Óláfr’s life provides a striking example of the family conflicts and party politics surrounding the chieftains of the Sturlung Age. He himself is mentioned frequently in the most important record of his times, Sturlunga saga. His first known home was at Bjarnarhöfn, west of modern day Stykkishólmur on the Snæfellsnes peninsula. As a teenager in 1226 we hear of him at a midwinter feast at Snorri Sturluson’s manor at Reykjaholt—in a winter of volcanic eruptions and sand drifts in which Snorri lost a hundred head of cattle at Svignaskarð. In summer 1227, at the family’s ancestral home of Hvammur, Óláfr acts as peacemaker between his father Þórðr and his irascible cousin Sturla Sighvatsson. From 1234 we hear of him taking an active part (at times with his brother Sturla, the saga writer) in clashes with another cousin, Órœkja, son of Snorri Sturluson, and in 1236, on Snorri’s advice, he moves from Hvammur to Borg in the Mýrar district (the home of the poet Egill Skallagrímsson in the 10th century and closer to Snorri himself). In 1237, on the death of his father on April 10 at the age of 82, Óláfr comes into his inheritance and that winter composes a drápa (a formal poem of praise in dróttkvætt meter) to Bishop (Saint) Þorlákr; nothing of this poem survives, but the next summer saw the institution of the most important festival in the Icelandic Church calendar, Þorláksmessa, June 20.

Two years later, in the winter after the Battle of Örlygsstaðir, 1238-9, Snorri, Órœkja and Þorleifr are with Earl Skúli at Niðarós and Þórðr kakali with King Hákon at Bergen. The next spring Snorri’s party wishes to depart for Iceland but the king refuses them permission to leave. Óláfr hvítaskáld is also said to have been with the earl at this time, together with the Norwegian Arnfinnr Þjófsson, who is cited as the source for the news that Skúli has made Snorri an earl (probably of the island of Fólskn (modern Norwegian: Storfosna) off Niðarós: see Pálsson, H. 1992:165-8). A little later, when Earl Skúli sails off to face Hákon, Óláfr composes a poem about his ship Langafrjádagr (‘Good Friday’). The Battle of Láka (modern Norwegian: Låka) took place on March 6, 1240; the king suffered heavy losses and Earl Skúli moved south to Oslo and had himself proclaimed king. Óláfr Þórðarson is next heard of again at Niðarós, but now with the king, composing a poem about the battle in which he announces it his wish that the king be restored to his rightful position. This change of allegiance on Óláfr’s part is puzzling; Björn M. Ólsen (1884:xxxiv) suggested that Óláfr had gone to Sweden in 1239 to perform a poem in honor of King Eiríkr and, on his return to Niðarós, found Earl Skúli already gone and King Hákon newly arrived (Skúli left on 18 February 1240 and Hákon arrived shortly afterwards), leaving Óláfr little option but to go over to the king’s side.

After his return to Iceland nothing is heard of Óláfr until 1248, when Þórðr kakali has him appointed lawspeaker. Björn M. Ólsen came to the conclusion that Óláfr was not in Iceland by 1242, since he is not associated with the arrest of Sturla Þórðarson and Órœkja Snorrason at the Hvítá bridge in that year, but that he must have returned with an account of his journeys before 1245, the year when Aron and Brynjólfr are boasting to King Hákon about his reception at the court of King Valdimarr.

Back in Iceland, aged just over 30, Óláfr found conditions much changed from when he had left over five years earlier: Sturla Sighvatsson, who had been all powerful at the time of Óláfr’s departure for Norway, had died with his father in 1238 at the Battle of Örlygsstaðir; Snorri had been killed by agents of King Hákon in 1241; and Órœkja Snorrason and Sturla, Óláfr’s brother, were now a spent force. Óláfr relinquished his position as lawspeaker to his brother Sturla in 1251 but was reinstated the next year. The same year he received Þorgils skarði at Stafaholt when Þorgils arrived from Norway bearing Hákon’s demand for a share in Snorri’s estate. Óláfr supported the king’s claim at a meeting at Höfðahólar late in August, thereby setting himself in opposition to his brother Sturla and second cousin Þorleifr Þórðarson of Garðar. In December the same year, Þorgils turned up at Stafaholt with a large band of supporters and in considerable fear. The same evening, Sturla Þórðarson and Hrafn Oddsson sprang an attack and captured Þorgils, who prepared himself for death. Óláfr was incensed, declaring the attack a sacrilege and saying that God and St. Nicholas, to whom the church was dedicated, would have revenge. Subsequently Óláfr persuaded Þorgils to agree to break faith with Gizurr Þorvaldsson (on the grounds that they all had scores to settle with him following Snorri’s killing) and to accept terms from Sturla and Hrafn. That same night Þorgils went back on the oath coerced from him and rode north.

Óláfr is often believed to be the author of Knýtlinga saga, which traces the history of the kings of Denmark on the model of Snorri’s Heimskringla (see Guðnason 1982:clxxix-clxxxiv and references there). Knýtlinga saga refers to Óláfr’s stay at the court of Valdimarr Valdimarsson (d. 1241) ‘er einhverr hefir verit ágætastr konungr hingat á Norðrlǫnd. Með honum var Óláfr Þórðarson ok nam at honum marga frœði, ok hafði hann margar ágætligar frásagnir frá honum’ (‘who was one of the finest kings yet seen in Scandinavia. With him was Óláfr Þórðarson, who obtained a great deal of information from him and had many excellent stories from him’) (Knýtlinga saga, ch. 127). Óláfr himself refers to Valdimarr in The Third Grammatical Treatise in connection with the runic characters (Ólsen 1884:45): ‘Þessa stafi ok þeirra merkingar compileraði minn herra Valldimarr konungr með skjótu orðtæki á þessa lund’ (‘My lord King Valdimarr compiled these letters and their meanings in brief as follows’). Óláfr acquired some knowledge of Danish and German, probably while in Denmark, as he refers to these languages in the Treatise. Laxdœla saga has also been ascribed to Óláfr (Hallberg 1963), though the arguments in support of this have been disputed (Allén 1971, Thorsson 1994).

Óláfr’s poetic remains are meager: we have three single occasional verses; one verse from a poem on King Hákon the Old; twelve verses in hrynhenda meter from a poem about King Hákon and Earl Skúli; two verses from a drápa about Aron Hjǫrleifsson; and two fragments from a poem on Thomas à Becket (the English saint, 1117-70, murdered in Canterbury Cathedral). Nothing survives of the poems he is known to have composed on Earl Knútr Hákonarson, King Eiríkr of Sweden, King Valdimarr the Old of Denmark, and Saint Þorlákr. Thus, in addition to his clerical learning, Óláfr was trained in poetics and a writer of prose. He may well have gotten some of his education from his uncle Snorri Sturluson and thus been ideally placed to absorb the poetic tradition cultivated by the educated and literate elite of the Dalir and Borgarfjörður regions of western Iceland in the 13th century.

Óláfr probably wrote his Third Grammatical Treatise shortly after his return to Iceland from his time abroad. In support of this, Björn M. Ólsen pointed to the warmth with which Óláfr refers to King Valdimarr and a certain animosity toward King Hákon that appears in the glosses to one of the verses. The treatise is divided into two sections, on grammar and rhetoric, and is based largely on the works of Priscian and Donatus. Óláfr’s task was thus to find or compose examples of verse in Icelandic to exemplify the main concepts of Latin poetic style that he introduces. These examples demonstrate the independence of the domestic poetic tradition vis-à-vis the Latin learning that the work attempts to expound to its readers (see Tranter 2000). The treatise also reveals that Óláfr had a thorough knowledge of Norse runes, since one of his purposes is to show his readers that the Roman alphabet is better suited to the sound system of Icelandic than runes—which he takes for granted that his readers will also be familiar with.

Scholarly attention to the Treatise has been directed first and foremost at Óláfr’s command of the Latin tradition of learning, and in particular at his sources and how he used and interpreted them (Ólsen 1884; Collings 1967; Raschellà 1983; Albano 1985-6; Tómasson 1992:529-32). The section on grammar—‘Málfrœðinnar grundvǫllr’ (‘Basics of grammar’), which follows Priscian—has been studied by Micillo (1993); Kristján Árnason (1993) has discussed pitch in Old Icelandic in light of Óláfr’s evidence; Björn M. Ólsen (1884) and Raschellà (1994) have looked into the background of the chapter on runes; and Tómasson (1993) has analyzed the prefaces to the four grammatical treatises in the Codex Wormianus.

Despite the lack of interest among scholars, Óláfr’s indigenous verse examples merit special investigation. As stated previously, one may suppose that, when Óláfr cites a stanza or verse fragment by a particular poet without further specification, he is taking it for granted that it will be reasonably familiar to his audience or readership. This assumes, of course, that Óláfr was writing for people who were interested in this poetry and had a fair knowledge of it, up to the level, say, one might expect of beginners in formal book-learning; but in this regard it may be said that the whole treatise bears the marks of having been written for readers already possessed of a sound knowledge of both runes and skaldic verse. By looking into Óláfr’s examples and taking account of their provenance, we may therefore be able to draw up some kind of picture of the condition and strength of the skaldic tradition in the mid-13th century.

From this we should be able to see which poems and poets were so familiar to him that he turned to them automatically when looking for Icelandic examples to illustrate his Latin stylistic concepts—in the confident belief that the poets he refers to with familiarity would also be familiar to his potential audience.

In the Treatise, Óláfr names 34 poets and presents 123 examples of poetry, 354 lines in all. Most of the examples are only fragments of stanzas, but seven stanzas are quoted in full, of which one is repeated.

The question that now arises is: Where did Óláfr get these examples from? There are at least four possibilities:

1. from written sources
2. from oral tradition
3. Óláfr composed or reworded them himself
4. translated or adapted from the Latin exemplar

If Óláfr composed or translated some of his examples himself, it seems most likely that they would be among the 51 examples that are both a) unknown from other sources, and b) presented without a named author. Since there is no way of getting any further information on the origins of the examples in this group there is very little we can say about them.

With the other examples things are rather different, and I will start by considering the forms used to introduce the 33 verses that are known from other written sources.

The only well-known poet from the sagas of Icelanders that Óláfr refers to by name is Egill Skallagrímsson. This fact might lend support to the frequently expressed view that Egils saga was the first, or one of the first, of the sagas of Icelanders to be written (see Hafstað 1990, Kristjánsson 1990, Ólason, V. 1991). Three of Óláfr’s examples are also found in other sagas of Icelanders; of these, two are unascribed in the Treatise (the verses found also in Bjarnar saga Hítdœlakappa and Fóstbrœðra saga), while the other is ascribed to different people by Óláfr and in Kormaks saga (by Óláfr to Bjǫrn and by the saga to Bersi, though it should be noted that these names are synonymous). The lack of attribution for the examples also found in Bjarnar saga and Fóstbrœðra saga may be explained either as a) Óláfr not having known who the authors were (which might be due to his having learned the verses from somewhere other than the written sagas), or b) his considering the verses so well known that he did not need to specify the authors (as in the examples from Vellekla, Háttatal, Heimskringla, *Brjáns saga, and Gátur Gestumblinda, each of which is quoted without ascription). The second of these possibilities would imply that Óláfr knew more skalds from the sagas of Icelanders than just Egill, whether this knowledge came from books or from oral tradition. There is no way of deciding which explanation is closer to the truth, but the examples from Kormaks saga, Fóstbrœðra saga, and Bjarnar saga Hítdœlakappa are of potential significance for attempts to determine the ages of these sagas, e.g. to question the arguments put forward by Jónas Kristjánsson (1972:292-310) and Bjarni Guðnason (1994) that the last two are rather younger than was formerly thought. Alternatively, we might use the uncertainties surrounding these verses as reason to reconsider the view that the sagas had no existence before the time they achieved written form (see Kellogg 1994 and below, p. 242).

At this point it is worth considering the formulas Óláfr uses to introduce the 90 verses and fragments that are not known from other written sources:

In the introductory formulas there are references to three otherwise unknown poems, but in each case no author is given:

The poets named in the introductory formulas to the verse examples are as follows (in the order they appear in the Treatise):

The verses Óláfr attributes to the twenty-six poets in the table above are not known from other written sources. There is thus a fair probability that he learned their poems by some way other than working his way through them on vellum. This list might therefore include poets who were sufficiently prominent in Óláfr’s mind that their works found their way into his collection of examples from oral knowledge. They would equally be poets who he might have assumed would be familiar to people with an interest in poetry in the west of Iceland at the time he was writing his Treatise (though this of course does not mean that all the actual examples would have been familiar to everyone). By trying to work out where these poets came from, we can perhaps build up a map of the literary horizons of Óláfr Þórðarson as he worked in his home at Stafaholt. As can been seen from the table of introductory formulas, it is not in all cases clear which poet Óláfr is referring to when he gives only a single name; however, with the aid of Finnur Jónsson’s Skjaldedigtningen (1912-5), and with an eye to the kinds of the formulas used to introduce the verses that are known from other sources, we can in most cases make informed guesses as to the identity of the particular poets.

The twenty-six poets named by Óláfr can be divided into two groups according to how much we know about them. The first group comprises nine poets whose origins are uncertain though some of them do appear elsewhere in written sources:

These nine skalds of unknown geographical origins fall into three groups according to where our knowledge of them (such as it is) comes from:

1. Generally known prehistorical and (semi)legendary characters: Starkaðr the Old and Bragi the Old. Both are among the best-known figures in Scandinavian prehistory and would hardly have required further explanation.
2. Poets known from Snorri’s scriptorium in the writing of Heimskringla and the Edda: Auðunn illskælda, Eilífr Guðrúnarson, and Sveinn.
3. Poets known only from Óláfr: Guðbrandr (unless he is the same man as appears in Hrafns saga), Skraut-Oddr, Guðlaugr, and Leiðólfr.

About the following poets more is known (with a certain amount of guesswork in cases where a name is shared by more than one known skald):

Again we may ask: Where did Óláfr get his knowledge of the poets in the list above? To help us answer this, the poets can be divided into four groups:

1. Generally known figures from Óláfr’s immediate cultural environment: Óláfr Leggsson, Snorri Sturluson, Óláfr Þórðarson himself, and Egill Skallagrímsson (Óláfr’s examples suggest a cultivation of Egill’s poetry among members of his and Snorri’s family.)
2. Poets known to Snorri in the writing of Heimskringla and the Edda: Þorleifr jarlsskáld, Þjóðólfr Arnórsson, Hallar-Steinn, Kormakr, Sighvatr Þórðarson, and Glúmr Geirason.
3. Poets known from þættir in the postulated older version of Morkinskinna: Arnórr jarlaskáld, Einarr Skúlason, and Sneglu-Halli (An interesting attempt has recently been made to associate Sneglu-Halli with Snorri: see Pálsson, H. 1992.)
4. Nationally known figures of the 13th century: Kolbeinn Tumason, Abbot Nikulás Bergsson, and Markús Skeggjason (Markús’s Hrynhenda is quoted in Knýtlinga saga; this meter was also used by Óláfr himself and Arnórr jarlaskáld.)

Óláfr could not have obtained his examples of the verses of these poets from the texts mentioned previously in the form that we know them. Most of these poets are, however, fairly well-known figures, and so it is interesting to note where in Iceland they came from. The majority are familiar as court poets from the works of Snorri Sturluson and Morkinskinna, but the striking fact emerges that those who are not known from these sources all come from the west of Iceland.

Other than Sighvatr Þórðarson, all the court poets who were not from the west of Iceland came from the north: Kormakr was from Miðfjörður in the northwest, an area in close contact with the Dalir region, as evidenced by Sturla’s quick journey to Miðfjörður prior to the attack by the Vatnsfirðingar clan on Sauðafell in 1229; Glúmr Geirason came from near lake Mývatn; Þorleifr and Þjóðólfr were from Svarfaðardalur; and Sneglu-Halli is said to have been of northern extraction. Óláfr’s knowledge of the skalds from this part of the country (all of whom except Kormakr figure to a greater or lesser extent in Morkinskinna) may perhaps be explained by the older version of Morkinskinna having been written in Eyjafjörður in the mid north, a region to which the tentacles of the Sturlungar extended after Sighvatr Sturluson set up home at Grund in Eyjafjörður in 1215 (see Andersson 1993, 1994; Andersson and Gade 2000:66-83). The fact that the north fell within the sphere of influence of one of his close kinsmen may account for the considerable interest and knowledge Óláfr reveals about the poets from this part of the country.

Outside these two main groups fall three prominent figures from Icelandic history and culture: lawspeaker Markús Skeggjason (who composed his verse in Iceland but sent it abroad to the king of Denmark), Abbot Nikulás, and Kolbeinn Tumason. All three, however, would have been well known throughout Iceland at the time when Óláfr was writing.

One particularly interesting feature of Óláfr’s list is the names that do not appear, in particular those of a number of poets who are well known from the sagas of Icelanders. What these ‘absentees’ have in common, however, is that their reputations were largely Icelandic, rather than having been established at the courts of Scandinavia. This might indicate that the common poetic tradition in the country was centered not at the Alþingi, the annual general assembly held at Þingvellir in southwest Iceland, but at the royal courts of the neighboring countries where the skalds plied their trade, notably Norway. For instance, Óláfr makes no mention of Gísli Súrsson and other poets whose lives form the subjects of sagas and whom we would unhesitatingly include in any general history of skaldic verse. It is also notable that, unlike Snorri in the Edda, Óláfr does not cite a single verse by the Borgarfjörður poet and saga hero Gunnlaugr ormstunga (‘Snake-tongue’). The feud between Gunnlaugr and SkáldHrafn over Helga the Fair was certainly well known in the first half of the 13th century since it is twice referred to in Egils saga. According to Gunnlaugs saga, Gunnlaugr was a prominent poet of the first order, but his absence from Óláfr’s Treatise perhaps suggests that the writer of the saga late in the 13th century inflated his hero’s poetic reputation and even ‘forged’ some of the verses attributed to him in the saga himself. This might explain Óláfr’s silence on this ‘well-known’ poet from his own part of the country.