Óttarr svarti ("Óttarr the Black") was an 11th-century Icelandic
skald
A skald, or skáld (Old Norse: ; , meaning "poet"), is one of the often named poets who composed skaldic poetry, one of the two kinds of Old Norse poetry in alliterative verse, the other being Eddic poetry. Skaldic poems were traditionally compo ...
. He was the court poet first of
Óláfr skautkonungr of Sweden, then of
Óláfr Haraldsson of Norway, the Swedish king
Anund Jacob and finally of
Cnut the Great
Cnut ( ; ; – 12 November 1035), also known as Canute and with the epithet the Great, was King of England from 1016, King of Denmark from 1018, and King of Norway from 1028 until his death in 1035. The three kingdoms united under Cnut's rul ...
of Denmark and England. His poems are significant contemporary evidence for the careers of Óláfr Haraldsson and Cnut the Great.
Óttarr was the nephew of
Sigvatr Þórðarson, and Óttarr clearly based the poem ''
Hǫfuðlausn'', his encomium for
Óláfr Haraldsson, on Sigvatr's ''VÃkingarvÃsur'', which tallies the king's early Viking expeditions. A small ''
þáttr
The ''þættir'' (Old Norse singular ''þáttr'', literally meaning a "strand" of rope or yarn)O'Donoghue (2004:226). are short stories written mostly in Iceland during the 13th and 14th centuries.
The majority of ''þættir'' occur in two compen ...
'' (short story) on Óttarr, ''
Óttars þáttr svarta'', is preserved in
Flateyjarbók
''Flateyjarbók'' (; "Book of Flatey, Breiðafjörður, Flatey") is an important medieval Iceland, Icelandic manuscript. It is also known as GkS 1005 fol. and by the Latin name ''Codex Flateyensis''. It was commissioned by Jón Hákonarson and p ...
,
Bergsbók,
Bæjarbók and
Tómasskinna.
Works
#''
Óláfsdrápa sœnska''. Verses for the Swedish king
Olof Skötkonung.
#''Höfuðlausn'' (also spelled as ''Hǫfuðlausn'').
#''
Knútsdrápa''. Verses for
Cnut the Great
Cnut ( ; ; – 12 November 1035), also known as Canute and with the epithet the Great, was King of England from 1016, King of Denmark from 1018, and King of Norway from 1028 until his death in 1035. The three kingdoms united under Cnut's rul ...
. ''Knútsdrápur'' composed by other poets include those of
Sigvatr Þórðarson and
Hallvarðr háreksblesi.
#''LausavÃsur''.
A recent review of the origins of the nursery rhyme
London Bridge is Falling Down has debunked the popularly held belief that it enshrines an English folk memory of a
Viking
Vikings were 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 settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9â ...
attack on London, sometimes connected with an attack in 1014 for which a stanza from Óttarr's ''Höfuðlausn'' is the earliest source.
[Clark, John (2002). 'London Bridge and the archaeology of a nursery rhyme', ''London Archaeologist'' 9, 338–40; cf. Hagland, Jan Ragnar, and Watson, Bruce. (2005). 'Fact or folklore: the Viking attack on London Bridge', ''London Archaeologist'' 12, 328-33]
Note on Pronunciation
References
Further reading
*Jesch, Judith (2005) 'Skaldic poetry, a case of literacy avant la lettre?' In: ''Literacy in Medieval and Early Modern Scandinavian Culture''. Ed. P. Hermann. Odense. pp. 187–210
*Jesch, Judith (2006). 'The 'meaning of the narrative moment': Poets and history in the late Viking Age'. In: ''Narrative and History in the Early Medieval West''. Ed. E. M. Tyler, R. Balzaretti. Turnhout. pp. 251–65
*
Thunberg, Carl L. (2012). ''Att tolka Svitjod''
'To interpret Svitjod'' Göteborgs universitet. CLTS. pp. 35–36. .
External links
Óttarr svarti Edition and translation of all extant poetry, at the website of the Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages project
(from Flateyjarbók)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ottarr svarti
Icelandic male poets
11th-century Icelandic poets