Sigvatr Þórðarson or Sighvatr Þórðarson or Sigvat the Skald (995–1045) was an

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

skald A skald, or skáld (Old Norse: , later ; , meaning "poet"), is one of the often named poets who composed skaldic poetry, one of the two kinds of Old Norse poetry, the other being Eddic poetry, which is anonymous. Skaldic poems were traditionally ...

. He was a court poet to King

Olaf II of Norway Olaf II Haraldsson ( – 29 July 1030), later known as Saint Olaf (and traditionally as St. Olave), was King of Norway from 1015 to 1028. Son of Harald Grenske, a petty king in Vestfold, Norway, he was posthumously given the title ''Rex Perpet ...

, as well as

Canute the Great Cnut (; ang, Cnut cyning; non, Knútr inn ríki ; or , no, Knut den mektige, sv, Knut den Store. died 12 November 1035), also known as Cnut the Great and Canute, was King of England from 1016, King of Denmark from 1018, and King of Norway ...

Magnus the Good Magnus Olafsson (Old Norse: ''Magnús Óláfsson''; Norwegian and Danish: ''Magnus Olavsson''; – 25 October 1047), better known as Magnus the Good (Old Norse: ''Magnús góði'', Norwegian and Danish: ''Magnus den gode''), was King of Norwa ...

and

Anund Jacob Anund Jacob or James, Swedish: ''Anund Jakob'' was King of Sweden from 1022 until around 1050. He is believed to have been born on July 25, in either 1008 or 1010 as ''Jakob'', the son of King Olof Skötkonung and Queen Estrid. Being the second Ch ...

, by whose reigns his floruit can be dated to the earlier eleventh century. Sigvatr was the best known of the court skalds of King Olaf and also served as his marshal (''stallare''), even baptizing his son Magnus. Approximately 160 verses of Sigvatr's poetry have been preserved, more than any for other poet from this period. The style of Sigvat's poems is simpler and clearer than that which generally characterises older compositions. Although his verse is still dense, he uses fewer complex poetic circumlocutions than many of his predecessors, and as a Christian poet, he by and large avoids allusions to pagan mythology. Most of his surviving poems were texts that praised King Olaf. Many of the poems from St. Olaf's saga in ''

Heimskringla ''Heimskringla'' () is the best known of the Old Norse kings' sagas. It was written in Old Norse in Iceland by the poet and historian Snorre Sturlason (1178/79–1241) 1230. The name ''Heimskringla'' was first used in the 17th century, derived ...

'' are by Sigvatr. ''Víkingarvísur'', composed ''c''. 1014–15, is the oldest of the surviving long poems attributed to him. The poem tallies King Olaf's battles on his Viking expeditions until 1015, when he returned to Norway to carve out a kingdom for himself. In ''Nesjavísur'', the next oldest poem by Sigvatr, the skald describes the naval battle between Olaf and

Sveinn Hákonarson Sweyn Haakonsson (Old Norse: ''Sveinn Hákonarson'', no, Svein Håkonsson) (died c. 1016) was an Earls of Lade, earl of the house of Hlaðir and co-ruler of Norway from 1000 to c. 1015. He was the son of earl Hákon Sigurðarson. He is first ment ...

at the

Battle of Nesjar Battle of Nesjar (''Slaget ved Nesjar'') was a sea battle off the coast of Norway in 1016. It was a primary event in the reign of King Olav Haraldsson (later Saint Olav). Icelandic skald and court poet Sigvatr Þórðarson composed the poem ...

outside

Brunlanes Brunlanes is a parish and former municipality within Larvik municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. It was annexed by Larvik on January 1, 1988. The administrative centre of the municipality was located in the adjacent villages of Nevlunghavn ...

in 1016, the key moment in Olaf's ascent to power in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. ''Nesjavísur'' (Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages)
/ref>

Preserved poetry

# '' Víkingarvísur'' (‘verses of a Viking-raid’) — on the early deeds of King

Olaf Olaf or Olav (, , or British ; Old Norse: ''Áleifr'', ''Ólafr'', ''Óleifr'', ''Anleifr'') is a Scandinavian and German given name. It is presumably of Proto-Norse origin, reconstructed as ''*Anu-laibaz'', from ''anu'' "ancestor, grand-father" a ...

# '' Nesjavísur'' (‘verses of Nesjar’) — on the

# ''

Austrfararvísur Austrfararvísur (‘verses of an eastern journey’) is a skaldic poetry, skaldic poem composed by the Icelandic skald Sigvatr Þórðarson c. 1019. It is written in the meter dróttkvætt (‘courtly spoken’). Historical context Sigvat was a co ...

'' (‘verses of an eastern journey’) — on a diplomatic journey to

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

# A drápa about King Olaf # '' Vestrfararvísur'' (‘verses of a western journey’) — on a journey to

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

# Two poems about

Erlingr Skjalgsson Erling Skjalgsson, på Sola (Sola, Rogaland, 975 – Boknafjorden, 21 December 1028, bur. Sola, Rogaland), "Rygekongen", Herse/Høvding i Rogaland, was a Norwegian political leader of the late 10th and early 11th century. He has been commonly see ...

# ''

Tryggvaflokkr Tryggvaflokkr (the " Flokkr-poem of Tryggvi") was an Old Norse poem about Tryggve the Pretender, an 11th-century Viking chieftain who purported to be the son of Olaf Tryggvason and tried to conquer Norway in 1033. It is usually attributed to Sighv ...

'' (‘a flock about Tryggvi’) — on

Tryggve the Pretender Tryggvi "the Pretender" (Old Norse ''Tryggvi Ólafsson'', Norwegian ''Tryggve Olavsson'') was a Viking chieftain who lived in the early eleventh century, and came from "west across the sea" (probably from the Norse settlements in England and Irel ...

# A poem about

Queen Astrid Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mothe ...

# ''Knútsdrápa'' (‘''Drápa'' of Knút’) — in memory of King

# ''

Bersöglisvísur Bersöglisvísur (English: "plain-speaking verses") is a skaldic poem composed by the Icelandic skald Sigvatr Þórðarson Sigvatr Þórðarson or Sighvatr Þórðarson or Sigvat the Skald (995–1045) was an Icelandic skald. He was a cour ...

'' (‘verses of plain-speaking’) — reprimand to King Magnus # ''Erfidrápa Óláfs helga'' (‘Saint Olaf's inheritance-''drápa''’) — in memory of King Olaf # Numerous '' Lausavísur'' # ''Brot'' - fragments

Notes

References

Other sources

*Whaley, Diana (editor) ''Poetry from the Kings' Sagas 1, From Mythical Times to c. 1035'' (Brepols Publishers. 2013) *O'Donoghue, Heather (2005) ''Skaldic Verse and the Poetics of Saga Narrative'' (Oxford University Press)

External links

Index of Sigvatr Þórðarson's poetry

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 Runes are the letters in a set of related alphabets known as runic alp ...

.
Index of Sigvatr Þórðarson's poetry
Jörmungrund. {{DEFAULTSORT:Sigvatr Thordarson Icelandic male poets 11th-century Icelandic poets 995 births 1045 deaths Skalds