and Oddi were well established by this time, but he may
have followed the example of the many learned Iceland-
ers who studied in Germany and France.
Sometime during the joint reign of the Haraldssons,
Einarr returned to Norway. He composed poems for all
three, as well as a “Haraldssonakvæði.” But his principal
patron and great friend was Eysteinn, who, accord-
ing to Morkinskinna, made Einarr his stallari (“mar-
shall”). Einarr probably remained with King Eysteinn
until Eysteinn’s death in 1157, and then he may have
left Norway to travel through Denmark and Sweden.
Skáldatal reports that he composed poems for King
Sørkvir of Sweden and his son Jón, and for King Sven
of Denmark, although none of these poems survives. At
some time, he returned to Norway and was with King
Ingi and Grégóríus Dagsson: his poem Elfarvísur was
composed for Grégóríus sometime between the battle of
Elfr (1159) and the fall of Ingi and Grégóríus in 1161. It
is not known whether Einarr then went home to Iceland
or remained in Norway, but he would have been an old
man and cannot have lived long after.
Einarr’s masterpiece is Geisli, the long drápa on St.
Óláfr Haraldsson, which he composed for a meeting
in Trondheim in 1152 or 1153. The poem emphasizes
Óláfr’s sanctity by comparing him to Christ in an elabo-
rately wrought typological parallel. Geisli may be the
earliest of the Christian drápur; its infl uence can be
seen in all the others. In addition to Geisli, a number of
the poems Einarr made in praise of his patrons survive:
fragments of the two drápur on Sigurðr and of two on
Haraldr Gilli Magnússon (one in tøglag meter); the
fragmentary Haraldssonakvæði; fragments of a poem in
runhent meter on an unknown prince; the Elfarvísur; and
the fragments of an Eysteinsdrápa and an Ingadrápa.
His most diffi cult poem is the Øxarfl okkr, containing
extremely complex kennings, many in the metonymic
style that Snorri calls ofl jóst (“unclear”). Although the
content of Einarr’s poetry (apart from Geisli) is mun-
dane, his verses show a remarkable facility with skaldic
diction, rhyme, and meter.
Further Reading
Editions
Finnur Jónsson, ed. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. Vols.
1A–2A (tekst eftir håndskrifterne) and 1B–2B (rettet tekst).
Copenhagen and Christiania [Oslo]: Gyldendal, 1912–15; rpt.
Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger, 1967 (A) and 1973 (B),
vols. 1A, pp. 455–55, 1B, pp. 423–57.
Finnur Jónsson, ed. Morkinskinna. Samfund til udgivelse af gam-
mel nordisk litteratur, 53. Copenhagen: Jørgensen, 1932.
Sigurður Nordal and Guðni Jónsson, eds. Borgfi rðinga s gur.
Íslenzk fornrit. 3. Reykjavik: Hið íslenzka fornritafélag, 1938.
Bjarni Aðalbjamarson, ed. Heimskringla. 3 vols. Íslenzk fornrit,
26–8. Reykjavik: Hið íslenzka fornritafélag, 1941–51.
Chase, Martin. “Einar Skúlason’s Geisli: A Critical Edition.”
Diss. University of Toronto, 1981.
Literature
Finnur Jónsson. Den oldnorske og oldislandske Littersturs Histo-
rie. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Gad, 1894–1901, vol. 2, pp. 62–73
Paasche, Fredrik. Kristendom og Kvad: En studie i norrøn mid-
delalder. Kristiania [Oslo]: Aschehoug, 1914, pp. 72–84.
Paasche, Fredrik. Norges og Islands Litteratur. Kristiania [Oslo]:
Aschehoug, 1924, pp. 288–90.
Vries, Jan de. Altnordische Literaturgeschichte. 2 vols. Grun-
driss der germanischen Philologie, 15–6. Berlin: de Gruyter,
1941–42; rpt. 1964–67, vol. 2, pp. 15–23.
Fidjestøl, Bjarne. Det norrøne fyrstediktet. Øvre Ervik: Alvheim
& Eide, 1982, pp. 153–6.
Tate, George S. “Einarr Skúlason.” In Dictionary of the Middle
Ages. Ed. Joseph R. Strayer. New York: Scribner, 1982–89,
vol. 4, pp. 411–2.
Martin Chase, S.J.EINHARD (ca. 770–840)
Frankish scholar and biographer. The author of the 9th-
century Vita Caroli, the fi rst known western biography
of a secular leader since late antiquity, was born to
noble parents in the Main Valley. As a boy, Einhard was
educated at the monastery of Fulda and soon after 791
went to the palace school at Aix-la-Chapelle, headed by
Alcuin. He became a close friend of Charlemagne (r.
768–814) as well as his adviser, offi cial representative,
and probably the supervisor of the building program
at Aix.
After Charlemagne’s death in 814, Einhard remained
at the court of Louis the Pious (r. 814–840), as adviser
to Louis’s eldest son, Lothair I (d. 855). In 830, he
retired with his wife, Imma, to a monastery founded
by him on lands granted by Louis. The area became
known as Seligenstadt (City of the Saints) after the
church there that Einhard had dedicated to SS. Mar-
cellinus and Peter and in which he placed relics of the
two saints acquired by nefarious means. He died March
14, 840.
Einhard’s extant writings include seventy letters, the
treatise Historia translationis BB. Christi martyrum
Marcellini et Petri, the short Quaestio de adoranda
cruce, and the Vita Caroli (ca. 829–36). The biography is
based on Einhard’s personal knowledge of Charlemagne
and events at Aix between his arrival there and 814, as
well as on written sources and likely the eyewitness
accounts of older members of the court for the years
before ca. 791. Composed in an excellent Latin, the Vita
shows the infl uence of various classical writers, above
all of Suetonius’s De vita Caesarum, particularly the life
of Augustus. Like many Carolingian authors, however,
Einhard did not borrow mindlessly from his sources but
selected and manipulated his material to accord with
what he wanted to say.See also Alcuin; Charlemagne; Lothair I;
Louis the PiousEINHARD