Bragi Boddason

Life and career

Bragi is known as "the Old" to distinguish him from a 12th-century skald, Bragi Hallsson. He was a member of a prominent family in southwestern Norway; according to Landnámabók, he married Lopthœna, the daughter of Erpr lútandi, another skald, and among their descendants was the early 11th-century skald Gunnlaugr ormstunga. Skáldatal lists him as a court poet to three kings, Ragnarr Loðbrók, Eysteinn Beli, and Bjǫrn at haugi, which has led to his life being dated to the 9th century, usually to the first half of that century. However, the dating of the reigns of all but King Bjǫrn in Sweden suggest a later date, and some including Guðbrandur Vigfússon have preferred dates of 835–900. Landnámabók also reports that when visiting Ljúfvina, the wife of king Hjǫrr of Hǫrðaland, he perceived that she had substituted the fair-skinned son of a thrall woman for her dark-skinned twin sons Geirmundr and Hámundr and persuaded her to reinstate her own sons. This story and the story of his confronting a troll-woman, are probably legends.

Bragi has the same name as the god Bragi, which has led some to doubt his historicity, but there are enough mentions of him to attest to his having lived, so that it is likely he was deified and gave his name to the god. He has been credited with inventing the dróttkvætt meter characteristic of skaldic poetry, possibly under the influence of Irish verse forms, but although later skalds imitated some of his kennings, the complexity of his verse makes it more probable that earlier poetry representing the development of the tradition has been lost.