Hildr or Ragnhildr Hrólfsdóttir was a 9th-century woman who is referenced in various

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 ...

sources including '' Óláfs saga helga'', ''

Orkneyinga saga The ''Orkneyinga saga'' (Old Norse: ; ; also called the ''History of the Earls of Orkney'' and ''Jarls' Saga'') is a narrative of the history of the Orkney and Shetland islands and their relationship with other local polities, particularly No ...

'', and ''

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 ov ...

'' and is also one of the few female

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 ...

s from whom verses survive. According to the sagas, Hild was the daughter of Rolv Nefia (''Hrólfr nefja''), jarl at Trondhjem (modern

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; ), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros, and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2022, it had a population of 212,660. Trondheim is the third most populous municipality in Norway, and is ...

). In the ''Orkneyinga saga'', the daughter of Rolv Nefia is called Ragnhild, although in the ''Heimskringla'' she is called Hild. Her father used to go on

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. 9� ...

expeditions. One summer he plundered in Vík. This aroused King

Harald Fairhair Harald Fairhair (; – ) 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 Monarchy of Norway, King of Norway. Supposedly, two ...

's anger and he was banished. Hild appealed unsuccessfully for clemency for her father. On this occasion she composed a skaldic stanza (''

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 S ...

''), which is one of the few examples of skaldic poetry composed by a woman that have come down to us. She was married to Rognvald Eysteinsson, who was the jarl of Møre. They had three sons: Ivar (''Ívarr''), Thorir (''Þórir''), and Rolv (''Hrólfr''). Thorir succeeded his father as jarl of Møre. Rolv (''Hrólfr''), nicknamed ''Gǫngu-Hrólfr'' (Rolv the Walker), became known as Rollo of Normandy. The death of Ivar during an earlier campaign in support of King Harald Fairhair resulted in the

Northern Isles The Northern Isles (; ; ) are a chain (or archipelago) of Island, islands of Scotland, located off the north coast of the Scottish mainland. The climate is cool and temperate and highly influenced by the surrounding seas. There are two main is ...

(''Norðreyar'') being gifted to his family as compensation. According to the '' Historia Norvegiae'', Rognvald's family conquered

Orkney Orkney (), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago off the north coast of mainland Scotland. The plural name the Orkneys is also sometimes used, but locals now consider it outdated. Part of the Northern Isles along with Shetland, ...

and the

Shetland Islands Shetland (until 1975 spelled Zetland), also called the Shetland Islands, is an archipelago in Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the Uni ...

in the late 9th century.

References

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