Einarr Skúlason

Einarr Skúlason (* around 1090, † around 1165) was an Icelandic skald of the first half of the 12th century with a clerical background. Einarr's poetry is considered the most important of the century of Icelandic origin. As one of the last award poets, his work is characterized by his positions at the courts of Norwegian kings and the price songs composed there ( prince award ).

Little is known about his biography and only through his own information in his works can we learn more about it, a typical example of 12th century Iceland. Einarr is mentioned in a list of priests from 1220 for the year 1143. This list included priests of the western part of Iceland who were of noble origin, i.e. descendants of prominent families were in the historical retrospective and Icelandic social reality. For the year 1152 or 1153 there is evidence that Einarr presented his work Geisli (a praise for the church saint Olaf ) at a solemn meeting in the Christ Church in Trondheim . Possibly he came from Borg and from the resident extended Mýrar family , which would make him a descendant of Þorsteinn Egilsson , a brother of Snorri Sturluson 's maternal grandfather.

In young adulthood he was initially a high official ( stallari ) at the court of King Eysteinn Magnússon (1088-1123). There he wrote price songs for Eysteinn and for the kings Sigurðr jórsalafari (1090–1130), Haraldr gilli (1103–1136), Magnús inn blindi Sigurðarson (“the blind man”), Eysteinn Haraldsson and Inge Krogrygg Haraldrs sons, Sigurðr munnr and for the Chief Grégóríus Dagsson († 1161). Snorri mentions in his Skáldatal that Einarr composed a song for the Norwegian magnate Eindriði ungi Jónsson, as well as for the Swedish King Sørkvir Kolsson and for the Swedish Jarl Jón Sørkvisson and for the Danish King Sveinn Eiríksson .

Based on the conclusions obtained from these data, his birth is dated to the year 1090 and his death to the sixth or at the latest the beginning of the seventh decade of the 12th century.

Works

• Sigurðardrápa I, II. Two drápa for Sigurðr jórsalafari, which have been handed down in fragments in five stanzas and one stanza.
• Haraldsdrápa I, II. For Haraldr gilli handed down in two stanzas and five stanzas.
• Haraldssonakvæði. A Kvæði about Haraldr's sons in two stanzas.
• Geisli. A song of praise for Saint Olaf in seventy-one stanzas.
• Runhenda. A runhenda for Eysteinn Haraldsson in ten stanzas.
• Eysteinsdrápa. A drápa for Eysteinn in two extant stanzas.
• Ingadrápa. For Inge Krogrygg in four stanzas.
• Elfarvísur. In two traditional stanzas for Grégóríus Dagsson.
• Lausavísur . Individual stanzas that are attributed to Einarr or come from him.
• Øxarflokkr. Ten stanzas about the gift of an ax.

literature

• Wolfgang Lange : Studies on the Christian poetry of the North Germanic people. V&R, Göttingen 1958, pp. 121-126.
• Rudolf Simek , Hermann Pálsson : Lexicon of Old Norse Literature (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 490). Kröner, Stuttgart 1987, ISBN 3-520-49001-3 , p. 69.
• Jan de Vries : Old Norse literary history. Reprint of the 2nd edition from 1962 in one volume with a foreword by Stefanie Würth. de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1999, ISBN 3-11-016330-6 , Volume 2, pp. 15-23 ( fee required from de Gruyter ).

Web links

• Information about the person and work of Einarr Skúlason in the Scaldic Poetry Project