Halldórr skvaldri

Halldórr skvaldri (Halldórr Prattler, or Halldór the Talkative) was an Icelandic skald who lived in the first half of the twelfth century.

He composed the poem Útfarardrápa about the feats of Sigurðr Jórsalafari during his voyage to the Holy Land. After Sigurðr's death, he probably served Magnus Barefoot. He is also known to have composed for nine powerful men, including the Swedish jarls Sone Ivarsson (c. 1107), Karl Sonesson (c. 1137) and for the Swedish kings Sverker I of Sweden (c. 1150) and Jon Jarl.

In the assessment of Jan de Vries, Halldórr was an able craftsman ('ein gewandter Verseschmied') but lacked poetic genius.[1]

Biography and works

Halldor was born early enough to compose an elegy for Magnus Barefoot of Norway, who died in 1103, but he also composed one for Inge I of Norway, who died in 1161.[2]

According to Snorri Sturluson's Skáldatal, Halldór wrote elegies (in the Skaldic verse forms of the drápa and flokkr) for:[3]

These poems do not, however, survive.

The surviving parts of Halldórr’s corpus are, like most skaldic verse, preserved only as quotations in prose Kings' sagas. These are:

Editions and translations

Halldórr's poems are reconstructed as accurately as possible from the surviving quotations in Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300, ed. by Kari Ellen Gade, Skaldic poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages, 2 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2009), pp. 482–96. A text and translation bades on Gade's edition is available at http://www.abdn.ac.uk/skaldic/m.php?p=skald&i=117.

References

  1. Jan de Vries, Altnordische Literaturgeschichte. Mit einem Vorw. von Stefanie Würth, 3rd edn in one volume, Grundriss der germanischen Philologie, 15-16 (Berlin: de Gruyter, 1999), I, 292-293. ISBN 3-11-016330-6.
  2. Åke Ohlmarks, Fornnordiskt lexikon (Tiden, 1995), s.v. Halldor Skvaldre.
  3. Snorri Sturluson, Edda Snorra Sturlusonar: Edda Snorronis Sturlaei, ed. by Jón Sigurðsson et al. 3 vols (Copenhagen: Legatum Arnamagnaeanum, 1848-87; rprt. Osnabrück: Zeller, 1966), III, 252, 254-5, 258, 260, 262-3, 267, 272, 276-7, 283; cf. III, 367-70, cited at http://abdn.ac.uk/skaldic/db.php?id=117&if=default&table=skalds.
  4. "skaldic project". abdn.ac.uk. Retrieved 28 June 2015.
  5. Sverris saga, ed. by Þorleifur Hauksson, Íslensk fornrit, 30 (Reykjavík: Hið Íslenzka Fornritafélagið, 2007), p. 130.
  6. "skaldic project". abdn.ac.uk. Retrieved 28 June 2015.
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