Norse Skald

Singer of Sagas

The skald was the court poet of the Norse and Icelandic world, composing intricate skaldic verse dense with kennings to immortalize the deeds of kings and jarls. Reciting from memory in mead halls, he was both entertainer and living chronicle, for a people who committed little to writing. To earn a skald's praise-poem was to secure one's fame across generations, while his satire could shame a man for life.