Vetrliði Sumarliðason (

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 ...

: ; Modern Icelandic: ) was a 10th-century Icelandic skald. He was the great-grandson of Ketill hængr ("salmon"), one of the settlers of

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 ...

. He lived in Fljótshlíð, in the south of the island. Vetrliði was pagan and opposed the conversion to Christianity. He composed defamatory verses ('' níð'') about

Þangbrandr Þangbrandr was a missionary sent to Iceland by king of Norway Óláfr Tryggvason to convert the inhabitants to Christianity. Snorri Sturluson described him as follows: Origins Þangbrandr's origins are uncertain. According to some sources, he ...

, a missionary sent to Iceland by

Óláfr Tryggvason Olaf Tryggvason (960s – 9 September 1000) was King of Norway from 995 to 1000. He was the son of Tryggvi Olafsson, king of Viken (Vingulmark, and Rånrike), and, according to later sagas, the great-grandson of Harald Fairhair, first King of No ...

. He was killed by the priest (or by the priest and his companion Guðleifr Arason). In some versions, another skald,

Þorvaldr veili Þorvaldr (inn) veili ("the Ailing") was an Icelandic skald who lived in the last part of the 10th century. The '' Brennu-Njáls saga'' relates the circumstances of his death. Þorvaldr was pagan and opposed the conversion to Christianity. Accordi ...

, was murdered for the same reason. A stanza was composed by an unknown author about Vetrliði's death: This episode is related in many sources: '' Kristni saga'', ''

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 ...

'', '' Brennu-Njáls saga'', Snorri Sturluson's ''

Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar ''Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar'' is the name of several kings' sagas on the life of Óláfr Tryggvason, a 10th-century Norwegian king. Latin lives of Óláfr Tryggvason were written by Oddr Snorrason and by Gunnlaugr Leifsson; both are now lost, but ...

'' and ''

Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta ''Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta'' or ''The Greatest Saga of Óláfr Tryggvason'' is generically a hybrid of different types of sagas and compiled from various sources in the fourteenth century, but is most akin to one of the kings' sagas. It ...

''. Only one stanza of his work survived, a ''

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 ...

'' praising

Thor Thor (; from non, Þórr ) is a prominent god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred groves and trees, strength, the protection of humankind, hallowing, an ...

for having killed

giants A giant is a being of human appearance, sometimes of prodigious size and strength, common in folklore. Giant(s) or The Giant(s) may also refer to: Mythology and religion *Giants (Greek mythology) *Jötunn, a Germanic term often translated as 'gi ...

and giantesses: :Thou didst break the leg of Leikn, :Didst cause to stoop

Starkad ''Starkad'' ( non, Starkaðr or ; Latin: ''Starcaterus''; in the Late Middle Ages also ''Starkodder''; modern Danish: ''Stærkodder'')The article ''Starkad'' in ''Nationalencyklopedin''. was either an eight-armed giant or the human grandson of ...

r, :Didst bruise Thrívaldi, :Didst stand on lifeless Gjálp. : ::—''Skáldskaparmál'' (11)
Brodeur's translation
ref> Brodeur, Arthur Gilchrist (trans.). 1916.
Snorri Sturluson: The Prose Edda
'. New York:

The American-Scandinavian Foundation The American-Scandinavian Foundation (ASF) is an American non-profit foundation dedicated to promoting international understanding through educational and cultural exchange between the United States and Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Swede ...

References

External links

Vetrliði's ''lausavísa'' in the original language.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vetrlidhi Sumarlidhason 10th-century Icelandic poets 999 deaths Icelandic male poets Year of birth unknown