Björn inn krepphendi

Ármann Jakobsson (University of Iceland)

Ed. by Ármann Jakobsson, University of Iceland
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.3.4: Icelandic Writing and Culture.
Vol. editors: Ármann Jakobsson (University of Iceland), Sven Hakon Rossel (Universitat Wien), Herbert Rowland (Purdue University), Jakob Stougaard-Nielsen (University College London)

Dates

Born 1100
Died 1200

Places

Active in Iceland

Activities

Primary

Poet

Resources

krepphendi's Works

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Björn inn krepphendi is a poet mentioned in the Old Norse kings’ sagas and the purported author of

Magnússdrápa

, a poem about King Magnús Ólafsson of Norway (d. 1103). Eleven stanzas are preserved in

Morkinskinna

and

Heimskringla

and thought to belong to this poem, but of those five are only half-stanzas. The poem is mentioned in the sagas but it is not clear whether all eleven stanzas originally belonged to this poem although they are composed in the same metre.

Editors of the poem tend to follow the order in which the stanzas appear in the kings’ sagas. They seem to concern the campaigns of King Magnús whose nickname was Barelegs, and in the sagas they appear amongst the stanzas of other poets, Gísl Illugason and Þorkell hamarskáld. These poets are all mentioned in the

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626 words

Citation: Jakobsson, Ármann. "Björn inn krepphendi". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 18 April 2023 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=14970, accessed 24 November 2024.]