Haukr Erlendsson

Haukr or Hauk Erlendsson (died 1334; Modern ) was lawspeaker (lawman) of Iceland, later lawspeaker and knight of Norway, known for having compiled a number of Icelandic sagas and other materials mostly in his own hand, bound in a book called the Hauksbók after him.

Life

Hauk was born the son of aka Erlend digre "the fat," who died 1312. The year of Haukr's birth is not known, whose ancestry is traceable to a brother of King Halfr of Hordaland, hero of Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka.

Hauk may have been an illegitimate offspring, although the question of whether his mother was Erlend's "first wife or mistress" is an open speculation. At any rate it is clear Hauk had a stepmother at some point, since Jarngerd is called Erlend's wife in the Landnamabók and this Jarngerd was beyond doubt the wife who survived Erlend's death in 1312. Hauk also had a half-sister named Valgerd, born to Jarngerd.

Hauk married Steinunn, a descendant of Hrafn Sveinbjornsson.

Hauk's father Erlend became lawspeaker (lögmaðr) of Iceland in 1287, went overseas in 1289, retired as lawspeaker and was awarded the Westfjords in 1290 or 1292 according to some sources. Somewhere along, though not in his early years, Hauk was educated abroad in Norway, where "he owes his whole education". at any rate, Hauk serving in Norway is addressed as "herra" in a 1309 letter, and in a letter dating from 1311, he is called "the lawspeaker of the Gula Thing and knight."

Works The Hauksbók is a compilation that includes Icelandic sagas and a redaction of the Landnámabók, as well as an arithmetical treatise called the Algorismus. Among the sagas included is a version of Eiríks saga rauða, which includes the accounts of the exploration and the attempted colonization in the American continent by Thorfinn Karlsefni, whom Hauk counts as one of his ancestors. He also penned "Hauk's Annals," which chronicled the events of his lifetime. |THORFINN=Thorfinn Karlsefni

Tree chart | |GRANDPA|y|VALGERD|GRANDPA=Olaf(?)

Footnotes

Explanatory notes