Note to Anon (FoGT) 8^III

[All]: The stanza juxtaposes several short moralising statements in alhent metre, whose message is cleverly reinforced by the double aðalhending in each line. Examples of alhent in the skaldic corpus are not numerous; for a list see SnE 2007, 83. The speaker of the stanza ( the ‘I’ of l. 5) seems to be reflecting on contemporary events with which he is clearly out of sympathy. Björn Magnússon Ólsen (FoGT 1884, 250-2) suggested that the stanza (and ll. 3-4 and 7-8 in particular) might be an allusion to the situation in Denmark in the interregnum of 1332-40 when the kingdom was divided into four parts. He proposed that the reference to Jótar ‘Jutlanders’ (l. 3) might allude to the situation in Northern Jutland in which there was an uprising against the German count Gert (Gerhard III of Holstein), who was the real ruler of the area, and widely despised. He may be the ‘prominent prince’ (framan gram) of l. 1. This uprising led to Gert’s death at the hands of Niels Ebbesen and his brothers and ultimately to Valdimar IV’s ascent of the throne in June 1340. Gert was assasinated in April 1340. As the stanza represents the events troubling the Jótar as past (cf. biðu ‘they experienced’ l. 3), while using the pres. tense later, Björn Magnússon Ólsen argued that this stanza must date from some time in later 1340 after the news of Gert’s death had reached Iceland. However, it is by no means certain that ll. 7-8 refer to a specific historical circumstance, as they could easily be interpreted, along with ll. 5-6, as a general comment on the moral deterioration of the times.

References

1. Bibliography
2. FoGT 1884 = Björn Magnússon Ólsen, ed. 1884. Den tredje og fjærde grammatiske afhandling i Snorres Edda tilligemed de grammatiske afhandlingers prolog og to andre tillæg. SUGNL 12. Copenhagen: Knudtzon.
3. SnE 2007 = Snorri Sturluson. 2007. Edda: Háttatal. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.