Forming bonds with followers in medieval Iceland: The cases of thordr kakali and thorgils skarði

This chapter discusses the ideas and practices of patron-client relationships in late commonwealth politics in Iceland as described in Sturlunga saga and other relevant sources through case studies on two prominent political figures, Thordr kakali (Thordar saga kakala) and Thorgils skardi (Thorgils saga skarda). In particular, it analyzes the role of feasts (veizlur) and gifts as demonstrative modes of communicating power and bonds, and examines how they circumscribed leader-follower relationships, commonly labeled friendship (vinátta). It is argued that feasts and gifts served primarily as a language of power within the uppermost layer of the political community and that they were primarily applied ad hoc and exclusively. The examples under review are somewhat anomalous in the Old Icelandic saga corpus in terms of the intensity and frequency of feasts and gifts, yet they appear to conform to the overall picture given in the Old Icelandic saga corpus of how feast and gifts were applied in political contexts.