Þorgils skarði Böðvarsson (Thorgils Bodhvarsson, 1226 - 1258) was a medieval warlord from Iceland who played a significant role during the Icelandic civil war, a historical episode known as Sturlungaöld. He belonged to the Sturlungar family clan and was the son of Böðvar Þórðarson. His nickname skarði refers to a birth defect, because he had a cleft lip.
In 1244 Þorgils traveled to Norway and was in the service of the court of Haakon IV, whose doctor proposed to rectify his lip in what is known as the first plastic surgery practiced on an Icelandic. In 1252 the king entrusted to Gissur Þorvaldsson the task of subjecting Iceland to the Norwegian crown and Þorgils did the same according to the commitment of his uncle Snorri Sturluson in Reykholt, Borgarfjörður. He was inflexible and hard-headed, unpopular and finally expelled from Snæfellsnes and denied the inheritance of his father in Staðastaður.
When Gissur returned to Norway after the Flugumýrarbrenna tragedy, Þorgils tried to gain control of Skagafjörður because he considered that he had legitimate rights over the properties of the Asbirningar clan, but Eyjólfur ofsi Þorsteinsson also claimed exactly the same. They fought at the battle of Þverarfundur (1255) where Eyjólfur died in combat. Later Þorgils became the most powerful caudillo of all Norðlendingafjórðungur (the northern region). But soon it would enter in conflict with another clan, the Svínfellingar when Þorvarður Þórarinsson reclaimed the inheritance of Þórður kakali Sighvatsson. The dispute ended with the death of Þorgils on January 22, 1258.
Her story is told in Þorgils saga skarða of the Sturlunga saga. Bibliography
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