Poem about Svǫlðr — Skúli SvǫlðrIII
Skúli ÞorsteinssonKate Heslop 2017, ‘ Skúli Þorsteinsson, Poem about Svǫlðr’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 360. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1371> (accessed 2 May 2024)
These five stanzas (Skúli Svǫlðr) commemorate the ageing skald’s youthful participation in the battle of Svolder (9 September 1000) and, perhaps, other battles, where he won gold and fame. Finnur Jónsson (Skj) called this putative poem Digt om Svolderslaget ‘Poem about the battle of Svolder’, while Kock (Skald) provides the caption Dikt om det s.k. Svolderslaget ‘Poem about the so-called battle of Svolder’. Stanzas 1, 3, 4 and 5 are cited in Skm (SnE). Stanzas 3-5 are attributed to ‘Skúli Þorsteinsson’, while st. 1 closely follows st. 3 and is introduced ok enn sem Skúli kvað ‘and as Skúli further said’ (SnE 1998, I, 92). Stanza 2 is cited, and attributed to Skúli Þorsteinsson, as part of the description of the battle of Svolder in several kings’ sagas (Fsk; ÓTOdd; Hkr; ÓT). ÓTOdd and Fsk describe st. 2 as part of a flokkr (one ms. of ÓTOdd adds um orrostuna ‘about the battle’), and the place name Svolder (ON Svǫlðr) appears in both sts 2 and 4, while all five stanzas share martial subject-matter. It therefore seems justified to collect them into a single poem, as previous editors have done. However, nothing in sts 1, 3 and 5 links them to Svolder in particular, and the references in st. 2 to the skald’s advanced age suggest this is a retrospective poem, probably rehearsing the sjau orrostur ‘seven battles’ Skúli is said to have fought (Eg ch. 90, ÍF 2, 300), rather than a royal encomium (Baetke 1951, 94; Fidjestøl 1982, 166). There is little evidence for the ordering of the stanzas. Stanza 1, which seems to describe the speaker awakening from a dream to compose his poem, is presumably the opening stanza, but the remaining stanzas could be arranged in any order. The main ms. for sts 1 and 3-5 (in Skm, SnE) is R, while the main ms. for st. 2 is Holm18. Stanzas are also preserved in the following mss: Tˣ, W, U, A, B (and 744ˣ), C (SnE); FskBˣ and FskAˣ (Fsk); 310 (ÓTOdd); Kˣ, F, J1ˣ, J2ˣ, 325VIII 1 (Hkr); 61, 53, 54, Bb, 325VIII 2b, Flat (ÓT).
References
- Bibliography
- Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
- Fidjestøl, Bjarne. 1982. Det norrøne fyrstediktet. Universitet i Bergen Nordisk institutts skriftserie 11. Øvre Ervik: Alvheim & Eide.
- ÍF 2 = Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar. Ed. Sigurður Nordal. 1933.
- SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
- Baetke, Walter. 1951. Christliches Lehngut in der Sagareligion: Das Svoldr-Problem. Berichte über die Verhandlungen der Sächsischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig, Phil.-Hist. Kl. 98 (6). Berlin: Akademie-Verlag.
- Internal references
- 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].
- (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 2 May 2024)
- 2022, ‘ Anonymous, Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar’ 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, pp. 162-389. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=14> (accessed 2 May 2024)
- (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 2 May 2024)
- (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta’ 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=60> (accessed 2 May 2024)
- (forthcoming), ‘ Oddr Snorrason, Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar by Oddr Snorrason’ 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=66> (accessed 2 May 2024)
- (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Skáldskaparmál’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=112> (accessed 2 May 2024)
- Kate Heslop 2017, ‘(Biography of) Skúli Þorsteinsson’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 360.
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