Einarr Gilsson was an
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 ...
ic poet and official. He was the
lögmaður of northern and western Iceland from 1367 to 1369. He is mentioned already in letters dating from 1339 and 1340 but his years of birth and death are unknown. He appears to have lived in
Skagafjörður
Skagafjörður () is a deep fjord and its valley in northern Iceland.
Location
Skagafjörður, the fjord, is about 40 km long and 15 km wide, situated between Tröllaskagi to the east and the Skagi Peninsula to the west. There are t ...
.
[Finnur Jónsson (1924:13).]
Einarr was the author of
Ólafs ríma Haraldssonar, a
ríma on Saint
Óláfr Haraldsson consisting of 65 ''
ferskeytt
''Ferskeytt'' (literally 'four-cornered') is an Icelandic stanzaic poetic form. It is a kind of quatrain, and probably first attested in fourteenth-century ''rímur'' such as '' Ólafs ríma Haraldssonar''. It remains one of the dominant metrical ...
'' verses. Preserved in
Flateyjarbók
''Flateyjarbók'' (; "Book of Flatey") is an important medieval Icelandic manuscript. It is also known as GkS 1005 fol. and by the Latin name ''Codex Flateyensis''. It was commissioned by Jón Hákonarson and produced by the priests and scribes ...
, it is sometimes considered the earliest known ''ríma''.
[Finnur Jónsson (1924:13-14)] Einarr's other preserved works are poems on Bishop
Guðmundr Arason which have come down to us in
Guðmundar saga biskups
''Guðmundar saga biskups'' or ''Guðmundar saga Arasonar'' is an Icelandic bishops' saga, existing in several different versions, recounting the life of Bishop Guðmundur Arason (1161–1237). Since the saga survives in different versions, it is ...
by
Arngrímr Brandsson
Arngrímr Brandsson (died 13 October 1361) was an Icelandic cleric and writer.
Arngrímr‘s early life and career has long been the subject of debate; the evidence for it is sometimes contradictory. The synthesis of the evidence by Jón Helgason ...
. These consist of a biographical ''
dróttkvætt
In prosody, alliterative verse is a form of verse that uses alliteration as the principal ornamental device to help indicate the underlying metrical structure, as opposed to other devices such as rhyme. The most commonly studied traditions of a ...
'' poem on the bishop focusing on his wonder-working, a shorter ''
hrynhent
In prosody, alliterative verse is a form of verse that uses alliteration as the principal ornamental device to help indicate the underlying metrical structure, as opposed to other devices such as rhyme. The most commonly studied traditions of ...
'' poem on Guðmundr's conversations with archbishop
Þórir of Niðarós and a ''
flokkr'' on Guðmundr's struggle with the supernatural being
Selkolla Selkolla (literally 'seal-head') is a supernatural being in Icelandic folklore. She is described as a fair woman that is sometimes seen having the head of a seal. She is most prominently attested as an antagonist of Bishop Guðmundur Arason (1161 ...
.
[Finnur Jónsson (1924:14).]
Finnur Jónsson
Finnur Jónsson (May 29, 1858 – March 30, 1934) was an Icelandic-Danish philologist and Professor of Nordic Philology at the University of Copenhagen. He made extensive contributions to the study of Old Norse literature.
Finnur Jónsson was b ...
characterized Einarr's poetry as "dry narratives without any poetic flight" and that as a poet Einarr is to be rated "on the whole, not highly".
["Som digter står han i det hele ikke höjt", Finnur Jónsson (1924:14).]
Notes
References
*Finnur Jónsson (1924). ''Den oldnorske og oldislandske litteraturs historie. Anden udgave.'' Tredje bind. København: G. E. C. Gads forlag.
External links
Einarr GilssonPreserved ''dróttkvætt'' and ''hrynhent'' works
Entry at the Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Einarr Gilsson
Icelandic poets
Skalds
Year of death unknown
14th-century Icelandic people
Year of birth unknown
14th-century Icelandic poets