Þórir jökull Steinfinnsson was an

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

ic 13th century warrior and possibly a

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 ...

Overview

Life

Þórir was captured following the

Battle of Örlygsstaðir The Battle of Örlygsstaðir was a historic battle fought by members of the Sturlungar family against the Ásbirningar and the Haukdælir clans in northern Iceland. The battle was part of the civil war that was taking place in Iceland at the t ...

, fought on August 21, 1238. He was executed along with five others, whose names are recorded in the

Íslendinga saga ''Íslendinga saga'' ''(Saga of Icelanders)'' makes up a large part of ''Sturlunga saga'', a compilation of secular contemporary sagas written in thirteenth-century Iceland. The ''terminus ante quem'' of the compilation is disputed (between the o ...

, included in the

Sturlunga saga ''Sturlunga saga'' (often called simply ''Sturlunga'') is a collection of Icelandic Norse saga, sagas by various authors from the 12th and 13th centuries; it was assembled in about 1300, in Old Norse. It mostly deals with the story of the Sturlun ...

. Also given are the names of the about fifty combatants who were killed on that day. Þórir’s executioner was a man allowed to perform the execution to avenge Þórir’s killing of his brother at the Battle of Bær, which occurred on April 28, 1237.

Poem

Þórir is known for a

poem Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

he recited before his execution.

References

* Faulkes, Anthony (1993). ''What Was Viking Poetry For?''. University of Birmingham. * Jón Jóhannesson, Magnus Finnbogason and Kristján Eldjárn, editors, ''Sturlunga Saga'', Vol 1 & 2, Sturlunguútgáfan, Reykjavík, 1946 {{DEFAULTSORT:Thorir Jokull Steinfinnsson Skalds People executed by Iceland by decapitation Executed Icelandic people 13th-century executions Executed military personnel Year of birth unknown 13th-century Icelandic poets