Note to Eskál Vell 13I
[1, 2, 3] síma silkis grundar brúna ‘of the silken band of the land of the brows [HEAD > HEADBAND]’: Silk had been imported from Byzantium, and to a lesser extent from China, since the C8th (Mayerhofer 2005, 122-3). Clothing, headdresses, and headbands made of silk have been recovered from graves, especially in Birka (Sweden) and in Mammen (Jutland), in which decorative ornaments of silver, gold and silk are taken to have symbolized social standing (Hägg 1991; Hägg 2000, 619). The silk band worn by Hákon jarl must indicate high status, but it is uncertain whether it was specifically the emblem of a ruler (so Konráð Gíslason 1895-7, I, 120; Ohlmarks 1958, 371). KormǪ Sigdr 3/1III and Egill Arkv 19/1-4V (Eg 115) mention similar bands but do not resolve the issue.
References
- Bibliography
- Konráð Gíslason. 1895-7. Efterladte skrifter. 2 vols. I: Forelæsninger over oldnordiske skjaldekvad. II: Forelæsninger og videnskablige afhandlinger. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
- Ohlmarks, Åke. 1958. Tors skalder och Vite-Krists. Trosskiftestidens isländska furstelovskalder, 980-1013. Stockholm: Geber.
- Hägg, Inga. 2000. ‘Kleidung’. In RGA, 16, 603-25.
- Hägg, Inga. 1991. ‘Rangsymboliska element i vikingatida gravar: Hedeby – Birka – Mammen’. In Iversen 1991, 155-62.
- Mayerhofer, Andrea. 2005. ‘Seide’. In RGA, 28, 121-4.
- Internal references
- Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2022, ‘Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar 115 (Egill Skallagrímsson, Arinbjarnarkviða 19)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 357.
- Edith Marold (ed.) 2017, ‘Kormákr Ǫgmundarson, Sigurðardrápa 3’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 277.