Fleetlithe
Fleetlithe is a district in Iceland, prominent in the later chapters of Njal's Saga as the home territory of the sons of Sigfus.
Fleetlithe is a district in Iceland, prominent in the later chapters of Njal's Saga as the home territory of the sons of Sigfus. After the burning of Njal's household, Fleetlithe becomes a focal point of the saga's revenge narrative.
Njal's Saga provides four attestations for Fleetlithe, all concentrated in the aftermath of the burning at Bergthorsknoll. The district first appears when witnesses report seeing "all the sons of Sigfus riding fully armed" coming down out of Fleetlithe and making for Threecorner ridge, fifteen strong (Njal's Saga, 126. Of Portents at Bergthorsknoll). This is surveillance, not action -- the district identified as the staging ground for armed men.
After the burning, the saga records a moment of strategic debate: "Then many men were eager that they should fare to Fleetlithe, and pull down the homesteads of all those who had been at those deeds" (Njal's Saga, 130. Of Kari Solmund's Son). Mord counsels against destruction, arguing that if the homesteads stand, the burners will return to see their wives and can be hunted down. This calculation -- leaving Fleetlithe intact as a trap rather than razing it in anger -- reveals the saga's characteristically cold approach to vengeance.
The final attestations record the sons of Sigfus looking after their homesteads in Fleetlithe during a journey, and others riding "till they came to Fleetlithe" (Njal's Saga, 135. Of Flosi and the Burners), confirming the district's continued role as a base of operations for the burning party.
Appears in: Places, Entities in Njál's Saga, Norse Tradition