Þorvaldr (inn) veili ("the Ailing") was an

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

skald A skald, or skáld (Old Norse: ; , meaning "poet"), is one of the often named poets who composed skaldic poetry, one of the two kinds of Old Norse poetry in alliterative verse, the other being Eddic poetry. Skaldic poems were traditionally compo ...

who lived in the last part of the 10th century. The '' Brennu-Njáls saga'' relates the circumstances of his death. Þorvaldr was pagan and opposed the conversion to Christianity. According especially to

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 ...

's '' Ólafs saga Tryggvasonar'', he had composed defamatory verses (''

níð In historical Germanic peoples, Germanic society, (Old Norse, in runic: , ; ) was a term for a social stigma implying the loss of honour and the status of a villain. A person affected with the stigma is considered a nithing (, , , or ). Middle ...

'') about

Þangbrandr Þangbrandr was a missionary sent to Iceland by king of Norway Óláfr Tryggvason to convert the inhabitants to Christianity. Snorri Sturluson described him as follows: Origins Þangbrandr's origins are uncertain. In no less than two Icelandic s ...

, a missionary sent to Iceland by

Óláfr Tryggvason Olaf Tryggvason (960s – 9 September 1000) was King of Norway from 995 to 1000. He was the son of Tryggvi Olafsson, king of Viken ( Vingulmark, and Rånrike), and, according to later sagas, the great-grandson of Harald Fairhair, first King ...

. When Þangbrandr arrived in his area, in

Grímsnes Grímsnes () is a relatively small fissure vent, fissure or crater row Volcanic systems of Iceland, volcanic system located in South Iceland, located south–east of Þingvallavatn, Lake Thingvallavatn and east of the en echelon group of volcanic ...

, Þorvaldr gathered a troop to slay him and his companion Guðleifr Arason. But the priest was forewarned and Þorvaldr was eventually killed: :Thangbrand shot a spear through Thorwald, but Gudleif smote him on the shoulder and hewed his arm off, and that was his death. : : ::—''The Story of Burnt Njal'' (98)
Dasent's translation
As he was setting his trap, Þorvaldr had asked the skald Úlfr Uggason to lend him assistance against the "effeminate/sodomitic wolf to the agangods"Sayers, William. Onomastic Paronomasia in Old Norse: Technique, Context, and Parallels. ''Tijdschrift voor Skandinavistiek''. 2006 (27). (''argr goðvargr''), but Úlfr refused to be involved. This request, which takes the form of a ''

lausavísa In Old Norse poetry and later Icelandic poetry, a ''lausavísa'' (pl. ''lausavísur'') is a single stanza composition, or a set of stanzas unconnected by narrative or thematic continuity. Lausavísur are often introduced in the text of sagas S ...

'', is all that survives of his work. But according to Snorri's ''

Háttatal The Háttatal (Old Norse: 'Tally of Metre (poetry), Metres'; c. 20,000 words; Old Norse: , Modern Icelandic: ) is the last section of the ''Prose Edda'' composed by the Icelandic poet, politician, and historian Snorri Sturluson. Using, for the mo ...

'', he was also the author of a ''

drápa A skald, or skáld (Old Norse: ; , meaning "poet"), is one of the often named poets who composed skaldic poetry, one of the two kinds of Old Norse poetry in alliterative verse, the other being Eddic poetry. Skaldic poems were traditionally comp ...

'' about the story of

Sigurðr Sigurd ( ) or Siegfried (Middle High German: ''Sîvrit'') is a legendary hero of Germanic heroic legend, who killed a dragon — known in Nordic tradition as Fafnir () — and who was later murdered. In the Nordic countries, he is referred t ...

. This ''drápa'' was remarkable for being refrainless (''steflaus'') and composed in a variant of '' skjálfhent''.

Notes

External links

Þorvaldr's ''lausavísa''
Year of death missing 10th-century Icelandic poets Year of birth unknown {{Iceland-bio-stub