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Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Nesjavísur — Sigv NesvI

Sigvatr Þórðarson

Russell Poole 2012, ‘ Sigvatr Þórðarson, Nesjavísur’ 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. 555. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1357> (accessed 29 March 2024)

 

The fifteen stanzas of Sigvatr’s NesjavísurVísur about Nesjar’ (Sigv Nesv) centre upon a sea-battle between Óláfr inn helgi Haraldsson (S. Óláfr) and Sveinn jarl Hákonarson at Nesjar, Vestfold in 1016 (see Note to st. 2/4 for the location). Returning to Norway from the British Isles in 1015, Óláfr quickly removed the threat of Hákon jarl Eiríksson, who headed to England where his father Eiríkr jarl Hákonarson already was (Johnsen 1916, 31; Andersen 1977, 108, 116; Krag 2003b, 193). As Óláfr gained expressions of allegiance from the people of Trøndelag (Johnsen 1916, 31), he came into conflict with Sveinn Hákonarson, kinsman of Eiríkr and Hákon and tributary jarl to Knútr inn ríki (Cnut the Great) in Trøndelag. Sveinn raised forces against Óláfr from Trøndelag, with support from his son-in-law Einarr þambarskelfir ‘Paunch-shaker’ (?) and perhaps also from Erlingr Skjálgsson. Óláfr was supported by the Upplendingar and Heinir (the people of Opplandene and Hedmark respectively). The timing of the battle of Nesjar, on Palm Sunday (26 March 1016), suggests the eagerness of the opponents to settle matters as soon as the winter ice had thawed. Following his defeat, Sveinn fled to Sweden, while Óláfr secured the allegiance of magnates in Trøndelag (Andersen 1977, 119) and came to rule over and Christianize most of the territory of later Norway. Nesv appears to foreshadow some of these subsequent developments. For a radically dissenting and highly speculative assessment of the historical element in Nesv, see Hellberg (1972). The same author suggests a link between Nesv, Sigv Tryggfl and Anon Sveinfl: see Hellberg (1972, 24-30) and Introduction to Sigv Tryggfl.

In his narration Sigvatr asserts his status as an eye-witness, addressing himself primarily to the king’s following (Fidjestøl 1982, 228; see Note to st. 3 [All]), though one stanza is addressed to a specific comrade (Fidjestøl 1982, 118-19; see Note to st. 5/1). From this vantage-point the poet notes how Óláfr’s command of wealth and resources brought him allies and a following. Some respect is shown for Óláfr’s adversaries, with the bulk of the obloquy falling on the people of Trøndelag. In commemorating the young king’s entry into his kingdom, the poem has affinity with, and may draw on, the conventions of the imperial adventus or civic welcome (Kantorowicz 1944; cf. Lundin 2006), where the orations characteristically invoke spring and Easter. The influence of Nesv can be detected in Einarr Skúlason’s Geisli (ESk GeislVII), Hallar-Steinn’s Rekstefja (HSt Rst) and Krákumál (Anon KrmVIII); see Olsen (1933a); Poole (2005d, 197-8).

The bulk of Nesv is preserved in Óláfs saga helga, in the Separate (ÓH) and Hkr (ÓHHkr) versions (jointly ÓH-Hkr below), and in Fsk, with minor contributions from ÓHLeg, SnE and TGT. Sigvatr’s authorship is not in doubt, and the title is attested in Fsk and ÓH-Hkr (see Notes to st. 1 [All], st. 3 [All]). The subset of stanzas selected in the various prose sources varies considerably (see the discussion of the prose sources below). Reconstruction of the stanza order in this edition largely follows Fidjestøl (1982, 118-19) and is based as far as possible on Hkr, since this source contains more stanzas than any other and, despite Hellberg (1972), is considered to be reliable in its general account. Fsk expressly states that st. 1 is the first in the poem (see Note to st. 1 [All]). The remaining stanza order is difficult to establish, not least because Sigvatr probably conceived his encomium as a comparatively loosely-knit narrative of events. An additional difficulty is that whereas sts 1-10, 13 and 15 are prefaced with the formula svá segir ‘thus says’ (or similar), sts 11, 12 and 14 in ÓH-Hkr have the contrasting formula þá kvað ‘then said’; but this discrepancy is unlikely to signify the existence of two distinct poems (Fidjestøl 1982, 118) and may arise from an over-literal construal of Sigvatr’s usage of tenses in ÓH-Hkr (see Note to st. 11/1). The incompleteness of preservation in the sources precludes determination of the place of st. 6 or the relative order of sts 12 and 13-14; st. 6 is in this edition tentatively placed before st. 7 because both mention stangir ‘standards’, but it could also be placed before st. 3, as in Skj. Particular difficulties are posed by st. 5, partly because it addresses a specific comrade of the skald’s and partly because the point in the battle to which it refers remains unclear. On the balance of the evidence, however, it is included in the present edition of Nesv rather than being treated as a lausavísa (see Note to st. 5/1) and placed as found in Hkr.

The textual relations between the prose sources are complex. ÓH was the principal source for the relevant part of Hkr but the relationship of Fsk to the other accounts remains unclear. The ms. texts of the stanzas also yield a complex picture, with variable patterns of agreement across, and within, the ÓH, Hkr and Fsk groupings. is used as the main ms. in this edition, but readings from other mss are adopted where the reading appears to be secondary. The mss used are: the Hkr mss , papp18ˣ for sts 2-5, 7-12, 14 (papp18ˣ lacking st. 5); the ÓH mss Holm2, R686ˣ, 972ˣ, J1ˣ, J2ˣ, 325VI, 68, 61 for sts 2-5, 7-12, 14, plus 75a, 321ˣ, 73aˣ, 78aˣ, Holm4, 325V, 325VII, Bb, Flat, Tóm for subsets of these; the Fsk ms. FskBˣ for sts 1, 3, 7/1-4, 10, 12, 13, 15, plus 51ˣ, 302ˣ, FskAˣ, 301ˣ for subsets of these; the ÓHLeg ms. DG8 for sts 3, 6; the SnE mss R, , W, U, for st. 7/5-8; and the TGT mss A, W for st. 1/1.

Previous editions of Nesv, in addition to Skj, Skald and editions of the prose works concerned, include CPB II, 127-9 (which omits sts 6 and 13) and Poole (2005d, which adds Sigv Óldr 1, a stanza not linked to any specific poem in the sources). Hellberg (1972, 24) makes claims for two further stanzas, which are anonymous in the sources, but they are unconvincing; on the status of these stanzas and another verse fragment see Fidjestøl (1982, 122-3).

References

  1. Bibliography
  2. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
  3. Fidjestøl, Bjarne. 1982. Det norrøne fyrstediktet. Universitet i Bergen Nordisk institutts skriftserie 11. Øvre Ervik: Alvheim & Eide.
  4. CPB = Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and F. York Powell, eds. 1883. Corpus poeticum boreale: The Poetry of the Old Northern Tongue from the Earliest Times to the Thirteenth Century. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon. Rpt. 1965, New York: Russell & Russell.
  5. Andersen, Per Sveaas. 1977. Samlingen av Norge og kristningen av landet 800-1130. Handbok i Norges historie 2. Bergen: Universitetsforlaget.
  6. Hellberg, Staffan. 1972. ‘Slaget vid Nesjar och “Sven jarl Håkonsson”’. SI 23, 21-30.
  7. Johnsen, Oscar Albert. 1916. Olav Haraldssons ungdom indtil slaget ved Nesjar. Kristiania [Oslo]: Dybwad.
  8. Kantorowicz, Ernst H. 1944. ‘The King’s Advent and the Enigmatic Panels in the Doors of Santa Sabina’. The Art Bulletin 26, 207-31.
  9. Lundin, Andreas. 2006. ‘The Advent of the Esteemed Horseman-Sovereign. A Study of Rider-Motifs on Gotlandic Picture-Stones’. In Andrén et al. 2006, 234-44.
  10. Olsen, Magnus. 1933a. ‘Fra Hávamál til Krákumál’. In Festskrift til Halvdan Koht på sekstiårs dagen 7de juli 1933. Oslo: Aschehoug, 93-102. Rpt. in Olsen 1938a, 234-44.
  11. Poole, Russell. 2005d. ‘The Nesjavísur of Sigvatr Þórðarson’. MS 15, 171-98.
  12. Krag, Claus. 2003b. ‘The Early Unification of Norway’. In Helle 2003, 184-201.
  13. Internal references
  14. Edith Marold 2017, ‘Snorra Edda (Prologue, Gylfaginning, Skáldskaparmál)’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols [check printed volume for citation].
  15. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Heimskringla’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=4> (accessed 29 March 2024)
  16. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Óláfs saga helga (Legendary)’ 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. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=31> (accessed 29 March 2024)
  17. (forthcoming), ‘ Óláfr hvítaskáld Þórðarson, The Third Grammatical Treatise’ in Tarrin Wills (ed.), The Third Grammatical Treatise. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=32> (accessed 29 March 2024)
  18. Kari Ellen Gade 2017, ‘(Biography of) Einarr Skúlason’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 140.
  19. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Óláfs saga helga’ 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. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=53> (accessed 29 March 2024)
  20. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Fagrskinna’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=56> (accessed 29 March 2024)
  21. (forthcoming), ‘ Heimskringla, Óláfs saga helga (in Heimskringla)’ 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. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=152> (accessed 29 March 2024)
  22. 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.
  23. 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 29 March 2024)
  24. Diana Whaley 2012, ‘ Anonymous, Flokkr about Sveinn Álfífuson’ 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. 1029. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1082> (accessed 29 March 2024)
  25. Martin Chase 2007, ‘ Einarr Skúlason, Geisli’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 5-65. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1144> (accessed 29 March 2024)
  26. Rolf Stavnem 2012, ‘ Hallar-Steinn, Rekstefja’ 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. 893. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1237> (accessed 29 March 2024)
  27. Judith Jesch 2012, ‘ Sigvatr Þórðarson, Tryggvaflokkr’ 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. 643. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1359> (accessed 29 March 2024)
  28. Judith Jesch (ed.) 2012, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Óláfsdrápa 1’ 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. 614.
  29. Not published: do not cite ()
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