Egill Skallagrímsson

Picture of Egil in a 17th century manuscript of Egils Saga

Egill Skallagrímsson^[1] (c.910-c.990)^[2] was an Icelandic skald and the great anti-hero of Icelandic literature.

Several accounts tell of him slaughtering as many as 20 or more armed men single-handedly and even dispatching a feared berserker with relative ease. In spite of this, he was considered a healer, and his saga tells of him curing a girl who had been ill for quite some time where all other efforts had proven futile.

Life

This section relies largely or entirely upon a single source. Please help improve this article by introducing appropriate citations of additional sources. (June 2007)

The following is based on the Icelandic saga "Egils saga"; like many sagas, it can be unreliable as a source of historical fact.

Egill engaging in holmgang with Berg-Önundr; painting by Johannes Flintoe.

Egill was born in Iceland, the son of Skalla-Grímr Kveldúlfsson^[3] and Bera Yngvarsdóttir, and the grandson of Kveld-Úlfr ("Evening Wolf"). When Grímr arrived in Iceland, he settled at Borg, the place where his father's coffin landed. Grímr was a famous warrior and an enemy of Harald Fairhair of Norway.

Egill wrote his first poem at the age of three years. He exhibited berserk behaviour, and this, together with the description of his large and unattractive head, has led to the theory that he might have suffered from Paget's disease. This is corroborated by an archeological find of a head from the Viking era which is likely to be Egill's.

At the age of seven, Egill was cheated in a game with local boys. Enraged, he went home and procured an axe, and returning to the boys, split the skull of the one who cheated him, to the teeth. After Berg-Önundr refused to allow Egill to claim his wife Ásgerðr's share of her father's inheritance, he challenged Önundr to a holmgang. Egill killed Bárðr of Atley, one of the king's retainers, thus making an enemy of Queen Gunnhildr, who never forgave him and did everything within her power to take revenge. Gunnhildr ordered her two brothers to kill Egill and Egill's older brother Þórólfr, who had been on good terms with both her and the king before. However, this plan did not go well, as Egill killed the pair when they confronted him.

Egill bringing his son Böðvar to the gravehill of his father Skalla-Grímur.

That same summer, Harald Fairhair died, and in order to secure his place on the throne, Eirik Bloodaxe killed his two brothers. He then declared Egill an outlaw in Norway. Berg-Önundr gathered a company of men to capture Egill, but was killed in his attempt to do so. Escaping from Norway, Egill killed Rögnvaldr Eiríksson and then cursed his parents, setting a horse's head on a pole (níðstöng) and saying,

"Here I set up a níð-pole, and declare this níð against King Eiríkr and Queen Gunnhildr," — he turned the horse-head to face the mainland — "I declare this níð at the land-spirits there, and the land itself, so that all will fare astray, not to hold nor find their places, not until they wreak King Eiríkr and Gunnhildr from the land." He set up the pole of níð in the cliff-face and left it standing; he faced the horse's eyes on the land, and he rist runes upon the pole, and said all the formal words of the curse. (ch. 57) ('níð' has been translated as 'scorn' or 'curse')

Gunnhildr also put a spell on Egill, which made him feel restless and depressed until they met again.

Soon afterwards, Eiríkr and Gunnhildr were forced to flee to Northumbria by Eiríkr's brother Hakon, where he was granted land by King Aðalsteinn. Egill was shipwrecked on a nearby shore and came before Eiríkr, who sentenced him to death. But Egill composed a drápa in Eiríkr's praise in the dungeon during the night, and when he recited it in the morning, Eiríkr gave him his freedom and forgave any vengeance or settlement for the killing of Rögnvaldr (see "Head Ransom", below). Egill had five children with Ásgerðr Björnsdóttir: Þorgerðr Egilsdóttir, Bera Egilsdóttir, Böðvar Egilsson, Gunnar Egilsson and Þorsteinn Egilsson. Before Egill died he concealed his silver treasure near Mosfellsbær. Interestingly, Egill lived into his eighties which was very unusual for that time.

Poems

The statue Egil Skallagrimson Reiser Nidstang by Gustav Vigeland in Mandal, Norway.

Apart from being a warrior of immense might in literary sources, Egill is also celebrated for his poetry, considered by many historians to be the finest of the ancient Scandinavian poetry.^{[citation needed]} His poems were also the first Old Norse verses to use end rhyme.^[4] The following works are attributed to Egill:

1. Aðalsteinsdrápa. Drápa for the Anglo-Saxon King Æthelstan.
2. Höfuðlausn ("The Head-Loosening", sometimes referred to as "Head-Ransom"), with which Egill bought his life from Eiríkr Bloodaxe, who had sentenced him to death in England.
3. Sonatorrek ("Son's loss"). After the death of his son Böðvar who drowned during a storm.
4. Arinbjarnarkviða. Dedicated to his companion Arinbjörn
5. Skjaldardrápa.
6. Berudrápa.
7. Lausavísur.
8. Fragments

The following is one of Egill's Lausavísur (no. 3), found in chapter 40 of Egils Saga:

Egill in popular culture

• Egill remains a very popular figure in Iceland, with a beer brewery, Ölgerðin Egill Skallagrímsson, named after him.
• Some people^[who?] pertaining to the Ásatrú religion consider Egill a true hero and hold a day of remembrance for him on December 9.
• There was a talk show on Icelandic television called Egill's Silver, named after Egill's hidden treasure. This, however, was also a double joke, since the host's first name was Egill.
• "Egill's Silver" is also the name of a song by Megas, from his first album.
• In the SCA Barony of Adiantum there is an "Egil Skallagrimsson Memorial Tournament" held annually on memorial day weekend.
• The novelist Poul Anderson (a member of the SCA) wrote Mother of Kings^[7], a historical fantasy centered on Gunnhildr and the long feud that she, Eirikr, and their children had with Egill. The novel is based on Heimskringla and Egils Saga.

References and footnotes

1. ^ His first name is sometimes Anglicized Egil.
2. ^ Palsson and Edwards pp. 248-9
3. ^ Skalla- refers to his baldness and Grímr was a frequent name, being one of the names of Óðinn, but also being a heiti for snake, billy-goat and dwarf
4. ^ Jansson 1980:26-27
5. ^ Edited by Margaret Clunies Ross at Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages.
6. ^ Herman Pálsson and Paul Edwards (trs.). Egil's Saga. Harmondsworth, 1976. p. 94
7. ^ New York: Tor (ISBN 0-765-34502-1, ISBN 978-0-765-34502-8), 2001, 2003

Sources

• Jansson, Sven B. (1980). Runstenar. STF, Stockholm. ISBN 91-7156-015-7
• Palsson, Hermann and Edwards, Paul (Translators), Egil's Saga 1976, Penguin Classics

External links

• Poems, Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages.

In English:

• Egil's saga - English translation (W. C. Green) at the Icelandic Saga Database, with original Old Norse and Icelandic text
• Egil Skallagrimsson and the Viking Ideal by Christina von Nolcken, from a University of Chicago website
• Egil's Bones, from a University of California, Los Angeles website
• Text of the saga, translated into English by Rev. W. C. Green in 1893, from the Northvegr Foundation

Icelandic Wikisource has original text related to this article: Egill Skallagrímsson

In Icelandic:

• Egils saga -- Text of Egils saga at the Icelandic Saga Database, modern spelling and Old Norse version
• Text of Egill's saga, with modern spelling
• Höfundur Egill Skallagrímsson

v • d • e Pagan (or once-pagan) Skalds Skalds Auðunn illskælda  · Bragi Boddason (Ragnarsdrápa)  · Egill Skalla-Grímsson (Arinbjarnarkviða, Höfuðlausn , Sonatorrek)  · Eilífr Guðrúnarson (Þórsdrápa)  · Einarr skálaglamm  · Erpr lútandi  · Eyjólfr dáðaskáld  · Eysteinn Valdason  · Eyvindr skáldaspillir (Hákonarmál, Háleygjatal)  · Gamli gnævaðarskáld  · Glúmr Geirason  · Gunnlaugr ormstunga  · Guthormr sindri (Hákonardrápa)  · Halldórr ókristni  · Hallfreðr vandræðaskáld  · Hrafn Önundarson  · Jórunn skáldmær  · Kormákr Ögmundarson  · Skafti Þóroddsson  · Skúli Þorsteinsson  · Steinunn Refsdóttir  · Þjóðólfr of Hvinir (Haustlöng, Ynglingatal)  · Tindr Hallkelsson  · Úlfr Sebbason  · Úlfr Uggason (Húsdrápa) · Vetrliði Sumarliðason  · Vigfúss Víga-Glúmsson See also Alliterative verse  · Bragi  · Heiti  · Kenning (List of kennings)  · Málaháttr  · Mead of poetry  · Odin  · Old Norse poetry  · Skaldic poetry