More is known about performance cultures operating in early medieval Scandinavian societies than those of early medieval England, especially at royal courts. There is a far greater corpus of extant literature depicting and relating to the skáld, professional court poets who produced complex and allusive eulogistic poems for their rulers, than there is concerning any insular figures of the early medieval period. Indeed, we know more about Scandinavian court poets who travelled to and operated in England during the age of Viking settlement in the ninth to eleventh centuries than about native performers. The term skáld, which can mean ‘poet’ in general, also refers to a Scandinavian figure with a role more clearly defined in relation to the court than Old English scop or gleoman. Hundreds of skalds are named, listed for example in the Skáldatal catalogue of poets, and they appear in much saga material. Significant skalds from the literature are believed to have been historical, and have detailed, partially accepted biographies, even if the sagas or accounts in which they appear are not to be relied on for historical accuracy. Practically all evidence for these skalds sits within saga prose narrative, as does the body of skaldic poetry purportedly composed by these poets. Many preserved verses are believed to date as early as the ninth century, and some include first-hand reference to poetic practice. However, the sagas themselves generally date from the thirteenth century onwards. Moreover, even with such a body of literary evidence, certain fundamental information concerning skalds is unclear. For example, like those defined as scopas, it is not known whether they played, or were accompanied by, musical instruments, though skaldic poetry’s complexity, together with the lack of any explicit reference to accompaniment, makes it unlikely.

Performance in a Related Poetic Tradition: Eddic Poetry

More relevant for our discussion is Eddic poetry, the Old Norse form more closely related to the Old English poetic tradition. Skalds composed poetry with eulogistic subject matter in exceptional, discrete metrical and stylistic forms. They are not commonly associated with the production of Eddic poetic material, although a few skalds may have consciously mimicked Eddic style. Also, professional skalds do not appear in Eddic poetry, though the early skald (and possibly god) Bragi is named in Grímnismál and Sigrdrífumál, and appears as a character in Lokasenna.