| Form of Saga used for contemporary history in the thirteenth century | 246 |
| The historians, Ari (1067–1148) and Snorri (1178–1241) | 248 |
| The Life of King Sverre, by Abbot Karl Jónsson | 249 |
| Sturla (c. 1214–1284), his history of Iceland in his own time (Islendinga or Sturlunga Saga) | 249 |
| The matter ready to his hand | 250 |
| Biographies incorporated in Sturlunga: Thorgils and Haflidi | 252 |
| Sturlu Saga | 253 |
| The midnight raid (a.d. 1171) | 254 |
| Lives of Bishop Gudmund, Hrafn, and Aron | 256 |
| Sturla's own work (Islendinga Saga) | 257 |
| The burning of Flugumyri | 259 |
| Traces of the heroic manner | 264 |
| The character of this history brought out by contrast with Sturla's other work, the Life of King Hacon of Norway | 267 |
| Norwegian and Icelandic politics in the thirteenth century | 267 |
| Norway more fortunate than Iceland—the history less interesting | 267 |
| Sturla and Joinville contemporaries | 269 |
| Their methods of narrative compared | 270 |
