Einarr Skúlason
Icelandic poet
Einarr Skúlason (c. 1100 – after 1159) was an Icelandic priest and skald. He was the most prominent Norse poet of the 12th century. Einarr's poetry is primarily preserved in Heimskringla, Flateyjarbók, Morkinskinna, Fagrskinna and Skáldskaparmál.
He was descended from the family of Egill Skallagrímsson, the so-called Mýramenn. For most of his life he lived in Norway, during the reign of kings Sigurd Magnusson, Harald Gille and the sons of the latter, especially Eysteinn Haraldsson, whose marshall he became. After Eysteinn's death in 1157, he composed the poem Elfarvísur for the nobleman Gregorius Dagsson (died 1161), referring to his victory over King Hákon Herdebrei at Göta älv in Götaland.
The best known of Einarr's drápur is Geisli ("Ray of Light"), about St. Olaf Haraldsson. This drápa was recited in the Church of Christ in Nidaros in the presence of the three Norwegian kings of the time, Eysteinn, Sigurd and Inge, along with Jon Birgersson, Archbishop of Nidaros.
“Einarr Skúlason” enters the record as icelandic poet. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Einarr, Skúlason and Icelandic can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q845064. VIAF identifies the subject as 17551683. The Library of Congress control number is nr97009979. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1100, 1159, 1157 and 1161.
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This entry incorporates text from “Einarr Skúlason” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.