A Scandinavian court poet or bard; like many such singer-poets he was itinerant; also like a poet laureate, he would compose poems for occasions, such as a battle. After the *Norman Conquest of 1066, a skald named Thorkill, once under the patronage of Earl Waltheof, wrote a lament in Old Norse for the lost *AS world after Waltheof's execution in 1076. Another skald named Sighvatr wrote a poem, Tegdrapa, about King Cnut. Its refrain runs 'Cnut is the foremost sovereign under heaven'. -
Cf. Staller
Dictionary of Medieval Terms and Phrases. Christopher Coredon with Ann Williams.