Atli the Slender

Atli the Slender was a ninth-century Norwegian jarl mentioned in several Old Norse sources, including "Heimskringla" and "Egil's Saga".

Atli was the son of Hundolf, a jarl of Gaular in Fjordane. His sister was Solvor Hundolfsdottir, the wife of King Harald Goldbeard of Sogn. ["Landnamabok" 5:8.] He became friends with King Halfdan the Black of Vestfold and accompanied him on a number of his expeditions. In particular, Atli accompanied Halfdan when, following the death of Halfdan's father in law Harald Goldbeard and Halfdan's son Harald, the Vestfolder king led an expedition to take possession of Sogn as their heir. Halfdan made Atli jarl over all of Sogn. ["Saga of Halfdan the Black" § 3 (Hollander 53).]

Atli continued to govern Sogn into the reign of Halfdan's son Harald Fairhair. He is mentioned in "Egil's Saga" in connection with the famous skald Olvir Hnufa, the eponymous Egil's great-uncle. At a thing in Gaular, Olvir fell in love with Solveig Atladottir, Atli's daughter. The jarl refused Olvir permission to marry the girl, but he was so smitten that he abandoned his viking life to be near her. A skald of some talent, he composed a number of love poems for Solveig. For reasons not revealed in the saga, but probably related to his courtship of Solveig, Olvir was attacked and nearly killed in his home by Solveig's brothers shortly after King Harald of Vestfold's conquest of Møre. ["Egil's Saga" § 2 (Thorsson 9).]

Atli's sons, Hallstein, Holmstein and Herstein, were famous vikings who sailed with the foster brothers Hjörleifur Hródmarsson and Ingólfur Arnarson. They fell out, however, over Ingolfur's sister Helga, who married Hjörleifur. In the ensuing blood feud two of Atli's sons were killed and their erstwhile allies fled Norway for Iceland, becoming the first permanent settlers there. [Jones 275.]

After Harald Fairhair conquered Møre and Fjordane he assigned the governance of the former to Rognvald Eysteinsson and the latter to Hákon Grjótgarðsson. Hákon and Atli soon came into conflict over Sogn and fought a battle at Fjalir in Stafaness Bay, in which Hakon was killed. Atli was severely wounded in the battle and taken to a nearby island, where he died. ["Saga of Harald Fairhair" § 12 (Hollander 69).]

Eyvindr skáldaspillir wrote a verse about the battle which is preserved in "Heimskringla":

:"Was Hakon, Hogni's daughter's-tree":"fey when to fight he went;":"and his life lost in combat":"Frey's offspring on Fjalir strand.":"Blended was with blood the wave,:"as friends fell, faithful to him,":"and wound-gore warm of warriors,":"in Ygg's storm :"by Stafaness."

Notes

References

*Ari the Learned. "The Book of the Settlement of Iceland" "(Landnámabók)". Ellwood, T., transl. Kendal: T. Wilson, Printer and Publisher, 1898.
*Jones, Gwyn. "A History of the Vikings." 2nd ed. Oxford Univ. Press, USA, 2001.
*Snorri Sturluson. "Heimskringla: History of the Kings of Norway". Lee Hollander, transl. Univ. of Texas Press, 1992.
*Thorsson, Örnólfur, et al. "Egil's Saga." "The Sagas of the Icelanders." trans: Bernard Scudder (Penguin Classics, 2000).