Olvir Hnufa or ''Ölvir hnúfa'' 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 ...
commander in a clan and
poet
A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...
of the late ninth and early tenth centuries, known from, among other sources, ''
Egil's 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 yea ...
'', ''
Skaldatal'' and the ''
Prose Edda
The ''Prose Edda'', also known as the ''Younger Edda'', ''Snorri's Edda'' ( is, Snorra Edda) or, historically, simply as ''Edda'', is an Old Norse textbook written in Iceland during the early 13th century. The work is often assumed to have been t ...
''. Olvir was the son of 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 ...
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 Olvir's sister
Salbjorg Karadottir; he was thus uncle to
Skallagrim 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
Egil Skallagrimsson
Egil or Egill is a masculine given name derived from Old Norse. It may refer to:
Characters
*Egil (Hymiskvida), farmer in the poem ''Hymiskvida''
*Egil, brother of Volund, hero of Völundarkviða and the Thidreks saga
*Egil One-Hand, hero from the ...
. Olvir also had a brother named
Eyvind Lambi
Eyvind Lambi or ''Eyvind Lamb'' was a Norwegian Viking and hersir of the late ninth and early tenth centuries, known from, among other sources, ''Egils saga''. Eyvind was the son of the Viking Berle-Kari and brother-in-law of Kveldulf Bjalfason, ...
. Olvir was a prominent member of the court of 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 ...
, who united
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 in the late ninth or early tenth century. Among other famous poets, he served as one of King Harald's court poets. He also served as a warrior in Harald's retinue, and fought at the pivotal
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 ...
on the king'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 ...
. He is best known for his involvement in the conflict between Harald and Olvir's kinsman Thorolf Kveldulfsson, which ended with the latter's death. Only a few fragments of Olvir's poetry survive.
Name
The name ''Ölvir'' has been defined as "priest of the shrine/sanctuary". His nickname "hnufa" is something of a mystery. It is sometimes translated as
hump
The mountains and hills of the British Isles are categorised into various lists based on different combinations of elevation, prominence, and other criteria such as isolation. These lists are used for peak bagging, whereby hillwalkers attempt ...
; it is unknown whether this described a
physical condition. However, it can also mean "snub", as in snub-nosed.
Vigfusson pointed out that under Nordic law, "'hnufa' refers to a bondmaid whose nose has been cut off for theft thrice repeated; as a nickname it must refer to some hurt" suffered by Olvir.
Career
Most of Olvir Hnufa's life is covered in three sagas, Egil's saga, Skaldatal and Prose Edda. Egils saga spans the years 850-1000 and covers the saga of the ancestors of Egill Skallagrímsson, including Olvir Hnufa. Skaldatal are poetries from Prose Edda about court poets. Prose Edda is an saga from the 13th century about the norse mythology, which is used to explain poetry from that era.
Viking career
Olvir and Eyvind joined their 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 ...
in
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, an ...
, 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 ...
in
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 So ...
. The jarl refused Olvir permission to marry the girl, but he was so smitten that he abandoned his Viking life to be near her. A poet of some talent, he composed a number of
love poem
Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings in a ...
s for Solveig. For reasons not revealed in ''Egil's Saga'', but probably related to his courtship of Solveig, Olvir was attacked and nearly killed in his home by Solveig's brothers shortly after King
Harald of Vestfold's conquest of
Møre. Atli did not long survive this encounter; after Harald Fairhair conquered Møre and
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 ...
he assigned the governance of the former 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 ...
and the latter to
Hákon Grjótgarðsson. Hákon and Atli soon came into conflict over Sogn and fought a battle at
Fjalir in
Stafaness Bay, in which Hakon was killed. Atli was severely wounded in the battle and taken to a nearby island, where he died.
Life in Harald's court
Fleeing his attackers, Olvir joined King Harald's retinue as a court poet, a post he would hold for many years along with such notables as
Þorbjörn Hornklofi
Þórbjǫrn Hornklofi (Modern Norwegian: ''Torbjørn Hornklove'') was a 9th-century Norwegian skald and one of the court poet of King Harald Fairhair. His poetry has sometimes been regarded as a contemporary source of information regarding King Har ...
and
Þjóðólfr of Hvinir
Þjóðólfr ór Hvini (anglicized as Thjódólf of Hvinir or Thiodolf; fl. late 9th–early 10th c. AD), was a Norwegian skald, said to have been one of the court-poets of the semi-legendary Norwegian king Harald Fairhair. His name suggests that ...
.
Olvir mollified the king's rage when Kveldulf refused to come pay homage by convincing Thorolf to join Harald's
clan
A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship
and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clans may claim descent from founding member or apical ancestor. Clans, in indigenous societies, tend to be endogamous, meaning ...
, or armed retinue. Along with Thorolf and Eyvind Lambi, Olvir fought on Harald's ship 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 ...
(probably around 885). Over the years, both as a result of slander by Thorolf's enemies, and of Thorolf's growing popularity and power in northern Norway, Harald began to see him as a threat; despite Olvir's continuous attempts to ameliorate the deterioration in the relationship between the two.
Even when the king attacked Thorolf's farm, Olvir still pleaded to save his kinsman's life. After Thorolf was killed by Harald, the king gave his body to Olvir for burial. Olvir tried to convince Harald to pay
damages
At common law, damages are a remedy in the form of a monetary award to be paid to a claimant as compensation for loss or injury. To warrant the award, the claimant must show that a breach of duty has caused foreseeable loss. To be recognised at ...
for Thorolf but the king consistently refused, claiming that Thorolf was a traitor. Ultimately, Olvir went to
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 ...
to tell Kveldulf and
Skallagrim Kveldulfsson of Thorolf's death. Skallagrim went with Olvir to King Harald after Thorolf's murder. He demanded payment for damages, which resulted in his being chased out of the king's court. Together with his father Kveldulf, and their kinsman
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 ...
, Skalla-Grimr took revenge by killing those of Harald's servants who took part in Thorolf's killing before fleeing to
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 ...
.
Following these events, Olvir begged Harald to permit him to leave the court and return to his own estate, saying that he had "no desire to sit with the men who murdered Thorolf". The king, however, refused, and, in the words of William Pencak, "Olvir, the would-be peacemaker who sold out to the king, is condemned to a life of praising his family's murderers."
Olvir's subsequent fate is not recorded. There is no record of his ever having married or having had children.
The ''
Hauksbók
Hauksbók (; 'Book of Haukr'), Reykjavík, Stofnun Árna Magnússonar AM 371 4to, AM 544 4to and AM 675 4to, is an Icelandic manuscript, now in three parts but originally one, dating from the 14th century. It was created by the Icelander Haukr E ...
'' contains a tale called the ''
Skaldasaga Haralds harfagra'' ("Saga of the poets of Harald Fairhair") describing an expedition to
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
undertaken by Olvir,
Thorbjorn Hornklofi, and
Audun Ill-skald to expiate an offense. Its historicity is disputed.
Poetry
Olvir is quoted by
Snorri Sturluson
Snorri Sturluson ( ; ; 1179 – 22 September 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was elected twice as lawspeaker of the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He is commonly thought to have authored or compiled portions of the ...
in the ''
Skaldskaparmal'' as having composed the following
poetic fragment about the god
Thor
Thor (; from non, Þórr ) is a prominent god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred groves ...
: ''"Æstisk allra landa umbgjörð ok sonr Jarðar."'' ("The encircler of all lands
he_Midgard_Serpent_or_Jörmungandr.html" ;"title="Midgard.html" ;"title="he Midgard">he Midgard Serpent or Jörmungandr">Midgard.html" ;"title="he Midgard">he Midgard Serpent or Jörmungandr ] and Jörð, Iord's son [Thor] became violent.") Another poetic fragment attributed to him in the ''
Skaldatal'' reads: ''"Maðr skyldi þó molda megja hverr of þegja kenni-seiðs þó at kynni klepp-dæg Hárrs lægvar."'' ("Yet every man should know how to hold his peace even though -").
William Pencak compared Olvir's poetic career unfavorably with that of his grandnephew Egil: "A tyrant needs insincere poets to praise him, and Olvir's career illustrates the problem of artists and thinkers serving political ends ... the saga does not quote any of his poems. First Olvir is the slave of a woman, then of a king. The difference between his poetry and Egil's will demonstrate the opportunities for talent a free society opens up."
[Pencak 83.]
Notes
References
*Cleasby, Richard and Guðbrandur Vigfusson. ''An Icelandic-English Dictionary''. Clarendon Press, 1874.
*Harris, George William and Halldor Hermannsson et al., eds. ''Islandica: an Annual Relating to Iceland and the Fiske Icelandic Collection''. Vol. 1. Cornell University Library, 1908.
*Jochens, Jenny. "The Illicit Love Visit: An Archaeology of Old Norse Sexuality". ''Journal of the History of Sexuality''. Vol. 1, No. 3 (University of Texas Press, Jan. 1991), pp. 357–392.
*Pencak, William. ''The Conflict of Law and Justice in the Icelandic Sagas''. Rodopi, 1995.
*Peterson, Lena.
Nordisk runnamnslexikon' (2002).
*Snorri Sturluson. "Skaldskaparmal". ''
Prose Edda
The ''Prose Edda'', also known as the ''Younger Edda'', ''Snorri's Edda'' ( is, Snorra Edda) or, historically, simply as ''Edda'', is an Old Norse textbook written in Iceland during the early 13th century. The work is often assumed to have been t ...
''. trans: Jean Young. Bowes & Bowes, 1954.
*Thorsson, Örnólfur, et al. "Egil's Saga". ''The Sagas of the Icelanders''. trans: Bernard Scudder (Penguin Classics, 2000).
*Vigfusson, Guðbrandur and Frederick York Powell. ''Corpus Poeticum Boreale: The Poetry of the Northern Tongue from the Earliest Times to the Thirteenth Century''. Clarendon Press, 1883.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Olvir Hnufa
9th-century births
10th-century deaths
9th-century Norwegian poets
Norwegian male poets
9th-century Vikings
10th-century Norwegian poets