Kormákr Ǫgmundarson — KormǪ^V

The main source for Kormákr’s biography is Kormáks saga (Korm) itself. However, there is also some independent information about his life: Landnámabók (Ldn, ÍF 1, 90-1) mentions Kormákr as a son of Dalla, a sister of Steinarr Ǫnundarson sjóna. That tallies with the information in Egils saga (Eg ch. 80, ÍF 2, 277) which adds the father of Kormákr, one Ǫgmundr Galtason (Ǫgmundr Kormáksson according to Korm), and Kormákr’s brother Þorgils. Brothers named Kormákr and Þorgils are mentioned in Grettis saga (Gr ch. 15, ÍF 7, 42) as settlers at Melr in Miðfjörður and as fighting with Grettir. However, it is doubtful whether these brothers have anything to do with the Kormákr of Korm, as the events of Gr take place about forty years after those of Korm (ÍF 7, 42, n. 4). It has been proposed that these brothers could be the sons of Þorgils skarði ‘Hare-lip’, Kormákr’s brother, although there is insufficient evidence to support that idea.

Skáldatal (SnE 1848-87, III, 253, 256, 261, 265, 274, 280) lists Kormákr as a skald of Sigurðr jarl Hákonarson of Lade (d. 962) and Haraldr gráfeldr ‘Grey-cloak’ Eiríksson (r. c. 961-c. 970). Seven stanzas of a Sigurðardrápa (Sigdr^III) have been preserved in mss of SnE, but no poetry by Kormákr for Haraldr is extant, unless the final stanza usually considered to belong to Sigdr is actually addressed to Haraldr (see Introduction to KormǪ Sigdr^III and Notes to KormǪ Sigdr 7^III). A further independent source is a stanza of Haukr Valdísarson’s Íslendingadrápa (HaukrV Isldr 25^IV), which presents Kormákr as a brave warrior and as kynstórr ‘of noble lineage’. HaukrV Ísldr 25/5-6^IV mentions the patronage of a ruler (hald hilmis), which may possibly allude to KormǪ Sigdr 7^III, where the skald asks the Yngling ruler to hold his hand above him (i.e. protect him). The expression that Kormákr hugprúðr á sik trúði ‘strong-minded believed in himself’ (HaukrV Ísldr 25/8^III) could be interpreted as referring to his renunciation of pagan magic (see HaukrV Ísldr 25^IV, Note to l. 8) and connected to what the saga relates about Kormákr and the sorceress Þórdís. Kormákr proves to be sceptical of magic rituals and rejects her (Korm ch. 22, ÍF 8, 282-5; Korm 68, 69).

The details of Kormákr’s life story can only be gleaned from the saga and its stanzas, and must therefore be regarded as historically unreliable, especially as sorceresses and magic objects play a significant role in the narrative. Kormákr is credited with sixty-four dróttkvætt lausavísur in the saga.

According to the saga Kormákr’s family came from Viken in Norway. His father Ǫgmundr emigrated to Iceland because he had quarrelled with Haraldr hárfagri ‘Fair-hair’ (r. c. 860-c. 932) and his son Eiríkr blóðøx ‘Blood-axe’ (r. c. 929-34). He received land in Iceland from Miðfjarðar-Skeggi in the region of Miðfjörður, established a farm at Melr (today Melstaðir; see Kålund 1877, II, 5-6) and married Dalla, the daughter of Ǫnundr sjóni ‘the Sharp-sighted’, who lived at Ánabrekka (Borgarfjörður) and was Egill Skallagrímsson’s opponent in the latter’s old age. Dalla and Ǫgmundr had two sons, Þorgils and Kormákr. Following the saga, Kormákr’s life at least in Iceland appears to have been dominated by his unfulfilled love for Steingerðr and his conflicts with her two husbands and their relatives. For details of the saga narrative, see the Plot Summary in the Introduction to Korm.

An approximate dating of Kormákr’s life can be established in the context of his visits to the courts of Norwegian rulers. These are Sigurðr jarl of the Lade (Hlaðir) family, who was killed in 962, and Haraldr gráfeldr, his successor, who died in 970. Thus the court poetry could be dated between 960 and 970, and the Korm stanzas, assuming they are authentic, could have been composed between 955-65. Kormákr could then have been born in the 940s and his mother c. 920 (ÍF 8, ciii).

References

1. Bibliography
2. SnE 1848-87 = Snorri Sturluson. 1848-87. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar: Edda Snorronis Sturlaei. Ed. Jón Sigurðsson et al. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Legatum Arnamagnaeanum. Rpt. Osnabrück: Zeller, 1966.
3. ÍF 1 (parts 1 and 2) = Íslendingabók; Landnámabók. Ed. Jakob Benediktsson. 1968. Rpt. as one volume 1986.
4. ÍF 2 = Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar. Ed. Sigurður Nordal. 1933.
5. ÍF 7 = Grettis saga Ásmundarsonar. Ed. Guðni Jónsson. 1936.
6. ÍF 8 = Vatnsdœla saga. Ed. Einar Ólafur Sveinsson. 1939.
7. Internal references
8. Edith Marold 2017, ‘Snorra Edda (Prologue, Gylfaginning, Skáldskaparmál)’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols [check printed volume for citation].
9. 2022, ‘ Anonymous, Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 162-389. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=14> (accessed 19 April 2024)
10. (forthcoming), ‘ Anonymous, Landnámabók’ in Guðrún Nordal (ed.), Poetry on Icelandic History. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 4. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=25> (accessed 19 April 2024)
11. Not published: do not cite (Egill^V)
12. 2022, ‘ Anonymous, Grettis saga Ásmundarsonar’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 640-806. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=70> (accessed 19 April 2024)
13. 2022, ‘ Anonymous, Kormáks saga’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 1031-1181. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=83> (accessed 19 April 2024)
14. Not published: do not cite (HaukrV^IV)
15. Edith Marold with the assistance of Vivian Busch, Jana Krüger, Ann-Dörte Kyas and Katharina Seidel, translated from German by John Foulks 2017, ‘ Kormákr Ǫgmundarson, Sigurðardrápa’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 272. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1293> (accessed 19 April 2024)
16. Not published: do not cite (HaukrV Ísldr 25^IV)
17. Edith Marold (ed.) 2017, ‘Kormákr Ǫgmundarson, Sigurðardrápa 7’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 285.
18. Edith Marold (ed.) 2022, ‘Kormáks saga 68 (Kormákr Ǫgmundarson, Lausavísur 47)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1149.
19. Not published: do not cite ()