xviii.
that he was called the ornament and support of the Icelandic church; and this not without sufficient reason, for he was by far the most learned and pious of all his cotemporaries.
He married a wife whose name was Gudruna, the daughter of Kolbein, by whom he had many children, who were esteemed among the most illustrious of the island. Sæmund himself was one of the governors, and shewed himself well qualified for that high office, in the dispute that took place between Thorgil the son of Odd, and Halfid the son of Mar. These were men of great power, and had engaged on their separate sides, almost all the nobility of the island; but by the good offices of Sæmund and others, they became speedily reconciled. To Sæmund it was, on account of his great knowledge in antiquity, that Arras,
