description
Nothing is known about Þorkell (ÞSkall) except that he was a retainer of Earl Waltheof (Valþjófr) of Northumbria and that he composed a
flokkr in Waltheof’s honour after his death (1076). According to
Fsk (
ÍF 29, 294), Þorkell was the son of one Þórðr skalli ‘Skull’, but we do not know whether he was from Iceland or from Norway (
Skj gives his ethnicity as Icel.). No other poetry is attributed to Þorkell, and he is not listed in
Skáldatal.