Skalding Hot Poetry! (9th – 13th C AD)
During the Viking Age in Scandinavia, there was a group of poets who performed their poetry in the courts of Viking leaders and kings – this so-called courtly poetry, more commonly known as Old Norse poetry, would be performed in solo by a poet called a skald.
Each skald tended to emphasize the deeds of his king in his poetry, and the constructed poems tended to be subject to rather intense technical demands. These complicated forms of verse were comparable to those of Welsh bards, and in the same manner, the topics of poetry were rather limited to testimonials and memorials of a king’s or well-known aristocrat’s battles and deeds. In fact, it wasn’t unusual for a Viking king himself to take an interest in poetry, and many kings actually became their own skalds! For this reason, the majority of skaldic poetry that survives today can be attributed to specific authors and kings.
As time moved on, the 10th century began to see an increase in syncretizing of pagan and Christian themes, and by the 11th century, skaldic poetry had become extinct in a Christianized Scandinavia. Icelandic skalds continued to practice well into the 13th century however, which gave many of the poets time to write down their own compositions as well as traditional poems that might have otherwise been lost. One skaldic poet even compiled a manual called the Prose Edda, hoping to preserve an understanding of this poetic art for the future.
To make matters a little more interesting, skalds also tended to compose other pieces of poetry that weren’t necessarily meant for recitation in the court. They were known to have composed satire, and on rare occasions, they constructed erotic verses called ‘mansongr’. Unfortunately for the skalds, the writing of mansongr was forbidden in many Norse jurisdictions under penalty of death.
Why? Not because of any moral objections, but because leaders were afraid of the poems’ potential for magical ensnarement! Erotic and love poetry often contained magical charms in several verses, and on other occasions, love poetry was seen as a smear on a woman’s reputation – thus potentially harming her family’s reputation as well.
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Tomorrow: To kill a Mayan scribe…
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