Eyvind Lambi or Eyvind Lamb was a Norwegian viking

Viking

The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...

 and hersir

Hersir

A hersir was a local military commander of a hundred and owed allegiance to a jarl or king. They were also aspiring landowners, and, like the middle class in many feudal societies, supported the kings in their centralization of power. The hersir was often equipped with a conical helmet and a short...

 of the late ninth and early tenth centuries, known from, among other sources, Egil's Saga. Eyvind was the son of the viking

Viking

The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...

 Berle-Kari

Berle-Kari

Berle-Kari was a viking chieftain who lived in ninth-century Norway. His home was at Berle , in present-day Bremanger in Sogn og Fjordane county. Landnámabók names him as the son of Vemund, and brother of Skjoldolf, one of the early settlers of Iceland.According to Egil's Saga, Kari was a berserker...

 and brother-in-law of Kveldulf Bjalfason

Kveldulf Bjalfason

Ulf Bjalfason was a renowned hersir and landowner in ninth century Sogn, Norway. He is a main character in the early chapters of Egils Saga and appears in the Landnamabok and other Icelandic sources...

, who married Eyvind's sister Salbjorg Karadottir

Salbjorg Karadottir

Salbjorg Karadottir was a Norwegian woman of the late ninth century. She was the daughter of Berle-Kari and sister of Eyvind Lambi and Olvir Hnufa. Salbjorg married Kveldulf Bjalfasson and had two children, Thorolf Kveldulfsson and Skallagrim Kveldulfsson, with him.-References:*Ellwood, T., trans. ...

; he was thus uncle to Skallagrim and Thorolf Kveldulfsson

Thorolf Kveldulfsson

Thorolf Kveldulfsson was the oldest son of Kveldulf Bjalfasson and the brother of the Norwegian/Icelandic goði and skald Skalla-Grimr. Thorolf is a hero of the early part of Egils saga. According to that work, he served as a retainer of Harald I of Norway and fought on the latter's own ship at the...

 and great uncle to the famous poet Egil Skallagrimsson. Eyvind also had a brother named Olvir Hnufa

Olvir Hnufa

Olvir Hnufa or Ölvir hnúfa was a Norwegian hersir and skald of the late ninth and early tenth centuries, known from, among other sources, Egil's Saga, Skaldatal and the Prose Edda...

, who became a famous skald

Skald

The skald was a member of a group of poets, whose courtly poetry is associated with the courts of Scandinavian and Icelandic leaders during the Viking Age, who composed and performed renditions of aspects of what we now characterise as Old Norse poetry .The most prevalent metre of skaldic poetry is...

 at the court of King Harald I of Norway

Harald I of Norway

Harald Fairhair or Harald Finehair , , son of Halfdan the Black, was the first king of Norway.-Background:Little is known of the historical Harald...

.

Viking career

Like his brother Olvir, Eyvind joined his nephew Thorolf Kveldulfsson on a number of viking expeditions after the latter received a longship

Longship

Longships were sea vessels made and used by the Vikings from the Nordic countries for trade, commerce, exploration, and warfare during the Viking Age. The longship’s design evolved over many years, beginning in the Stone Age with the invention of the umiak and continuing up to the 9th century with...

 as a gift from his father Kveldulf. They gained a great deal of profit from such voyages. At a thing

Thing (assembly)

A thing was the governing assembly in Germanic and introduced into some Celtic societies, made up of the free people of the community and presided by lawspeakers, meeting in a place called a thingstead...

 in Gaular

Gaular

Gaular is a municipality in the county of Sogn og Fjordane, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Sunnfjord. The administrative centre is the village of Sande...

, Olvir fell in love with Solveig Atladottir, the daughter of a jarl

Earl

An earl is a member of the nobility. The title is Anglo-Saxon, akin to the Scandinavian form jarl, and meant "chieftain", particularly a chieftain set to rule a territory in a king's stead. In Scandinavia, it became obsolete in the Middle Ages and was replaced with duke...

 in Fjordane

Sogn og Fjordane

is a county in Norway, bordering Møre og Romsdal, Oppland, Buskerud, and Hordaland. The county administration is in the town of Hermansverk in Leikanger municipality while the largest town is Førde....

 named Atli the Slender

Atli the Slender

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

. The jarl refused Olvir permission to marry the girl, but he was so smitten that he abandoned his viking life to be near her. Eyvind continued to voyage with Thorolf for some time thereafter.

Harald's retainer

Together with Thorolf, Eyvind made his way to the court of King Harald of Vestfold

Vestfold

is a county in Norway, bordering Buskerud and Telemark. The county administration is in Tønsberg.Vestfold is located west of the Oslofjord, as the name indicates. It includes many smaller, but well-known towns in Norway, such as Larvik, Sandefjord, Tønsberg and Horten. The river Numedalslågen runs...

, who was in the process of conquering the Norwegian kingdoms and uniting Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 under his rule. His brother Olvir had already joined the court as a skald. However, after swearing allegiance to King Harald, Eyvind returned home with his father Kari. With Olvir and Thorolf, Eyvind fought at the Battle of Hafrsfjord

Battle of Hafrsfjord

The Battle of Hafrsfjord has traditionally been regarded as the battle in which western Norway for the first time was unified under one monarch.The national monument of Haraldshaugen was raised in 1872, to commemorate the Battle of Hafrsfjord...

 (c. 872/885) aboard Harald's flagship

Flagship

A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, reflecting the custom of its commander, characteristically a flag officer, flying a distinguishing flag...

. Eyvind is thereafter not mentioned until the death of Thorolf at the hands of King Harald (c. 900), at which time he administered to those wounded in the battle. Eyvind assisted Thorolf's widow Sigrid in administering her estates. He subsequently married Sigrid on King Harald's orders. Egil's Saga relates that Eyvind and Harald "remained friends for the rest of their lives."

Family

With Sigrid Eyvind had two children mentioned in Egil's Saga: Finn Eyvindsson "the Squinter" and Geirlaug Eyvindsdottir. Finn married Gunnhild, daughter of a jarl named Halfdan and maternal granddaughter of King Harald. Their children included Eyvind the Plagiarist, court skald

Skald

The skald was a member of a group of poets, whose courtly poetry is associated with the courts of Scandinavian and Icelandic leaders during the Viking Age, who composed and performed renditions of aspects of what we now characterise as Old Norse poetry .The most prevalent metre of skaldic poetry is...

 to Haakon the Good

Haakon I of Norway

Haakon I , , given the byname the Good, was the third king of Norway and the youngest son of Harald Fairhair and Thora Mosterstang.-Early life:...

. Another son, Njal Finnsson, settled in Halogaland

Hålogaland

Hålogaland was the northernmost of the Norwegian provinces in the mediaeval Norse sagas. In the early Viking Age, before Harald Fairhair, Hålogaland was a petty kingdom extending between Namdalen in Nord-Trøndelag and Lyngen in Troms.-Etymology:...

; his daughter was Astrid Nialsdotter

Astrid Nialsdotter

Astrid Njalsdotter or Ástríðr Njálsdóttir was, according to Hervarar saga, the Norwegian-born mother of the Swedish king Stenkil. All our knowledge about her come from this source and it reads as follows:...

, who appears in the Hervarar saga

Hervarar saga

Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks is a legendary saga from the 13th century combining matter from several older sagas. It is a valuable saga for several different reasons beside its literary qualities. It contains traditions of wars between Goths and Huns, from the 4th century, and the last part is used as...

.

Another daughter, Rannveig, is mentioned in the Landnamabok

Landnámabók

Landnámabók , often shortened to Landnáma, is a medieval Icelandic written work describing in considerable detail the settlement of Iceland by the Norse in the 9th and 10th centuries AD.-Landnáma:...

. She is said to have married Sighvat the Red, a nobleman from Halogaland who settled at in Bolstad, Iceland

Iceland

Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...

 near Ketil Trout

Ketil Trout (Iceland)

Ketil Thorkelsson, better known by his nickname Ketil Trout or Ketil Salmon was a Norwegian hersir of the late ninth century who settled in Iceland around 900 CE...

's landtaking. Rannveig and Sighvat had a number of children: (1) Sigmund Sighvatsson, who became the father of Mord Gig, Sigfus of Hlid, Lambi Sighvatsson, Rannveig, the wife of Hamund Gunnarsson, and Thorgerd, wife of Onund Bill; and (2) Barek Sighvatsson, the father of Thord, the father of Stein.