Óláfsdrápa — Sigv ÓldrI
Sigvatr ÞórðarsonJudith Jesch 2012, ‘ Sigvatr Þórðarson, Óláfsdrápa’ 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. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1358> (accessed 7 May 2024)
Sigvatr’s helmingr about King Óláfr Haraldsson’s law-making (Sigv Óldr) may have come from a longer poem of which no further stanzas survive. As Finnur Jónsson points out (LH I, 587), it is likely that Sigvatr composed at least one poem in praise of Óláfr Haraldsson in the period 1017-28, and the relative peace of these years could have been reflected in the content, and the subsequent neglect of the poem. Fidjestøl (1982, 122) has also drawn attention to a passage in Flat (1860-8, II, 226) which refers to the many poems that skalds have composed about the life and law-making (lagastjórn) of Óláfr; Sigvatr is among the skalds named. The direct address to Óláfr in ll. 1, 3, 4 might suggest the poem was a drápa, hence its traditional title Óláfsdrápa ‘Drápa about Óláfr’.
The helmingr is preserved in Snorri Sturluson’s Óláfs saga helga in both the Separate (ÓH) and Hkr (ÓHHkr) versions. The mss used are listed below; Kˣ is the main ms.
References
- Bibliography
- Fidjestøl, Bjarne. 1982. Det norrøne fyrstediktet. Universitet i Bergen Nordisk institutts skriftserie 11. Øvre Ervik: Alvheim & Eide.
- LH = Finnur Jónsson. 1920-4. Den oldnorske og oldislandske litteraturs historie. 3 vols. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Gad.
- Internal references
- (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 7 May 2024)
- (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Flateyjarbók’ 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=44> (accessed 7 May 2024)
- (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 7 May 2024)
- (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 7 May 2024)
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