The Word and the World: A Resonant Textual Fragment of Íslendinga Saga (original) (raw)

Þórðr Sturluson tók sótt á föstunni, er á leið. Var þá sent eftir Böðvari, syni hans, ok þar váru þá við allir synir hans ok margir vinir. Ámundi Bergsson gekk naest honum ok talaði flest við hann. En er sóttin herði at honum, bað Ámundi hann þá skipa til um eignir sínar. En Þórðr bað þá Hauk prest Auðunarson vita við Böðvar, hvern veg honum vaeri gefit um tilskipan hans, "því at hann er arfi minn." En Böðvarr bað hann skipa öllum sem honum líkaði. Síðan lét Þórðr hafa hundrað hundraða hvárn þeira, Óláf ok Sturlu, en átta tigu hundraða hvárn, Þórð ok Guttorm. Valgerðr hafði ok hundrað hundraða, en hver daetra [hans] fjóra tigu hundraða. En Böðvarr hlaut þá enn fimm hundruð hundraða. Sturla hafði Eyri ok skyldi þá þegar taka við búi. Eftir þat var hann óleaðr, er hann hafði til skipat. En hann andaðist föstudag fyrir pálmasunnudag at miðjum degi ok söng í andlátinu: Pater, in manus tuas commendo spiritum meum-eftir Hauki presti. Lík Þórðar var þar jarðat á Eyri, sem hann hafði fyrir sagt, fyrir framan kirkjuna. Hann hafði tvá vetr ins átta tigar, er hann andaðist. (Þórðr Sturluson fell ill towards the end of Lent. His son Böðvarr was sent for, and so all his sons and many friends were with him. Ámundi Bergsson was very close to him and talked with him a good deal. When he grew more ill, Ámundi asked him to make arrangements about his property. Þórðr asked Haukr Auðunarson the priest to inquire if his disposition of the property would please Böðvarr, "for he is my heir." Böðvarr asked him to apportion to everybody as he wished. Then Þórðr gave Óláfr and Sturla one hundred hundreds each, and Þórðr and Guttormr each eighty hundreds. Valgerðr also received one hundred hundreds, and each of his daughters forty hundreds. Böðvarr still had five hundred hundreds. Sturla received Eyrr and was to take over the farm at once. Then Þórðr was given extreme unction as he had instructed. He died on the Friday before Palm Sunday at midday, and as he passed away he sang "Pater, in manus tuas commendo spiritum meum"-with Haukr the priest. Þórðr was buried there at Eyrr as he had instructed, in front of the church. He was seventy-two years old when he died.) Such is the description of the death of Þórðr Sturluson in ch. 120 of Íslendinga saga (The Saga of Icelanders). 1 Þórðr died of an illness in 1237.