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En þeir Hákon konungur og Skúli jarl gerðu Snorra lendan mann sin. Var það mest ráð þeirra jrals og Snorra. En Snorri skyldi leita við Íslendinga að þeir snerust til hlýðni við Noregshödðingja (Sturl. 263)1 ["But King Hákon and Jarl Skúli then made Snorri their landed-man, and Snorri and the jarl were chiefly responsible for this. But Snorri was then to try to persuade the Icelanders to give themselves into the protection of the Norwegian rulers" (Sturlunga saga, McGrew 172)]. Thus reads the Sturlunga saga on the reason for Snorri's return to Iceland in 1220. Partly because of the strong opposition Snorri faced and his lack of enthusiasm for proselytizing, this attempt to render Iceland loyal to the Norwegian crown proved unsuccessful (HsH 59).2 Nonetheless it was repeated throughout the following decades. Like new Theobrands,3 Icelandic chieftains loyal to the king were regularly sent back to Iceland entrusted with the task of persuading Icelanders to pay taxes and swear allegiance to the king of Norway: Sturla Sighvatsson in 1235; Tord Sighvatsson in 1247; Þorgils Skarði Boðvarsson, Finnbjörn Helgason, and Gissur Torvaldsson in the mid-1250s; and Hravn Oddson in the 1260s. Finally, in 1262-64, Icelanders submitted to the Norwegian crown (Sturl. 2: 319). The aim and strategy pursued by the Norwegian king in Iceland in the mid-thirteenth century was of annexation through persuasion. While the embassy of officials represented one block in the king's strategy, the king relied equally on the weapon of political propaganda to influence the Icelandic population to accept royal authority.
This study aims to explore the role of political literature in this enterprise. In particular I will examine a work written between 1240 and 1260 at the court of King Hákon Hákonsson: Konungs skuggsiá [The King's Mirror]. I will argue in this article that this text was used as propaganda for the Norwegian king's policy of expansion in Iceland. I contend that the work addressed the political situation in Iceland before its annexation. At that time, Iceland was torn apart by internal feuds and political rivalry. This instability was greatly profitable for the Norwegian monarchy, which endeavored to increase its authority on the island or indeed simply to annex it. In the following, I will examine in particular an allegory present in...