How True Is the Saga of Egil Skallagrimsson (Viking Hero)?

The text of the Saga of Egil Skallagrimsson reads more like a Monty Python screenplay than a testament to the deeds of a real Viking hero, even though Egil was a real Viking from Iceland. Living in the 10th century, Egil was a formidable warrior and a famous poet, but why he became the subject of this farce is unclear. Egil is presented as an extreme caricature of what a great Viking hero should be, but how much of his tale should we believe?

The work known as Egil’s Saga is believed to have been written in Iceland in the 13th century based on its language and style. It has sometimes been attributed to the prolific Christian Icelandic writer Snorri Sturluson, on the basis that he was descended from Egil on his mother’s side. But there is no conclusive evidence that the saga was written by Snorri and not another Icelandic author.

There is good evidence that the Egil who features in the story was based on a real person, also named Egil Skallagrimmson, a famous Icelandic poet who was born in Iceland in around 910 CE. His works are referenced in his saga and other sources. He is credited with 48 lausavísur and six drápur (both types of Skaldic poetry).

The bibliographical information given for Egil in his saga seems to be more-or-less accurate. He was born in west Iceland to the Norwegian settlers Skallagrimr Kveldulfsson and Bera Yngvarsdottir, whose names are also recorded by other Icelandic chroniclers. They seem to have made the move to flee due to conflict with the Norwegian King Harald Fairhair. The first 30 chapters of the saga relate the history of this conflict.

While these historical facts underpin Egil’s Saga, much of the rest of the content seems to be fantasy. It is unclear whether a later author chose Egil as a figure for historic caricature, or whether the saga is based on stories that Egil told about himself during his life to entertain others.

According to the saga, Egil’s parents had many children, but most of them died. That is until they had a tall and handsome son named Thorolf who was beloved by all. They had a second son named Egil, who was ill-favored like his father with black hair and an ugly demeanor. Nevertheless, he was tall and strong as well as talkative and word-wise, but also violent and aggressive.

According to the saga, Egil revealed himself to be something out of the ordinary from a very young age. In one of the first episodes from the saga, a three-year-old Egil is upset that his parents refuse to take him to a party with the rest of the family. Their reason? He behaves terribly when sober and they don’t want to deal with the drunk infant, who was already the size of a seven-year-old.

The infant refuses to be left behind and steals a horse to ride to the party. When he is discovered there, he delivers such a fantastic verse to the host that he is allowed to stay. So young Egil was already an accomplished skald and a nasty drunk when other children were struggling to string words together.

The protagonist also shows his fighting ability and grit at a young age. When he was just seven years old, Egil felt humiliated when an older boy was beating him at a game. So, Egil struck him in the head with an ax, killing the older boy. A brawl ensued in which seven men died, most at Egil’s hands. While his father is upset with his behavior, his mother notes that he is already showing himself to be a true Viking warrior.

Every protagonist needs a nemesis, and for Egil, this was Erik Bloodaxe, the son of Harald Fairhair. Egil encounters him when he sails to Norway with his brother Thorolf, who is leading a group of Viking warriors, following the death of Harald Fairhair.

It begins when Egil, tired from his journey, asks for food and drink at a tavern. The proprietor says that it is not possible because he is hosting a feast for the king and his men, and he needs all his stores to meet their needs. But Egil seems to talk the barkeep around as he manages to get quite drunk, loud, and rowdy. This inconveniences Queen Gunnhild, the wife of Erik, and her kinsman Bard. Taking rather drastic action, they decide to poison Egil.

Having previously refused Egil and his companions drink, they were now being offered more, and Egil notices many of his companions suffering ill effects. Suspicious, Egil uses a magical runic spell that causes the cup to explode, revealing the poison. Many Viking warriors were also described as masters of rune magic, and Egil shows his skill several times in the saga.

Realizing the plan to poison him, Egil kills Bard. This starts a blood feud, with Gunnhild sending her two brothers to kill Egil, but he kills them as well. He officially becomes an enemy of King Erik and Queen Gunnhild.

Inheritance and Curses

Now an outlaw, Egil and his brother leave Norway and begin working as mercenaries in Britain for King Athelstan. While there, Thorolf is killed in battle, often thought to be the Battle of Brunanburh, fought in 937 CE. This would mean that Egil was 27 at this time. Egil confronted the king, claiming that he was responsible for the death of his brother. He seems to have convinced him as he was compensated handsomely for his loss.

This gave Egil the resources to return to Norway and marry his brother’s widow. This may not have been an uncommon practice to maintain the alliance forged by the original marriage.

When his new wife’s father died, Egil returned to Norway to see if he could claim his inheritance. But his old enemies, Erik and Gunnhild, blocked him and gave away the land to his wife’s kinsmen. In the conflict that ensued, some of the men who traveled to Norway with Egil were killed. This required vengeance, and Egil killed a number of the king’s men, including his young son Rognvald.

Adding further to this act of vengeance, Egil erected a nithing pole, also known as a curse pole, calling on the gods and spirits of the land to drive the royal couple from Norway. Egil then returned to Iceland.

Egil’s curse seems to have been effective, as Erik was driven out of Norway by his brother Hakon. Consequently, Erik and Gunnhild traveled to Northumbria in England and ruled from the kingdom of York.

According to the saga, while in Iceland, Egil could sense the magic of Gunnhild, who was a witch. Unknowingly, this drew him back to England. He traveled there via Orkney and Scotland, but his ship was wrecked at the mouth of the Humber River. This was when he learned that Erik was in York and found himself imprisoned, waiting for his execution in the morning.

But Egil spends the night composing a 22-stanza poem praising Erik, which he recites to the king. Erik is so impressed that Egil is set free. But while this is a happy result, Egil does not simply live happily ever after.

Egil’s Later Life

Rather than stay in England, Egil decides to go back to Norway with his friend Thorstein as they both have property disputes to resolve. Egil still wants his father-in-law’s property. The English king Athelstan tempts him to stay by offering him command of his army, but Egil still decides to leave.

In Norway, the pair appear before King Hakon, who is the foster son of Athelstan. This connection encourages the king to resolve Thorstein’s situation favorably. But knowing Egil’s reputation from his brother Erik, he refuses to help Egil and says that he must resolve his situation alone.

As he sets out on this quest, bad sailing weather forces him to spend time in the house of a friend. To return the hospitality, he agrees to fight a berserker warrior called Ljot the Pale to save a daughter of the house from being forced to marry him. The berserker warriors commune with the spirit of the bear to be more ferocious in battle, nevertheless, Egil killed him with ease.

When Egil reached his kinsmen, he summoned them to the Thing (local legal gathering) to resolve the dispute and he challenged the man currently claiming the property to single combat. The two fought and Egil won by throwing aside his weapons and attacking the man with his bare hands, tearing out his throat with his teeth. He gained control of the property and returned to Iceland.

But it seems that Egil could not remain idle, and before long he put together a crew on three warships and went raiding around the Baltic Sea. This would bring him back in contact with the men of King Hakon, who could invite him to join them on a mission to Vermaland, on the border with Sweden. They claimed to need his help but considered it an opportunity to kill the man who the king had no liking for.

Upon this journey, Egil receives poor hospitality in the home of a friend when his wife seems to become upset with how much Egil is eating and drinking when compared to the other guests. The next morning before leaving, Egil bursts into the master bedroom where the earl is sleeping with his wife and daughter. He cuts his head off at the chin and rips out his eye.

The king’s men would look for opportunities to do away with Egil several times on the journey, but they finally get their chance on the return trip. First, they set an ambush for Egil and his four loyal companions. A group of eight men shot arrows and threw stones down on the troop. Egil would single-handedly kill all of them. They would then be attacked by a further 25 of the king’s men, all of whom would be killed by Egil and his companions.

Nevertheless, when Egil returned successfully from the mission to Vermaland with the outstanding tribute that the king had wanted, the two finally buried the hatchet and Egil was able to return to Iceland in peace.

This was bittersweet since it was the dream of every Viking to die in battle. Instead, he would live to see two of his sons die. The skald would compose a famous verse complaining that Odin took two of his sons and compensated him with a poor bit of poetry. He would continue to age and become blind, feeble, and hard of hearing before dying of natural causes at the age of 80.

If the saga is to be believed, Egil was larger than life. A prodigy as a child as a warrior and poet, he was also already a gluttonous drunk with a bad temper and a tendency to solve issues with violence. He traveled the Viking world from Britain to the Baltic causing mischief and making a name for himself as a warrior, while effortlessly composing verses to save his skull on several occasions.

But there is very little modern discussion of whether the events recounted in Egil’s Saga could be true. It is known to have some inaccuracies, for example, King Athelstan was already dead before Erik Bloodaxe became the king of York. But it is generally accepted that this is just a mistake since the saga was composed 200 years after the relayed events. It is also generally accepted that while some of the related events may be true, such as Egil and his brother fighting in England and Egil later participating in raids in the Baltic, the details of brutal killings and excessive drinking are embellished.

But while accepting this to be the case, many modern scholars have fixated on a passage in the saga that claims that Egil’s skull was so thick that it could not be split by an ax. They also note that he is described as uglier and more ill-tempered than his Viking contemporaries, traits that he shared with his father, while the rest of their kinsmen were fair and handsome. They also note that in his old age, he went blind and deaf, lost his balance, had bad headaches, and suffered from chronically cold feet.

On the basis of these details, some scholars have diagnosed Egil with Paget’s disease. This would explain his unusual appearance, thick skull, volatile personality, and the afflictions he suffered in old age. Others suggest that he may have had Van Buchem disease. But making such a diagnosis over a millennia later on the basis of a drastically exaggerated tale can never be more than speculation.