284. Complete Sagas, ed. Hreinsson, IV, pp. 365
285. Austfirõinga sögur, ed. Jóhannesson, ÍF 11, pp. 217-18
286. Complete Sagas, ed. Hreinsson, IV, p. 381.
287. Austfirõinga sögur, ed. Jóhannesson, ÍF 11, pp. 38-41
288. Complete Sagas, ed. Hreinsson, IV, pp. 320-2.
289. Karlsson, Iceland's 1100 Years, pp. 72-8
290. Sigurõsson, Chieftains and Power, pp. 58, 68-75.
291. Sturlunga saga, ed. Jóhannesson, I, pp. 170, 194, 210-11
292. Sturlunga saga, ed. McGrew, II, 186, 203-4. pp. 159,
293. Sturlunga saga, ed. Jóhannesson, I, pp. 194
294. Sturlunga saga, ed. McGrew, II, pp. 186
295. Sigurõsson, Chieftains and Power, pp. 160-5
296. Note that Sigurõsson's figures relate to conflicts of all sorts, large and small, whereas the present data relate solely to homicide.
297. Austfirõinga sögur, ed. Jóhannesson, ÍF 11, pp. 142-80
298. Sturlunga saga, ed. Jóhannesson, I, p. 258
299. Complete Sagas, ed. Hreinsson, IV, pp. 355-80
300. Sturlunga saga, ed. McGrew, I, p. 151.
301. Hrafns saga Sveinbjarnarsonar, ed. Helgadóttir, p. 28
302. Sturlunga saga, ed. Jóhannesson, I, p. 216
303. Sturlunga saga, ed. McGrew, II, p. 212.
304. Sturlunga saga, ed. Jóhannesson, I, pp. 172-3
305. Sturlunga saga, ed. McGrew, 161-2.
306. Sturlunga saga, ed. Jóhannesson, I, pp. 168-70
307. Sturlunga saga, ed. McGrew, II, pp. 157-60.
308. Austfirõinga sögur, ed. Jóhannesson, ÍF 11, pp. 145-6
309. Complete Sagas, ed. Hreinsson, IV, pp. 359-60
310. Sturlunga saga, ed. Jóhannesson, I, pp. 172-3
311. Sturlunga saga, ed. McGrew, II, pp. 161-2.
312. Sigurõsson, Chieftains and Power, pp. 32-5
313. Sturlunga saga, ed. Jóhannesson, 181-3
314. Sturlunga saga, ed. McGrew, II, pp. 171-3.
315. The killing of goõorõsmaõrÖnundr porkelsson by Guõmundr dỳri represents the culmination of such rivalries; the killing of Björn Gestsson by Jón Ketilsson, ostensibly for theft, and Ámundi, pingmaõr of Hrafn, are the only other initial homicides committed by a goõorõsmaõr in this sample: Sturlunga saga, ed. Jóhannesson, I, pp. 167
316. Hrafns saga Sveinbjarnarsonar, ed. Helgadóttir, p. 34
317. Sturlunga saga, ed. McGrew, II, pp. 155
318. Often major confrontations were temporarily resolved without loss of life: Sturlunga saga, ed. Jóhannesson, 203-4
319. Sturlunga saga, ed. McGrew, I, pp. 153-4
320. The two decades from 1204-24 showed the same infrequency in initial acts of homicide by goõorõsmenn.
321. The process of consolidation whereby goõorõ were transferred and accumulated by a shrinking number of powerful chieftains is particularly evident in Guõmundar saga dỳra and Íslendinga saga. In 1184 there were five goõorõ in the Eyjafjörõ district, one probably shared there were just three: Sturlunga saga, ed. Jóhannesson, I, p. 243
322. Sturlunga saga, ed. McGrew, 133.
323. Byock, Viking Age Iceland, pp. 341-3
324. Karlsson, Iceland's 1100 Years, pp. 72-82
325. Sigurõsson, Chieftains and Power, pp. 66-8
326. Vésteinsson, Christianization of Iceland, pp. 1-16
327. Sturlunga saga, ed. Jóhannesson, I,167
328. Sturlunga saga, ed. McGrew, I 139-44
329. Vésteinsson, Christianization of Iceland, p. 164.
330. Sturlunga saga, ed. Jóhannesson, I, pp. 389
331. Sturlunga saga, ed. McGrew, I, pp. 293
332. Sturlunga saga, ed. Jóhannesson, I, 237-9
333. Sturlunga saga, ed. McGrew, I, pp. 126-8.
334. Sturlunga saga, ed. Jóhannesson, I, pp. 194-209
335. Sturlunga saga, ed. McGrew, II, pp. 186-203.
336. Sturlunga saga, ed. Jóhannesson, I, pp. 175-207
337. Sturlunga saga, ed. McGrew, II, pp. 165-200.
338. These latter deaths lie outside the 1184-1204 sample: Sturlunga saga, ed. Jóhannesson, I, pp. 238-53
339. Sturlunga saga, ed. McGrew, I, pp. 127-44.
340. However see Karlsson's discussion, Iceland's 1100 Years, pp. 44-51.
341. Heusler, Das Strafrecht der Isländersagas, pp. 38-41
342. Andersson and Miller, Law and Literature in Medieval Iceland, pp. 22-6.
343. Heusler also commented on the consistent differences between íslendingasögur and samtíõarsögur, including the greater frequency of mediation and arbitration by an influential goõorõsmaõr: Heusler, Zum isländischen Fehdewesen in der Sturlungzeit.
344. Miller, Bloodtaking, p. 182
345. Miller, 'Gift, Sale, Payment, Raid', pp. 18-50.
346. Wallace-Hadrill, 'The Bloodfeud of the Franks', at p. 147.
347. Austfirõinga sögur, ed. Jóhannesson, ÍF 11, pp. 69-73
348. Brennu-Njáls saga, ed. Sveinsson, ÍF 12, p. 209
349. Complete Sagas, ed. Hreinsson, III, p. 99
350. This point is made by Sigurõsson, but in relation to those districts where ríki had already been established: Chieftains and Power, p. 33.
351. Samson, 'Goõar: Democrats or Despots?'; Vésteinsson, Christianization of Iceland, pp. 1-16
352. Brennu-Njáls saga, ed. Sveinsson, ÍF 12, pp. 349-53
353. Austfirõinga sögur, ed. Jóhannesson, ÍF 11, p. 38
354. Complete Sagas, ed. Hreinsson, III, 165-8
355. Samson, 'Goõar: Democrats or Despots?', at p. 187
356. S.D. White, 'Clothild's Revenge: Politics, Kinship, and Ideology in the Merovingian Blood Feud', in White, Re-Thinking Kinship and Feudalism in Early Medieval Europe, article 107-30.
357. Andersson and Miller, Law and Literature in Medieval Iceland, pp. 23-6
358. Miller, Bloodtaking, p. 185.
359. J.L. Byock, Feud in the Icelandic Saga (Berkeley, 1982), p. 36
360. Sturlunga saga, ed. Jóhannesson, 257-8
361. Sturlunga saga, ed. McGrew, I, pp. 149-51
362. Austfirõinga sögur, ed. Jóhannesson, ÍF 11, pp. 105
363. Complete Sagas, ed. Hreinsson, 4, p. 381
364. Miller, Bloodtaking, p. 205. Compare Hyams, Rancor and Reconciliation, pp. 3-11.
365. Sturlunga saga, ed. Jóhannesson, I, pp. 210
366. Hrafns saga Sveinbjarnarsonar, ed. Helgadóttir, pp. 28, 30-1
367. Sturlunga saga, ed. McGrew, II, pp. 203-4
368. White, 'Clothild's Revenge', at p. 130.
369. Miller acknowledged the unfolding of simultaneous 'games': Miller, Bloodtaking, p. 374.
370. Sigurõsson, Chieftains and Power; Vésteinsson, Christianization of Iceland.
371. Vésteinsson, 'A Divided Society', at p. 137.
372. Samson, 'Goõar: Democrats or Despots?', pp. 167
373. Miller, Bloodtaking, pp. 303-4.
374. Game theory experiments demonstrate that 'tit for tat' (cooperate first time, then match opponents' last move) strategies are stable within a group: Daly and Wilson, Homicide, p. 235
375. R. Axelrod and W.D. Hamilton, 'The Evolution of Cooperation', Science 211 (1981), pp. 1390-6.
376. Boehm, Blood Revenge, pp. 143-54
377. Boehm, 'Ambivalence and Compromise', pp. 921-39.
378. Compare the decisions made by Önundr porkelsson and Guõmundr dỳri with those described by Boehm, Blood Revenge, pp. 92-103
379. Sturlunga saga, McGrew, 165-80.
380. Sturlunga saga, ed. Jóhannesson, I, pp. 238
381. Sturlunga saga, ed. McGrew, I, p. 127
382. Vésteinsson, Christianization of Iceland, pp. 144-66.
383. Miller, Bloodtaking, p. 302
384. Nineteenth-century Maori society provides a striking similarity, with honour (mana) gained equally by gift-giving, or theft through raiding and war: J. Belich, Making Peoples (Auckland, 1996), pp. 81-9