with Berg-Önundr; painting by
Johannes Flintoe Egil was born in
Iceland, to
Skalla-Grímr Kveldúlfsson and Bera Yngvarsdóttir; he was the grandson of
Kveld-Úlfr (whose name means 'evening wolf'). Another of his ancestors, Hallbjörn, was Norwegian-
Sami. Skalla-Grímr was a respected chieftain, and mortal enemy of King
Harald Fairhair of
Norway. He migrated to Iceland, settling at
Borg where his father
Kveld-Úlfr's coffin landed after being ritualistically set adrift as Skalla-Grímr's boat approached Iceland. Skalla-Grímr and wife Bera had two daughters, Sæunn and Þórunn, and two sons,
Þorolfr and Egil. Egil composed his first poem at three years old. He exhibited
berserk behaviour, and this, together with the description of his large and unattractive head, has led to the theory that he might have suffered from
Paget's disease, which causes a thickening of the bones and may lead eventually to blindness. At the age of seven, Egil was cheated in a game with local boys. Enraged, he went home, procured an axe, and, returning to the boys, split the skull to the teeth of the boy who had cheated him. After Berg-Önundr refused to allow Egil to claim his wife Ásgerðr's share of her father's inheritance, he challenged Önundr to a man-to-man fight on an island (a
hólmganga). Berg-Önundr refused the challenge but was later killed along with his brother Hadd by Egil. Egil later killed the last of the brothers, Atli the Short, by biting through Atli's neck during a holmgangr. Later, after being grievously insulted, Egil killed Bárðr of Atley, a retainer of King
Eiríkr Bloodaxe and kinsman of Queen Gunnhildr, both of whom spent the remainder of their lives trying to take vengeance. Gunnhildr ordered her two brothers,
Eyvindr Braggart and Álfr Aksmann, to assassinate Egil and his brother Þórólfr, who had been on good terms with her previously. However, Egil killed the Queen's brothers when they attempted to confront him. In spring Þórólfr and Egil prepared a large warship and raid along the
Eastern route (
Austrvegr), where they won much wealth and had many battles. In
Courland they made a peace for half a month and traded with the men of the land (ch. 46). That same summer,
Haraldr Fairhair died. In order to secure his place as sole King of Norway,
Eiríkr Bloodaxe murdered his two brothers. He then declared Egil an outlaw in Norway. Berg-Önundr gathered a company of men to capture Egil, but was killed in the attempt. Before escaping from Norway, Egil also killed Rögnvaldr, the son of King Eiríkr and Queen Gunnhildr. He then cursed the King and Queen, setting a horse's head on a
Nithing pole and saying :"Here I set up a
níð-pole, and declare this
níð against King Eiríkr and Queen Gunnhildr,"—he turned the horse-head to face the mainland—"I declare this
níð at the land-spirits there, and the land itself, so that all will fare astray, not to hold nor find their places, not until they wreak King Eiríkr and Gunnhildr from the land." He set up the pole of níð in the cliff-face and left it standing; he faced the horse's eyes on the land, and he carved runes upon the pole, and said all the formal words of the curse. (ch. 57). Gunnhildr also put a spell on Egil, cursing him to feel restless and depressed until they met again. Soon afterwards, Eiríkr and Gunnhildr were forced to flee to the
Kingdom of Northumbria by Prince
Hákon. In
Saxon England, they became King and Queen of
Northumbria in rivalry with King
Athelstan of England. In time, Egil was shipwrecked in Northumbria and learned who ruled the land. Egil sought out the house of his good friend Arinbjörn, where they armed themselves and marched to Eiríkr's court. Arinbjörn told Egil "now you must go and offer the king your head and embrace his foot. I will present your case to him." Arinbjörn presented Egil's case and Egil composes a short
drápa, reciting it with Eiríkr's foot in his hand, but Eiríkr was not impressed. He explained that Egil's wrongs to him were far too great to be forgiven so easily. Gunnhildr called for the immediate execution of Egil, but Arinbjörn convinced the king not to kill him until the morning. Arinbjörn told Egil that he should stay up all night and compose a mighty head-ransom poem or
drápa fit for such a king, a poem in praise of his enemy. In the morning Egil went back before king Eiríkr and recited the great
drápa. This twenty-stanza long head-ransom poem appears in Chapter 63 of
Egils saga. Eiríkr was so surprised by the quality of the poem that he decided to give Egil his life, even though Egil has killed Eiríkr's own son. The complex nature of these poems, with complex
poetic metres and metaphors (including
kennings), as well as the fact that they were often about kings reliably attested in the historical record, provides some basis for supposing that they might have been composed by a historically real Egil Skallagrímsson, descending more or less unchanged through
oral tradition from the time of their composition to the writing of
Egils saga.
Egils saga and some other Icelandic sagas appear to hang on a skeletal framework of such complex poetry, a spine of historical truth. Egil also fought at the
Battle of Brunanburh in the service of King Æthelstan; his brother Þórólfr died there, for which Egil received two chests of silver from Æthelstan in compensation. Ultimately, Egil returned to his family farm in
Iceland, where he remained a force to be reckoned with in local politics. He lived into his eighties, grew blind, and died shortly before the
Christianisation of Iceland. Before Egil died he buried his silver near
Mosfellsbær. In his last act of violence he killed the servants who helped him bury his treasure. When a Christian
chapel was constructed at the family homestead, Egil's body was exhumed by his son and re-buried near the
altar. According to the saga, the exhumed skull bone was hit with an axe, and it turned white, showing the strength of the warrior, but also, according to one modern interpretation, suggesting the traits of
Paget's disease. ==Physical appearance==