Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages |
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Vǫlu-Steinn (VSt)10th century; volume 3; ed. Edith Marold; Skj info: Vǫlu-Steinn, Islandsk skjald, omkr. 950. (AI, 98-99, BI, 93). Skj poems: The only sources on the life of the poet Vǫlu-Steinn (VSt) are references to him in Landnámabók (Ldn, ÍF 1, 160, 184, 186). He does not appear in Skáldatal, probably because he did not compose poems for any rulers or magnates. According to Ldn (ÍF 1, 186), Vǫlu-Steinn came to Iceland from Hålogaland, Norway, together with his mother Þuríðr sundafyllir ‘Filler of Waterways’ and claimed land in Bolungarvík in the western fjords, presumably around 960. The mother is portrayed as a woman skilled in magic, and her nickname derives from her having magically filled the waters in Hålogaland with fish during a famine there. Her son, Vǫlu-Steinn, must have received his name because he was the son of a vǫlva ‘seeress, sorceress’ (Konráð Gíslason 1874, 25; Guðmundur Þorláksson 1882, 72; Olsen 1916b, 240; LH I, 510). All that remains of his poetry are the two helmingar preserved and attributed to him in Skm (SnE). |
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