Name Vetrliði Sumarliðason | Role Author | |
Vetrliði Sumarliðason was a 10th-century Icelandic skald.
He was the great-grandson of Ketill haengr ("salmon"), one of the settlers of Iceland. He lived in Fljotshlið, in the south of the island.
Vetrliði was pagan and opposed the conversion to Christianity. He composed defamatory verses (nið) about Þangbrandr, a missionary sent to Iceland by Olafr Tryggvason. He was killed by the priest (or by the priest and his companion Guðleifr Arason). In some versions, another skald, Þorvaldr veili, was murdered for the same reason. A stanza was composed by an unknown author about Vetrliði's death:
This episode is related in many sources: Kristni saga, Landnamabok, Brennu-Njals saga, Snorri Sturluson's Olafs saga Tryggvasonar and Olafs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta.
Only one stanza of his work survived, a lausavisa praising Thor for having killed giants and giantesses:
Thou didst break the leg of Leikn, Didst cause to stoop Starkadr, Didst bruise Thrivaldi, Didst stand on lifeless Gjalp.