Einarr Skúlason was an Icelandic priest and skald

Skald

The skald was a member of a group of poets, whose courtly poetry is associated with the courts of Scandinavian and Icelandic leaders during the Viking Age, who composed and performed renditions of aspects of what we now characterise as Old Norse poetry .The most prevalent metre of skaldic poetry is...

. He was the most prominent Norse poet of the 12th century.

He was descended from the family of Egill Skallagrímsson

Egill Skallagrímsson

Egill Skallagrímsson was a Viking Age warrior and skald. Egill is one of the great anti-heroes of the Icelandic sagas.-Life:...

, the so called Mýramenn. For most of his life he lived in Norway, with the kings Sigurðr Jórsalafari, Haraldr gilli and the sons of the latter, especially Eysteinn Haraldsson, whose marshall he became. After Eysteinn's death (1157) he composed the poem Elfarvísur for the nobleman Gregorius Dagsson, referring to his victory over Hákon herðibreiðr at Göta älv

Göta älv

The Göta is a river that drains lake Vänern into the Kattegat at the city of Gothenburg on the western coast of Sweden. It is located in Götaland, with the river itself being a site of early Geatish settlement. The length is 93 km. Often the combination of Göta älv and Klarälven is mentioned...

.

The best known of Einarr's drápur is Geisli ("Ray of Light"), about St. Óláfr Haraldsson. This drápa was recited in the Church of Christ in Nidaros

Nidaros

Nidaros or Niðarós was during the Middle Ages, the old name of Trondheim, Norway . Until the Reformation, Nidaros remained the centre of the spiritual life of the country...

 in the presence of the three Norwegian kings of the time, Eysteinn, Sigurðr and Ingi

Inge I of Norway

Inge Haraldsson was king of Norway from 1136 to 1161. Inge’s reign fell within the start of the period known in Norwegian history as the civil war era. He was never the sole ruler of the country. He is often known as Inge the Hunchback , because of his physical disability...

, along with the first Norwegian archbishop, Jón Birgerson. The poem is composed in the dróttkvætt metre and it is the earliest completely preserved drápa with Christian content.

Einarr's poetry is primarily preserved in Heimskringla

Heimskringla

Heimskringla is the best known of the Old Norse kings' sagas. It was written in Old Norse in Iceland by the poet and historian Snorri Sturluson ca. 1230...

, Flateyjarbók

Flateyjarbók

The Flatey Book, is an important medieval Icelandic manuscript. It is also known as GkS 1005 fol. and by the Latin name Codex Flateyensis.- Description :...

, Morkinskinna

Morkinskinna

Morkinskinna is an Old Norse kings' saga, relating the history of Norwegian kings from approximately 1025 to 1157. The saga was written in Iceland around 1220, and has been preserved in a manuscript from around 1275....

, Fagrskinna

Fagrskinna

Fagrskinna is one of the kings' sagas, written around 1220. It takes its name from one of the manuscripts in which it was preserved, Fagrskinna meaning 'Fair Leather', i.e., 'Fair Parchment'. Fagrskinna proper was destroyed by fire, but copies of it and another vellum have been preserved...

 and Skáldskaparmál

Skáldskaparmál

The second part of Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda the Skáldskaparmál or "language of poetry" is effectively a dialogue between the Norse god of the sea, Ægir and Bragi, the god of poetry, in which both Norse mythology and discourse on the nature of poetry are intertwined...

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