Steinvör Sighvatsdóttir

Steinvör Sighvatsdóttir (early 13th-century – 17 October 1271), was the politically most influential woman in Iceland in the Age of the Sturlungs. She was also a skáldkona (poet), and the only woman listed in Skáldatal.

Steinvör´s parents were Sighvatr Sturluson, leader of the Sturlungs, and Halldóra, daughter of Tumi Kolbeinsson, headman of the Ásbirningar family clan. Tumi´s successor, Kolbeinn Tumason, was her uncle, and his successor, Kolbeinn ungi Arnórsson, was a cousin. Steinvör considered herself a Sturlung. She had two sisters and seven brothers; among them Sturla Sighvatsson and Þórðr kakali.

In 1230 Steinvör married Hálfdan Sæmundsson, the son of Sæmundr Jónsson, goði at Oddi. The couple settled on the estate Keldur in Rangárvellir. Hálfdan was, according to the Sturlunga Saga, a peaceful man who preferred the calm of his own farm to getting involved in contemporary politics. Steinvör, who supported the Sturlungs, seems to have put up with this – at least as long as her own dynasty prospered.

But in 1238 the Sturlungs suffered a crushing defeat in the battle of Örlygsstaðir, where Steinvör´s father and four brothers were killed. When her brother Þórðr kakali returned four years later from Norway to take revenge and restore the lost power of the Sturlungs, he first sought refuge with his sister at Keldur. According to Þórðar saga kakala he reckoned that Steinvör "who was a very powerful woman, certainly would prompt her husband to act". So she did. She even threatened to hand over the fatabúr (storeroom) keys (i.e. the symbol of a married woman) to him and take up arms herself if he did not help her brother. The peaceful Hálfdan relented, but was still cautious and refused as long as possible to take open position in the conflict.

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