Björn inn krepphendi is a poet mentioned in the Old Norse kings’ sagas and the purported author of
Magnússdrápa, a poem about King Magnús Ólafsson of Norway (d. 1103). Eleven stanzas are preserved in
Morkinskinnaand
Heimskringlaand thought to belong to this poem, but of those five are only half-stanzas. The poem is mentioned in the sagas but it is not clear whether all eleven stanzas originally belonged to this poem although they are composed in the same metre.
Editors of the poem tend to follow the order in which the stanzas appear in the kings’ sagas. They seem to concern the campaigns of King Magnús whose nickname was Barelegs, and in the sagas they appear amongst the stanzas of other poets, Gísl Illugason and Þorkell hamarskáld. These poets are all mentioned in the
626 words
Citation: Jakobsson, Ármann. "Björn inn krepphendi". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 18 April 2023 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=14970, accessed 06 October 2024.]