Þjóðólfr Arnórsson

Þjóðólfr Arnórsson (Old Norse: ; Modern Icelandic: ; Modern Norwegian: ) was an 11th-century Icelandic skáld, who spent his career as a court poet to the Norwegian kings Magnus the Good and Harald Hardrada and is thought to have died with the latter at the Battle of Stamford Bridge in 1066.

Life Þjóðólfr was born in approximately 1010 in Svarfaðardalur, where his father was a poor farmer. A rival skáld, Sneglu-Halli, told a coarse story about his father at court; in one report of this, he is called Þorljót rather than Arnórr.

His last verse was composed at the Battle of Stamford Bridge, so he is often believed to have died there with Harald. According to the saga, the wounded king called to him, "Come here and support my head ...—long have I held up your head [i.e., supported and favored you]."

Works 25 stanzas survive of a poem which Þjóðólfr composed in 1045 in dróttkvætt metre about Magnus, the Magnúsflokkr. This covers the king's whole career, from his journey to Garðaríki after the defeat of his father King Olaf to the Battle of Helganes in 1044. This must have been "a glorious piece of courtly panegyrics". It can be noted that the term "Serkland" is mentioned in Sexstefja (verse 2), which is relatively rare in contemporary sources from the Viking Age.

In addition, several single stanzas (lausavísur) by him occur in the kings' sagas, dealing with the two kings' campaigns against the Danes. The last is his final verse at Stamford Bridge, showing both loyalty to Harald (whom he speaks of as dead) and disapproval of the expedition to England ).

Þjóðólf's verse is notable for its metrical perfection, (However, another anecdote in Morkinskinna has King Harald chide him for not rhyming correctly in a challenge verse. ) In the Magnúsflokkr, his style has "baroque" features: he emphasises the burning of farms, states that these were the greatest battles yet fought, and has the stormy waves rolling the skulls of the Danish slain across the sea-floor.

Much of his work is preserved as a record of historical events, as Jan de Vries put it, "one might say ... the work of a royal historiographer, composed in drápa form".