It is generally recognized that during the reign of Cnut the Danish king's court
came to represent the focal point for skaldic composition and patronage in the
Norse-speaking world. According to the later Icelandic Skáldatal or ‘List of
Poets’, no fewer than eight skalds were remembered as having composed for
Cnut: Sigvatr Þórðarson, Óttarr svarti, Þórarinn loftunga, Hallvarðr háreksblesi,
Bersi Torfuson, Steinn Skaptason, Arnórr Þórðarson jarlaskáld, and Óðarkeptr.
Comparing this list with the extant poetic remains, one arrives at the following
collection of skaldic praise-poems (some fragmentary) in honour of Cnut:
Sigvatr Þórðarson's Knútsdrápa; Óttarr svarti's Knútsdrápa; Hallvarðr háreksblesi's
Knútsdrápa; Þórarinn loftunga's Ho˛fuðlausn and Tøgdrápa; and (probably)
a fragment by Arnórr jarlaskáld. Of the other poets cited in Skáldatal, no verse in
honour of Cnut is extant by Bersi Torfuson, and none at all by Steinn Skaptason
and Óðarkeptr.