Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Borgarnes
North of Akranes, the Ringroad covers a lonely and exposed 38km before reaching
BORGARNES
which, despite comprising little more than a few streets filling a narrow,
1500m-long peninsula, is the principal town of the Borgarfjörður region. Home to
barely two thousand people, Borgarnes not only enjoys a spectacular setting on a
narrow neck of land reaching out into the fjord but also has excellent views inland to
the glaciers of Eiríksjökull and Langjökull. Unlike most of Iceland's coastal settlements,
Borgarnes isn't dependent on fishing - powerful tidal currents in the fjord have put
paid to that - but is primarily a service centre for the surrounding dairy farmers who
rely on the town's slaughterhouse and good roads for their livelihoods. Its main claim
to fame is its historical association with the ninth-century settler, Skallagrímur
Kveldúlfsson, father of the pirate, thug and poet
Egill Skallagrímsson
, hero of
Egill's
Saga
(see box below). Their lives and times are explored in a first-rate
museum
, while
plenty of Borgarnes' streets recall characters from the saga: Skallagrímsgata,
Kveldúlfsgata, Böðvarsgata and Egilsgata to name but a few.
3
EGILL'S SAGA
Few characters in literature have been as sharply drawn as the eponymous hero of
Egill's Saga
.
The story tells the life of the sullen, brutish and ugly
Egill Skallagrímsson
(c.910-990), whose
personality is glimpsed before he even appears in the tale, when both his grandfather and
father are revealed as “shape-shifters”, or werewolves. From his youth through to his dotage, Egill
is depicted as relentlessly mean and trouble-making, though also industrious, clever and a
gifted poet, and the final picture of him is of a remarkable and complex individual, who never
seeks an easy path through life. The saga was probably written by the thirteenth-century
politician
Snorri Sturluson
, and it's no coincidence that its central framework, that of a free
man stubbornly defying the might of the Norwegian throne, mirrored the political situation in
Iceland at the time of its composition, when Norway was attempting to annex the country.
Egill was born to Norwegian parents who had settled in Iceland to escape the wrath of their
king, Harald Fairhair. The most telling event of his youth is when his father
Skallagrímur
's
wolfish nature erupts during a ball game, and he tries to kill the 12-year-old. Egill's nurse saves
him, but both she and Egill's best friend are killed by Skallagrímur, and Egill's revenge is to
murder his father's favourite slave at dinner that night. A few months later, Egill makes the first
of many
Viking expeditions
, meeting the man who is to become his arch-enemy: King
Eirik
Bloodaxe
of Norway (c.895-954), Harald's son. Re-igniting the family feud, Egill falls out with
the king and manages to humiliate him publicly, kill his son and survive an attempt by Queen
Gunnhildur to poison him - all in one night. Having lost the respect of his subjects and been
shamed out of Norway, King Eirik takes up residence across the North Sea in Viking Jórvík
(York) only to receive an unexpected visitor - Egill has been shipwrecked on the Yorkshire
coast and decides to settle up with his foe. Although condemned to death, he composes a
poem in praise of the king and his life is spared.
After many successful years as a Viking, Egill returns to Iceland around 957 and settles down
as a farmer. Then tragedy strikes: his
sons
Böðvar and Gunnar die in accidents and Egill is so
distraught he decides to starve himself to death. But his daughter
Þorgerð
tricks him into
drinking some milk and composing a
poem
- known as
Sonatorrek
, “Lament for my sons”
- and he becomes so caught up in the work that his spirits revive.
According to the Saga Egill lived out his
final years
in Mosfell, just outside Reykjavík. There,
taunted by servants as he sits blind and incontinent by the fire, he plans one last act of mischief:
to take his hoard of Viking silver to the Alþing, and start a riot by scattering it among the crowds.
Frustrated in this by his daughter-in-law, one night Egill vanishes along with his loot and two
servants. He's found the next morning, stumbling blindly alone in the fields, and admits to
having hidden his treasure and killed the men. He dies later that year, irascible to the last, and is
eventually interred - as befits his violent, pagan life - at the boundary of Mosfell's churchyard.
