[2-10]: These lines refer to the winning in marriage of Þóra, the daughter of a jarl in Götaland, by the legendary Danish viking Ragnarr, as a result of his slaying a serpent and in doing so wearing hairy trousers for protection, so that he acquired the nickname loðbrók ‘Hairy-breeches’. The other main versions of the story are found in Book IX of Saxo’s Gesta Danorum (Saxo 2015, I, ix. 4. 4-8, pp. 634-7), in the two surviving redactions of Ragn (Ragn 1906-8, 116-21, 176-7), and in RagnSon, preserved in Hb (Hb 1892-6, 458-9); see further McTurk (1991a, 71-82). Although the pers. n. Ragnarr is not mentioned in Krm, it may be assumed that behind the poem lies an awareness of the application of loðbrók to Ragnarr as a nickname, and that the legendary figure Ragnarr loðbrók is meant to be understood as the speaker of the poem.
References
- Bibliography
- Hb 1892-6 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1892-6. Hauksbók udgiven efter de Arnamagnæanske håndskrifter no. 371, 544 og 675, 4° samt forskellige papirshåndskrifter. Copenhagen: Det kongelige nordiske oldskrift-selskab.
- McTurk, Rory. 1991a. Studies in Ragnars saga loðbrókar and Its Major Scandinavian Analogues. Medium Ævum Monographs new ser. 15. Oxford: Society for the Study of Mediæval Languages and Literature.
- Ragn 1906-8 = Olsen 1906-8, 111-222.
- Saxo 2015 = Friis-Jensen, Karsten, ed. 2015. Saxo Grammaticus: Gesta Danorum: The History of the Danes. Trans. Peter Fisher. Oxford Medieval Texts. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon.
- Internal references
- 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Ragnars saga loðbrókar’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 616. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=81> (accessed 6 June 2024)
- 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Ragnars sona þáttr’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 777. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=85> (accessed 6 June 2024)
- Not published: do not cite (RloðVIII)
- Rory McTurk 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Krákumál’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 706. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1020> (accessed 6 June 2024)
- Not published: do not cite ()