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Thyle

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Unferth.

A Thyle, (OE Þyle, ON Þulr) was a position of the court associated with Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon royalty and chieftains in the Early Middle Ages. Most literary references are found in Icelandic and Anglo-Saxon literature like the Hávamál and Beowulf. It also appears on the Snoldelev Stone.

The Old English term is glossed as Latin histrio "orator" and curra "jester"; þylcræft means "elocution". Zoega's Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic defines Þulr as "wise-man, sage," cognate to Old Norse þula (verb) "to speak" and ''þula (noun) "list in poetic form". The Rundata project translates Þulr as "reciter". From this it appears that the office of thyle was connected to the keeping and reproducing of orally transmitted lore. The thyle may further have served the function of challenging those who would make unwise boasts or oaths and possibly hurt the luck of the community, and consequentially the reputation of the king: Unferth holds the role of thyle in the poem Beowulf, so that his questioning of Beowulf's statements may have been part of his office, rather than motivated by petty antagonism. Some modern scholars view the role of the thyle as being usurped by monks after Christianization, and being reduced to the modern caricature of the court jester (hence the Latin gloss of curra). Modern adherents of the reconstructionist religion Theodism have instituted the role of thyle in their organizations.