Eyvind Lambi or ''Eyvind Lamb'' was a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

and

hersir A Hersir was a local Viking military commander of a ''hundred'' (a county subdivision) of about 100 men and owed allegiance to a jarl or king. They were also aspiring landowners, and, like the middle class in many feudal societies, supported the k ...

of the late ninth and early tenth centuries, known from, among other sources, ''

Egils saga ''Egill's Saga'' or ''Egil's saga'' ( non, Egils saga ; ) is an Icelandic saga (family saga) on the lives of the clan of Egill Skallagrímsson (Anglicised as Egill Skallagrimsson), an Icelandic farmer, viking and skald. The saga spans the years ...

''. Eyvind was the son of the Viking

Berle-Kari Berle-Kari (Berle-Kåre; non, Berðlu-Kári) was a viking chieftain who lived in ninth-century Norway. His home was at Berle (Old Norse: ''Berðla''), in present-day Bremanger in Sogn og Fjordane county. ''Landnámabók'' names him as the son of Ve ...

and brother-in-law of

Kveldulf Bjalfason Ulf Bjalfason (Úlfr Bjálfason) (better known as Kveldulf, Old Norse for "Night Wolf") was a renowned hersir and landowner in ninth century Sogn, Norway. He is a main character in the early chapters of ''Egils saga'' and appears in the ''Landnámab ...

, who married Eyvind's sister Salbjorg Karadottir; he was thus uncle to

Skalla-Grímr usually called Skalla-Grímr, , "bald Grim" * * Modern Norwegian ** Bokmål: was a Norwegian who lived in the ninth and tenth centuries. He is an important character in ''Egils saga'' and is mentioned in the ''Landnámabók''.''Landnámabók'' ...

and

Thorolf Kveldulfsson Thorolf Kveldulfsson was the oldest son of Kveldulf Bjalfasson and brother of the Norwegian/Icelandic goði and skald Skalla-Grimr. His ancestor (great uncle) Hallbjorn was nicknamed "halftroll", possibly indicating Norwegian-Sami ancestry. H ...

and great uncle to the famous poet

Egill Skallagrímsson Egil Skallagrímsson (Old Norse: ; Modern Icelandic: ; 904 995) was a Viking Age war poet, sorcerer, berserker, and farmer.Thorsson, 3 He is known mainly as the anti-hero of ''Egils saga, Egil's Saga''. ''Egil's Saga'' historically narrates a p ...

. Eyvind also had a brother named

Olvir Hnufa Olvir Hnufa or ''Ölvir hnúfa'' was a Norwegian commander in a clan and poet of the late ninth and early tenth centuries, known from, among other sources, ''Egil's Saga'', '' Skaldatal'' and the ''Prose Edda''. Olvir was the son of the viking B ...

, who became a famous

skald A skald, or skáld (Old Norse: , later ; , meaning "poet"), is one of the often named poets who composed skaldic poetry, one of the two kinds of Old Norse poetry, the other being Eddic poetry, which is anonymous. Skaldic poems were traditionally ...

at the court of King

Harald I of Norway Harald Fairhair no, Harald hårfagreModern Icelandic: ( – ) was a Norwegian king. According to traditions current in Norway and Iceland in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, he reigned from 872 to 930 and was the first King of Norw ...

Viking career

Like his brother Olvir, Eyvind joined his nephew Thorolf Kveldulfsson on a number of Viking expeditions after the latter received a

longship Longships were a type of specialised Scandinavian warships that have a long history in Scandinavia, with their existence being archaeologically proven and documented from at least the fourth century BC. Originally invented and used by the Nors ...

as a gift from his father Kveldulf. They gained a great deal of profit from such voyages. At a

thing Thing or The Thing may refer to: Philosophy * An object * Broadly, an entity * Thing-in-itself (or ''noumenon''), the reality that underlies perceptions, a term coined by Immanuel Kant * Thing theory, a branch of critical theory that focuses ...

Gaular Gaular is a former municipality in Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway. It was located in the traditional district of Sunnfjord. The administrative centre was the village of Sande. Other villages in the municipality included Bygstad, Hestad, and V ...

, Olvir fell in love with Solveig Atladottir, the daughter of a

jarl Jarl is a rank of the nobility in Scandinavia. In Old Norse, it meant "chieftain", particularly a chieftain set to rule a territory in a king's stead. ''Jarl'' could also mean a sovereign prince. For example, the rulers of several of the petty k ...

Fjordane Sogn og Fjordane (; English: "Sogn and Fjordane") was, up to 1 January 2020, a county in western Norway, when it was merged to become part of Vestland county. Bordering previous counties Møre og Romsdal, Oppland, Buskerud, and Hordaland, the cou ...

named

Atli the Slender Atli the Slender (Old Norse: ''Atli hinn Mjovi'') was a ninth-century Norwegian jarl mentioned in several Old Norse sources, including ''Heimskringla'' and ''Egils saga''. Atli was the son of Hundolf, a jarl of Gaular in Fjordane. His sister was S ...

. The jarl refused Olvir permission to marry the girl, but he was so smitten that he abandoned his Viking life to be near her. Eyvind continued to voyage with Thorolf for some time thereafter.

Harald's retainer

Together with Thorolf, Eyvind made his way to the court of King Harald of

Vestfold Vestfold is a traditional region, a former county and a current electoral district in Eastern Norway. In 2020 the county became part of the much larger county of Vestfold og Telemark. Located on the western shore of the Oslofjord, it bordered th ...

, who was in the process of conquering the Norwegian kingdoms and uniting

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

under his rule. His brother Olvir had already joined the court as a skald. However, after swearing allegiance to King Harald, Eyvind returned home with his father Kari. With Olvir and Thorolf, Eyvind fought at the

Battle of Hafrsfjord The Battle of Hafrsfjord ( no, Slaget i Hafrsfjord) was a great naval battle fought in Hafrsfjord sometime between 872 and 900 that resulted in the unification of Norway, later known as the Kingdom of Norway. After the battle, the victorious Vikin ...

(c. 872/885) aboard Harald's

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...

. Eyvind is thereafter not mentioned until the death of Thorolf at the hands of King Harald (c. 900), at which time he administered to those wounded in the battle. Eyvind assisted Thorolf's widow Sigrid in administering her estates.''Egil's Saga'' § 22 (Thorsson 37). He subsequently married Sigrid on King Harald's orders. ''Egil's Saga'' relates that Eyvind and Harald "remained friends for the rest of their lives."

Family

With Sigrid Eyvind had two children mentioned in Egil's Saga: Finn Eyvindsson "the Squinter" and Geirlaug Eyvindsdottir. Finn married Gunnhild, daughter of a

named Halfdan and maternal granddaughter of King Harald. Their children included Eyvindr skáldaspillir, court

Haakon the Good Haakon Haraldsson (c. 920–961), also Haakon the Good (Old Norse: ''Hákon góði'', Norwegian: ''Håkon den gode'') and Haakon Adalsteinfostre (Old Norse: ''Hákon Aðalsteinsfóstri'', Norwegian: ''Håkon Adalsteinsfostre''), was the king of ...

. Another son, Njal Finnsson, settled in

Hålogaland Hålogaland was the northernmost of the Norway, Norwegian provinces in the medieval Norse sagas. In the early Viking Age, before Harald Fairhair, Hålogaland was a Monarchy, kingdom extending between the Namdalen valley in Trøndelag county and ...

; his daughter was Astrid Nialsdotter, who appears in the '' Hervarar saga''. Another daughter, Rannveig, is mentioned in the ''

Landnámabók (, "Book of Settlements"), often shortened to , is a medieval Icelandic written work which describes in considerable detail the settlement () of Iceland by the Norse in the 9th and 10th centuries CE. is divided into five parts and over ...

''. She is said to have married Sighvat the Red, a nobleman from Halogaland who settled in Bolstad,

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

near

Ketil Trout Ketil Trout, known in Old Norse as ''Ketill hængr'' (Modern Icelandic Ketil Hæng), is the name of several figures from Norse folklore. Two are especially prominent: * Ketil Trout of Hranista, also known as Ketil Trout of Halogaland, the hero of t ...

's landtaking. Rannveig and Sighvat had a number of children: (1) Sigmund Sighvatsson, who became the father of Mord Gig, Sigfus of Hlid, Lambi Sighvatsson, Rannveig, the wife of Hamund Gunnarsson, and Thorgerd, wife of Onund Bill; and (2) Barek Sighvatsson, the father of Thord, the father of Stein.''Landnámabók'' V:3 (Ellwood 192).

Notes

{{reflist

References

*Ari the Learned. ''The Book of the Settlement of Iceland'' ''(

)''. Ellwood, T., transl. Kendal: T. Wilson, Printer and Publisher, 1898. *Thorsson, Örnólfur, et al. "Egil's Saga." ''The Sagas of the Icelanders.'' trans: Bernard Scudder (Penguin Classics, 2000). 9th-century births 10th-century deaths Viking warriors 10th-century Vikings