Þorbjörn Hornklofi in the context of "Court poet"

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⭐ Core Definition: Þorbjörn Hornklofi

Þórbjǫrn hornklofi (Modern Norwegian: Torbjørn Hornklove; note that hornklofi is a nickname, not a surname) was a 9th-century Norwegian skald and one of the court poets of King Harald Fairhair. His poetry has sometimes been regarded as a contemporary source of information regarding King Harald, although it is only preserved embedded within 13th and 14th century king's sagas.

The two skaldic poems by him which are preserved, both only in excerpts, are Hrafnsmál and Glymdrápa. The first poem, which utilizes verse form málaháttr, describes life at Harald's court, mentions that he took a Danish wife, and that he won a victory at the Battle of Hafrsfjord. The second is the earliest preserved drápa in regular dróttkvætt, and relates a series of battles Harald won during the consolidation of his rule of Norway.

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Þorbjörn Hornklofi in the context of Harald Fairhair

Harald Fairhair (Old Norse: Haraldr Hárfagri; c. 850c. 932) was a Norwegian king. According to traditions current in Norway and Iceland in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, he reigned from c. 872 to 930 and was the first King of Norway. Supposedly, two of his sons, Eric Bloodaxe and Haakon the Good, succeeded Harald to become kings after his death.

Much of Harald's biography is uncertain. A couple of praise poems by his court poet Þorbjörn Hornklofi survive in fragments, but the extant accounts of his life come from sagas set down in writing around three centuries after his lifetime. His life is described in several of the Kings' sagas, none of them older than the twelfth century. Their accounts of Harald and his life differ on many points, but it is clear that in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries Harald was regarded as having unified Norway into one kingdom.

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