Hildr or Ragnhildr Hrólfsdóttir was a 9th-century woman who is referenced in various

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlemen ...

sources including ''

Óláfs saga helga ''Óláfs saga helga'' or the ''Saga of St. Olaf'', written in several versions, is one of kings' sagas (''konunga sǫgur'') on the subject of King Olaf Haraldsson the Saint. List of saga versions *''Oldest Saga of St. Olaf'', ca. 1190, mostly ...

'', '' Orkneyinga saga'', and ''

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 ove ...

'' and is also one of the few female skalds from whom verses survive. According to the sagas, Hild was the daughter of Rolv Nefia (''Hrólfr nefja''),

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 ...

at Trondhjem (modern

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, and ...

). In the ''Orkneyinga saga'', the daughter of Rolv Nefia is called Ragnhild, although in the ''Heimskringla'' she is called Hild. Her father used to go on

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 ...

expeditions. One summer he plundered in Vík. This aroused King

Harald Fairhair Harald Fairhair no, Harald hårfagre Modern 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 Nor ...

's anger and he was banished. Hild appealed unsuccessfully for clemency for her father. On this occasion she composed a skaldic stanza (''

lausavísa In Old Norse poetry and later Icelandic poetry, a ''lausavísa'' (pl. ''lausavísur'') is a single stanza composition, or a set of stanzas unconnected by narrative or thematic continuity. Lausavísur are often introduced in the text of sagas ...

''), which is one of the few examples of skaldic poetry composed by a woman that have come down to us. She was married to

Rognvald Eysteinsson Rognvald Eysteinsson (''fl.'' 865) was the founding Jarl (or Earl) of Møre in Norway, and a close relative and ally of Harald Fairhair, the earliest known King of Norway. In the Norse language he is known as Rǫgnvaldr Eysteinsson (''Mǿrajarl ...

, who was the jarl of Møre. They had three sons: Ivar (''Ívarr''), Thorir (''Þórir''), and Rolv (''Hrólfr''). Thorir succeeded his father as jarl of Møre. Rolv (''Hrólfr''), nicknamed ''Gǫngu-Hrólfr'' (Rolv the Walker), became known as

Rollo of Normandy Rollo ( nrf, Rou, ''Rolloun''; non, Hrólfr; french: Rollon; died between 928 and 933) was a Viking who became the first ruler of Normandy, today a region in northern France. He emerged as the outstanding warrior among the Norsemen who had se ...

. The death of Ivar during an earlier campaign in support of King Harald Fairhair resulted in the

Northern Isles The Northern Isles ( sco, Northren Isles; gd, Na h-Eileanan a Tuath; non, Norðreyjar; nrn, Nordøjar) are a pair of archipelagos off the north coast of mainland Scotland, comprising Orkney and Shetland. They are part of Scotland, as are th ...

(''Norðreyar'') being gifted to his family as compensation. According to the ''

Historia Norvegiae Historia may refer to: * Historia, the local version of the History channel in Spain and Portugal * Historia (TV channel), a Canadian French language specialty channel * Historia (newspaper), a French monthly newspaper devoted to History topics * ...

'', Rognvald's family conquered Orkney and the Shetland Islands in the late 9th century.

References

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