Borg at Myrar (or Borg á Mýrum) in Western Iceland is a farmstead famed for its key role in Egil s

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1 A. Smith Professor C. Fee English 401-A March 6, 2013 Establishing and Adapting to Life in Borg a Myrar Borg at Myrar (or Borg á Mýrum) in Western Iceland is a farmstead famed for its key role in Egil s Saga. The place-name, Borg á Mýrum, translates to Rock in the Marsh, reflecting its location on a rocky outcrop next to marshes and swamplands. This first settlement also lends its name to the fjord just south of it, Borgarfjord (or Borgarfjörður), all well as other neighboring sites. Egil s Saga narrates the journey to Iceland and the chance allocation and establishment of Borg. In Chapter 27 a man named Kveldulf and his son Skalla-Grimm, travel to Iceland. On the way Kveldulf falls ill and on his deathbed he requests that his crew make me a coffin, and put me overboard: and it will go far otherwise than I think if I do not come to Iceland and take land there. Ye shall bear my greeting to my son Grim, when ye meet, and tell him withal that if he come to Iceland, and things so turn out that unlikely as it may seem I be there first, then he shall choose him a homestead as near as may be to where I have come ashore (Jones 78). Shortly after he died, and his crew obeyed his request, they threw him over the side of the ship and followed his body to shore. They moved his coffin a short distance to a nearby rocky outcrop, and there they built his burial mound. When the crew was reunited with Skalla- Grimm they told him of his father s request and he claimed the land between fells and firths, all the moors out to Seal-loch, and the upper land to Borgarhraun, and southwards to Hafnar-fell, and all that land from the watershed to the sea (Jones 80). This episode illustrates the popular system of land-taking during the Viking Age. Kveldulf was a landowner in Norway driven west by the Scandinavian desire for fame, wealth and land. He began as a Viking Raider, soon followed by his son Grimm into the Viking trade and together they set out in search of land for pasture and resources. Following his establishment of his farmstead at Borg, as indicated by his father s landing in the area, Grimm began exploring the land, travelling up the rivers and assessing the potential resources. Grass-, sedge- and heathland communities dominate the unwooded landscape however, willow, juniper, and birch schrub may have flanked the heath and grassland (Arge 601). The lack of strong timber in Iceland created a series of problems for Norse settlers. Birch wood was of minimal use in the

2 construction of houses and ships and resulted in the costly import of timber, a factor that over time severely limited the Icelanders ability to compete with Norwegian merchants (Byock 33). Iceland lacked woodlands filled with large trees but it was not completely lacking in that resource, when the Norse first arrived there was an abundance of driftwood along the southern shores. Access to resources, like driftwood, played a key role in the development of early settlement distribution (Arge 608). Chapter 29 of Egil s Saga describes a second and third farmstead that he built at Álftanes and Akrar, in areas near the sea so as to have easier access to driftwood supplies (Jones 81). Without limited wood for construction the Norse were forced to develop new systems to build houses using turf. The development of turf housing was a crucial development in the Norse peoples adaptation to the Icelandic environment (Byock 34). The grass and heathland were beneficial to Norse s pastoral needs; however, providing much needed grazing space for their livestock. Iceland also lacked large predators making it easy for farmers to leave their cows unattended to fend for themselves. In order to deal with the land s limited resources farmers herded their flocks to common lands and pastures in the highlands, called almenning, for the summer (Byock 47). In chapter 29 of Egil s Saga Grimm even notes that the sheep and cows left to their own devices feeding up in the mountains would become fatter and healthier than if he herded them back to his farm in the marshlands (Jones 82). Skalla-Grimm decided to build yet another farm up by the fell to tend his sheep in the winter (Jones82). When the Norse arrived in Iceland they brought with them dogs, cats, pigs, goats, sheep, horses and cattle, and in this way they made up for the land s lack of natural mammalian resources, those being only arctic foxes and mice (Byock 28). Some of the livestock, however, proved to be particularly destructive to the grasslands, increasing soil erosion and land degradation through trampling, rooting and ripping the grasses from the ground or biting the blades so close to the root that the plants are unable to rejuvenate themselves (Byock 28, Erlendsson 184). Luckily the worst of the offenders, goats and pigs, were generally discontinued by the year 1000 (Byock 28). The Norse peoples did not bring excessive livestock with them overseas, however, and were reliant on Iceland s resources to supplement their food stock. Ideally settlement sites were chosen with consideration for their easy access to the sea with its marine resources including pilot whale, seal, cod,

3 haddock, and coalfish and seaweed, as well as access to lowland suitable for animal husbandry and cereal cultivation (Arge 601). Rivers, streams and lakes also provided salmon and trout (Arge 601). Skalla-Grimm establishes his second farm at Andakíl, named for its abundance of ducks (Jones 81). This site also allowed for easy access to fishing, seal-hunting, and the collection of eggs and driftwood (Jones 81). Like the name given to Borg, Andakíl is named after the resource associated with it. Place-names were important because of the information they reveal about the place, it is interest to note how Skalla- Grimm named these places after environmental landmarks or aspects, even if it was often merely a way to remember the place and the resources it provided. Skalla-Grimm names another body of water after the abundant resource he finds there, swans, titling it Álftanes. Skalla-Grimm did not only declare ownership over the area near where his father s coffin landed and name the rivers and other landmarks according to his desire, he also allotted different areas of land to his men, often naming the village after the man he put in possession of it. In a sense he established the individual homesteads that made up Icelandic society. The society was essentially rural, comprised of a pastoral people and structured around these isolated farmstead each of which was surrounded by vast fields necessary to sustain the individual farms livestock (Byock 28-30). The whole island was also connected with an extensive system of horse paths leading to almost every part of the country and creating a serviceable communications web (Byock 46). Prominent settlers in this early society often established addition small, self-sustaining farms to provide resources to the main farmstead (Byock 31). Skalla-Grimm exemplifies this concept with his three additional farms established in outlying areas where there is easy access to resources that can be taken back to the main farmstead. Skalla-Grimm gained great prestige and wealth through this system of amassing resources from multiple areas outside his main homestead, making him one of the most prominent families in Iceland. One of Skalla-Grimm s farms, mentions earlier, was built at Álftanes, where he could send his men out to hunt seals and gather eggs (Jones 81). He also established another farm at Akrar, on the west coast where driftwood often washed up, but he also used it for agriculture (Byock 29). The last of Skalla-Grimm s supplementary farms mentioned in Egil s Saga was located in the mountains to maintain his livestock during the winter, as the grazing proved more substantial and effective in fattening his sheep.

4 In chapter 31 Skalla-Grimm and Bera are describes as having a lot of children but all of them dying. Eventually they had a son, Thorolf, who becomes strong and great, and he is well liked by all. They also had two girls and another son, Egil, who opposite of his brother, was ugly and had dark hair like his father. Egil is also known for his quick temper and he is said to have killed an opponent for beating and teasing him during a ball game when he was only seven years old, another opposition to his brother Thorolf s level headedness (Jones 99). When Skalla-Grimm and his family are invited to visit Bera s father, Yngvar, Skalla-Grimm refuses to let Egil go because he is secretly ashamed of him, and given is uncontrollable actions at home, he would hate for his son to embarrass him in from of his father-in-law. Egil goes anyways however, stealing a horse and following behind them at a distance. He is graciously welcomed by Yngvar and is even given a seat next to Yngvar at the table. Yngvar then awards Egil with gifts for his skills in verse that night at dinner. Egil s Saga further recounts the life of Egil Skalla- Grimmson, from the time he inherits his father s lands and chattels to his death. The origin of Egil s Saga is also of import to the history of Borg, as the author lived at Borg himself for a time. Credited with the writing of Egil s Saga is a late descendant of the Mýramenn family, Snorri Sturluson. Born generations after Egil s death, in the year 1179, Snorri Sturluson was the offspring of Sturla and Guðný Böðvarsdóttir, a direct descendant of Egil Skalla-Grímmson (Wanner 16). Sturla was very skilled in prosecuting law to his benefit and the benefit of others (Wanner 17). During one particularly heated dispute Jón Loptsson, the head of the powerful Oddaverjar family in Southwestern Iceland, intervened convincing Sturla to agree to a lower settlement with the addition that his opponent will foster his two-year old son Snorri (Wanner 18). Snorri was therefore raised and educated at Oddi, thirteenthcentury Iceland s premier centre of learning and culture (Wanner 18). He excelled at prosecuting and arguing his point in court just like his father Sturla and through this he acquire a marriage into a wealthy family, as well as the possession over his first goði. In 1202 he moved to Borg, former home of his ancestor Egil Skalla-Grimmson and he began to increase his power, gaining multiple goðorðs, until his power soon stretched over most of the Borgarfjörðr. Not only was he a skilled arguer, he also had a gift for verse, not unlike Egil himself and he is credited with writing a number of other text besides Egil s Saga.

5 Borg á Mýrum Bibliography Arge, Sí, et al. "Viking and Medieval Settlement in the Faroes: People, Place and Environment." Human Ecology: An Interdisciplinary Journal 33.5 (2005): Print. Byock, Jesse L. Viking Age Iceland / Jesse L. Byock. London ; New York : Penguin, 2001, Print. Erlendsson, Egill, Kevin J. Edwards, and Paul C. Buckland. "Vegetational Response to Human Colonisation of the Coastal and Volcanic Environments of Ketilsstaðir, Southern Iceland." Quaternary Research 72.2 (2009): Print. Sturluson, Snorri, and Gwyn Jones. Egil's Saga. Syracuse, N.Y.] Published by the Syracuse University Press for the American-Scandinavian Foundation 1960], Print. Wanner, Kevin J. Snorri Sturluson and the Edda : The Conversion of Cultural Capital in Medieval Scandinavia. University of Toronto Press, Print.