Óláfr Þórðarson (

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlement ...

: ;

Modern Icelandic Icelandic (; is, íslenska, link=no ) is a North Germanic language spoken by about 314,000 people, the vast majority of whom live in Iceland, where it is the national language. Due to being a West Scandinavian language, it is most closely re ...

: ; -1259) was an

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...

skald A skald, or skáld (Old Norse: , later ; , meaning "poet"), is one of the often named poets who composed skaldic poetry, one of the two kinds of Old Norse poetry, the other being Eddic poetry, which is anonymous. Skaldic poems were traditional ...

and

scholar A scholar is a person who pursues academic and intellectual activities, particularly academics who apply their intellectualism into expertise in an area of study. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researche ...

. He is usually called Óláfr hvítaskáld (O.N.: ; M.I.: ; "Olaf the white skald") in contrast to a contemporary skald called Óláfr svartaskáld ("Olaf the black skald"). Óláfr was the paternal nephew of

Snorri Sturluson Snorri Sturluson ( ; ; 1179 – 22 September 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was elected twice as lawspeaker of the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He is commonly thought to have authored or compiled portions of th ...

and spent his youth in Snorri's home where he had an important part of his scholarly education. Particular important is his Grammatical Treatise. His father was Þórður Sturluson (-April 10, 1237), his mother was Þóra “Yngri” Bjarnadóttir (-1224) and he was the brother of Guttormur Thordarson (-October 17, 1255), Böðvar Þórðarson (-), Halla Þórðardóttir (-?), Thordur Thordarson (-?), Valgerdur Thordardottir (1210-?), Gudrun Thordardottir (1210-?), Sturla Thordarson (July 29, 1214-July 30, 1284) and Ogmundur Thordurson (born ''btwn.''1175-1235). After his father Þórður Sturluson died on April 10, 1237, he travelled to

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...

, where he stayed with king

Haakon IV of Norway Haakon IV Haakonsson ( – 16 December 1263; Old Norse: ''Hákon Hákonarson'' ; Norwegian: ''Håkon Håkonsson''), sometimes called Haakon the Old in contrast to his namesake son, was King of Norway from 1217 to 1263. His reign lasted for 46 ...

and Jarl Skule, before he went to

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

and its king

Valdemar II of Denmark Valdemar (28 June 1170 – 28 March 1241), later remembered as Valdemar the Victorious (), was the King of Denmark (being Valdemar II) from 1202 until his death in 1241. Background He was the second son of King Valdemar I of Denmark and Sophi ...

. He probably also visited king Eric XI of Sweden. In 1240, he served as king Haakon's

housecarl A housecarl ( on, húskarl; oe, huscarl) was a non- servile manservant or household bodyguard in medieval Northern Europe. The institution originated amongst the Norsemen of Scandinavia, and was brought to Anglo-Saxon England by the Danish con ...

in the Battle of Oslo. Back in

, he was the island's

lawspeaker A lawspeaker or lawman ( Swedish: ''lagman'', Old Swedish: ''laghmaþer'' or ''laghman'', Danish: ''lovsigemand'', Norwegian: ''lagmann'', Icelandic: , Faroese: '' løgmaður'', Finnish: ''laamanni'', kl, inatsitinuk) is a unique Scandina ...

from 1252 to 1256. He became a famous skald and composed poems about the three Scandinavian kings, which are partially included in the ''

Knýtlinga saga ''Knýtlinga saga'' (''The Saga of Cnut's Descendants'') is an Icelandic kings' saga written in the 1250s, which deals with the kings who ruled Denmark since the early 10th century.Ármann Jakobsson, "Royal biography", p. 397-8 There are good rea ...

'', which he probably made from material he collected in Denmark. He died in 1259, aged around 48-54.

External References

All The King's RunesOlafr Thordarson: a 13th century Icelandic grammarian's account of runic writing
{{DEFAULTSORT:Olafr Thordarson 1210 births 1205 births 1259 deaths Icelandic writers Sturlungar family clan 13th-century writers Lawspeakers Icelandic poets Skalds Place of birth unknown Date of death unknown Place of death unknown Date of birth unknown 13th-century Icelandic people 13th-century Icelandic poets Medieval Icelandic writers