Note to Oddi Lv 4II
[6] hǫfuðskaldi ‘the chief skald’: There is no indication in Orkn that Þorbjǫrn svarti was either a particularly important poet nor Rǫgnvaldr’s ‘chief skald’; he is simply said to have been one of a number of skáld jarls ‘the skalds of the jarl’ (ÍF 34, 204). The term is paralleled by the use of the word hǫfuðkirkja in st. 5. Otherwise, hǫfuðskáld is used in ESk Geisl 12VII, with reference to Sigvatr (SigvI) and Óttarr (ÓttI), two very important poets (see also SnE 1998, I, 5, 6, 85).
References
- Bibliography
- ÍF 34 = Orkneyinga saga. Ed. Finnbogi Guðmundsson. 1965.
- SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
- Internal references
- (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Orkneyinga saga’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=47> (accessed 9 May 2024)
- Matthew Townend 2017, ‘(Biography of) Óttarr svarti’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 335.
- Judith Jesch 2017, ‘(Biography of) Sigvatr Þórðarson’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 347.
- Kari Ellen Gade 2009, ‘(Biography of) Þorbjǫrn svarti’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 624-5.
- Martin Chase (ed.) 2007, ‘Einarr Skúlason, Geisli 12’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 17.