Note to Ólsv Hákdr 2III
[1] hreinstólpa hjálpar ‘of the pure pillar of help [= S. Óláfr]’: This would appear to refer to King Óláfr inn helgi Haraldsson (S. Óláfr), the patron saint of Norway, who occupied the Norwegian throne in the early C11th (r. 1015-1030; see his Biography in SkP I). A number of other poetic uses of stólpi ‘pillar’ occur in religious poetry, particularly with reference to the Virgin Mary, see e.g. Anon Pét 5/7VII and Note there.
References
- Bibliography
- SkP I = Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Ed. Diana Whaley. 2012.
- Internal references
- Russell Poole 2012, ‘(Biography of) Óláfr inn helgi Haraldsson’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 515.
- David McDougall (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Pétrsdrápa 5’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 800-1.