An Ill-Tempered Axe for an Ill-Tempered Smith: The Gift of King Eiríkr blóðøx to Skallagrímr Kveldúlfsson in Egils saga Skallagrímssonar

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Current studies on, and translations of, Egils saga Skallagrímssonar approach weapons, in particular their metallurgical composition and forged details, with little reflection of recent advances in archaeology, both classic and experimental. This results in an impoverished appreciation of both the detail of the episode in which Skallagrímr Kveldúlfsson tests a richly decorated battle axe given to him by the king of Norway and the treatment and symbolism of axes throughout the saga. This episode, complemented by subsequent axe references, reflects and reinforces the founding narrative of the settlement of Iceland and the strained relationship between Iceland and hegemonistic Norway in the thirteenth century, the likely date of the saga’s composition.