Óttarr svarti
Óttarr svartiCnut the Great of Denmark and England. His poems are significant contemporary evidence for the careers of Óláfr Haraldsson and Cnut the Great.
Óttarr was the nephew of Sigvatr Þórðarson, and Óttarr clearly based the poem Hǫfuðlausn, his encomium for Óláfr Haraldsson, on Sigvatr’s Víkingarvísur, which tallies the king's early Viking expeditions.[1] A small þáttr (short story) on Óttarr, Óttars þáttr svarta, is preserved in Flateyjarbók, Bergsbók, Bæjarbók and Tómasskinna.
Works
- Óláfsdrápa sœnska. Verses for the Swedish king Olof Skötkonung.
- Höfuðlausn (also spelled as Hǫfuðlausn).
- Hallvarðr háreksblesi.
- Lausavísur.
A recent review of the origins of the nursery rhyme
Viking attack on London, sometimes connected with an attack in 1014 for which a stanza from Óttarr's Höfuðlausn is the earliest source.[2]
Notes
- ^
- Old Norse pronunciation: Old Norse pronunciation: [ˈoːtːˌɑrː ˈswɑrte]
- Modern Icelandic: Óttar svarti [ˈouhtˌaːr ˈsvar̥tɪ]
- Modern Norwegian: Ottar Svarte
- Modern Swedish: Ottar svarte
References
- Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages
- Óttarr svarti All extant poetry
- Óttars þáttur svarta (eftir Flateyjarbók)
- Jesch, Judith (2005) 'Skaldic poetry, a case of literacy avant la lettre?' In: Literacy in Medieval and Early Modern Scandinavian Culture. Ed. P. Hermann. Odense. Pp. 187–210
- Jesch, Judith (2006). 'The ‘meaning of the narrative moment’: Poets and history in the late Viking Age'. In: Narrative and History in the Early Medieval West. Ed. E. M. Tyler, R. Balzaretti. Turnhout. Pp. 251–65
- ISBN 978-91-981859-4-2.
- ^ Grove, Jonathan (2009). ‘Recreating Tradition: Sigvatr Þórðarson’s Víkingarvísur and Óttarr svarti’s Höfuðlausn’. In: Á austrvega. Saga and East Scandinavia. Preprint Papers of The 14th International Saga Conference Uppsala, 9th–15th August 2009, ed. Agneta Ney, et al., vol. II, pp. 327–335
- ^ Clark, John (2002). ‘London Bridge and the archaeology of a nursery rhyme’, London Archaeologist 9, 338–40; cf. Hagland, Jan Ragnar, and Watson, Bruce. (2005). 'Fact or folklore: the Viking attack on London Bridge', London Archaeologist 12, 328-33
