Saga tradition is, however, unanimous that Eric did cohabit with a woman named Gunnhild. Her name occurs in a handful of Egill's lausavísur.Egill Skallagrímsson, Lausavísur, stanzas 7, 22, 24 (in Egils saga ch. 45, 57). The earliest saga, Historia Norwegiæ, describes her as the daughter of Gorm inn Gamli (‘the Old’), king of Denmark (and hence a sister of Harald Bluetooth). Most subsequent accountsTheodoricus names her on several occasions (ch. 2, etc.), but omits to identify her background. For further discussion, see the main article on Gunnhild. name her father Ozur, nicknamed either Toti "teat" (Egils saga, Fagrskinna, Heimskringla) or lafskegg "dangling beard" (Ágrip, Fagrskinna), a man who hailed from the northern province of Hålogaland (Egils saga, Heimskringla).Ágrip ch. 5. Fagrskinna ch. 5; Egils saga ch. 37, Heimskringla (Haraldar saga) ch. 32 and 34. Cf: the longer account in Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta, ch. 3. Icelandic hostility towards Gunnhild has been cited as a possible source for her dissociation from the Danish royal house.Gwyn Jones, A History of the Vikings. Oxford, 1984. 121–22.
