Skúli Þórsteinsson was an 11th-century Icelandic poet and warrior. He was the grandson of

Egill Skallagrímsson Egil Skallagrímsson ( ; Modern Icelandic: ; 904 995) was a Viking Age war poet, sorcerer, berserker, and farmer.Thorsson, 3 He is known mainly as the anti-hero of '' Egil's Saga''. ''Egil's Saga'' historically narrates a period from approx ...

and a courtier of Jarl

Eiríkr Hákonarson Erik Hakonsson, also known as Eric of Hlathir or Eric of Norway (; 960s – 1020s), was Earl of Lade, Governor of Norway and Earl of Northumbria. He was the son of Earl Hákon Sigurðarson and brother of the legendary Aud Haakonsdottir of Lade. ...

. A short account of his life is given at the end of ''

Egils saga ''Egill's Saga'' or ''Egil's saga'' ( ; ) is an Icelandic saga (family saga) on the lives of the clan of Egill Skallagrímsson (Anglicised as Egill Skallagrimsson), an Icelandic farmer, viking and skald. The saga spans the years c. 850–1000 ...

'': :Of Thorstein's sons, Thorgeir was the strongest but Skuli was the greatest. He lived at Borg after his father's day and spent a long time on Viking raids. He was at the stern of Earl Eirik's ship Iron-prow in the battle where King

Olaf 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 ...

was killed. Skuli fought seven battles on his Viking raids and was considered to be outstandingly resolute and brave. He went to Iceland afterwards and farmed at Borg, where he lived until his old age, and many people are descended from him. In

Oddr Snorrason Oddr Snorrason whose name is also sometimes Anglicized as Odd Snorrason was a 12th-century Icelandic Benedictine monk at the Þingeyraklaustur monastery (''Þingeyrarklaustur''). The monastery was founded in 1133 and was the first in Iceland. Wor ...

's '' Saga of Olaf Tryggvason'' Skúli is mentioned as one of the last people to see Olaf Tryggvason, during the

Battle of Svolder The Battle of Svolder (''Svold'' or ''Swold'') was a large naval battle during the Viking age, fought in September 1000 in the western Baltic Sea between King Olaf of Norway and an alliance of the Kings of Denmark and Sweden and Olaf's enemies ...

. :Skúli Þorsteinsson said that when he boarded the king's ship, "the dead men lay so thick underfoot," he said, "that it was hardly possible to go forward." Then he saw the king on the poopdeck, but he looked away and cleared the bodies from under the jarl's feet and his own. When he looked again, he did not see the king. Skúli also has a small role to play in '' Gunnlaugs saga'' where he introduces

Gunnlaugr ormstunga Gunnlaugr ormstunga (Old Norse: ; ; "serpent-tongue") was an Icelandic skald. His life is described in ''Gunnlaugs saga ormstungu'', where several of his poems are preserved. Gunnlaugr was born ca. 983. From an early age he proved himself impetu ...

to Jarl Eiríkr. ''

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 ...

'' lists both of them as court poets of the jarl. A few fragments of Skúli's poetry have come down to us. The

kings' sagas Kings' sagas (, , ) are Old Norse sagas which principally tell of the lives of semi-legendary and legendary (mythological, fictional) Nordic kings, also known as saga kings. They were composed during the twelfth through the fourteenth centuries, ...

quote a strophe by him where he recalls participating in the Battle of Svolder. Four other fragments which seem to be from the same poem are quoted in the ''

Skáldskaparmál ''Skáldskaparmál'' (Old Norse: 'Poetic Diction' or 'The Language of Poetry'; ; ) is the second part of the ''Prose Edda'', compiled by Snorri Sturluson. It consists of a dialogue between Ægir, the divine personification of the sea, and Bra ...

'' section of

Snorri Sturluson Snorri Sturluson ( ; ; 1179 – 22 September 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was elected twice as lawspeaker of the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He is commonly thought to have authored or compiled portions of th ...

Prose Edda The ''Prose Edda'', also known as the ''Younger Edda'', ''Snorri's Edda'' () or, historically, simply as ''Edda'', is an Old Norse textbook written in Iceland during the early 13th century. The work is often considered to have been to some exten ...

. The poem was composed as Skúli was getting on in years and recalls his warlike youth. The final fragment quoted in ''Skáldskaparmál'' is a lyrical description of a sunset, unique in the skaldic corpus.Finnur Jónsson 1923:556.

Notes

References

*"Egil's Saga" translated by Bernard Scudder in ''The Sagas of Icelanders'' edited by Örnólfur Thorsson (2001), pp. 3–184. Penguin Books. *Eysteinn Björnsson (2002). ''Index of Old Norse/Icelandic Skaldic Poetry''. Published online at: http://www.hi.is/~eybjorn/ugm/skindex/skindex.html See in particular "Skúli Þórsteinsson" at http://www.hi.is/~eybjorn/ugm/skindex/skuli.html using several different editions. *

Finnur Jónsson Finnur Jónsson (May 29, 1858 – March 30, 1934) was an Icelandic philologist and Professor of Nordic Philology at the University of Copenhagen. He made extensive contributions to the study of Old Norse literature. Finnur Jónsson was born a ...

(1923). ''Den oldnorske og oldislandske litteraturs historie''. København, G.E.C Gads forlag. *Oddr Snorrason (translated by Theodore M. Andersson) (2003). ''The Saga of Olaf Tryggvason''.

Cornell University Press The Cornell University Press is the university press of Cornell University, an Ivy League university in Ithaca, New York. It is currently housed in Sage House, the former residence of Henry William Sage. It was first established in 1869, maki ...

. *Snorri Sturluson (translated by Anthony Faulkes) (1995). ''Snorri Sturluson: Edda''. First published in 1987. Everyman. . *Snorri Sturluson (translated by

Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur (September 18, 1888 – September 9, 1971) was a scholar of early English, German, and Old Norse literature at the University of California, Berkeley. He is known primarily for his scholarly work on ''Beowulf'' and his ...

) (1916). '' The Prose Edda''. New York, The American-Scandinavian Foundation. Scanned at http://www.sacred-texts.com 2001: http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/pre/pre00.htm {{DEFAULTSORT:Skuli Thorsteinsson Viking warriors 11th-century Icelandic poets 11th-century Vikings