Torvald Hjaltason (''Þórvaldr''

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

: ;

Modern Icelandic Icelandic ( ; , ) is a North Germanic language from the Indo-European language family spoken by about 314,000 people, the vast majority of whom live in Iceland, where it is the national language. Since it is a West Scandinavian language, it ...

: ) was a late 10th-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 ...

in the service of the Swedish king

Eric the Victorious Eric the Victorious (Old Norse: ''Eiríkr inn sigrsæli'', Modern Swedish: ''Erik Segersäll''; c. 945 – c. 995) was a Swedish monarch as of around 970. Although there were earlier Swedish kings, he is the first Swedish king in a consecutive re ...

. He is listed in ''

Skáldatal ''Skáldatal'' (''Catalogue of Poets'') is a short prose work by Snorri Sturluson in Old Norse. It was preserved in two manuscripts: DG 11, or ''Codex Uppsaliensis'', which is one of the four main manuscripts of the ''Prose Edda'' (first quarter of ...

'' as in Eric's service. ''

Styrbjarnar þáttr Svíakappa ''Styrbjarnar þáttr Svíakappa'' (''The Tale of Styrbjörn the Swedish Champion'') is a short story, a ''þáttr'' on the Swedish claimant and Jomsviking Styrbjörn the Strong preserved in the '' Flatey Book'' (GKS 1005 fol 342-344, ca 1387- ...

'' recounts that he took part in the

Battle of the Fýrisvellir A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force c ...

against

Styrbjörn the Strong Styrbjörn the Strong ( ; died ) according to late Norse sagas was a son of the Swedish king Olof Björnsson, and a nephew of Olof's co-ruler and successor Eric the Victorious, who defeated and killed Styrbjörn at the Battle of Fyrisvellir. As ...

and in response to the king's call for verses commemorating the victory, composed in ''

dróttkvætt Old Norse poetry encompasses a range of verse forms written in the Old Norse language, during the period from the 8th century to as late as the far end of the 13th century. Old Norse poetry is associated with the area now referred to as Scandinav ...

'' the following two '' lausavísur'': These are the only verses attributed to Torvald; the tale says that he received a ring worth half a mark for each verse, and that he is not known to have composed any other verses, either before or after. He may have brought the news of the battle back to Iceland. He may be the same person as the Torvald Hjaltason who is mentioned with his brother Þórðr in '' Landnamabók'' and a number of

Sagas of Icelanders The sagas of Icelanders (, ), also known as family sagas, are a subgenre, or text group, of Icelandic Saga, sagas. They are prose narratives primarily based on historical events that mostly took place in Iceland in the ninth, tenth, and earl ...

, but that Torvald is not said to be a skald.Diana Whaley
"Þorvaldr Hjaltason"

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages is a project which is editing the corpus of Old Norse-Icelandic skaldic poetry., along with all poetry written down in runes. The project will publish nine volumes and is supported by a website. The c ...

, retrieved 7 April 2021.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thorvaldr Hjaltason 10th-century Icelandic poets