Jarl

Overview

After Rig leaves the third household, the poem says Mothir bears Jarl. Jarl learns weapons and riding; Rig returns, teaches him runes, calls him son, and tells him to hold a wide inheritance. Jarl later fights, gains land, and marries Erna. This is the narrative of a royal praise poem, not a direct historical biography.

Key facts

Relationships

• Rigpoem-bound fathering

  Nine months after Rig leaves the third household, Mothir bears Jarl.

• Rigteaches runes

  Rig teaches Jarl runes, calls him son, and tells him to hold a wide inheritance.

• Ernamarries

  Jarl sends to seek Erna’s hand and then brings her home in marriage.

• Young Konfather

  Kon is listed among Jarl and Erna’s children as the youngest.

Story appearances

• Rigsthula: Three Households and Young KonFigure in Rig’s three households and the Young Kon fragment

  The Jarl of Rigsthula’s third household, later taught runes by Rig and married to Erna.

Ancient sources

MythWeave distinguishes ancient-source evidence from later adaptations and modern interpretation.

• Anonymous; translated by Henry Adams Bellows, The Poetic Edda: Rigsthula, Opening prose and stanzas 1–45: the three households, Rig’s recognition, and the surviving fragment before Young Kon.