Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Þjóðólfr Arnórsson, Lausavísur 11’ 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, pp. 175-6.
Ǫld hefr afráð goldit
illt; nú kveðk her stilltan;
bauð þessa fǫr þjóðum
þarflaust Haraldr austan.
Svá lauk siklings ævi
snjalls, at vér ’róm allir
— lofðungr beið inn leyfði
lífs grand — í stað vǫndum.
Ǫld hefr goldit illt afráð; nú kveðk her stilltan; Haraldr bauð þjóðum þessa fǫr austan þarflaust. Ævi snjalls siklings lauk svá, at vér ’róm allir í vǫndum stað; inn leyfði lofðungr beið grand lífs.
People have paid a dire penalty; now I declare the host is quelled; Haraldr commanded troops onto this expedition westwards needlessly. The life of the bold prince ended in such a way that we are all in a difficult position; the praised sovereign endured destruction of life.
Mss: Kˣ(582v), F(53rb), E(27v), J2ˣ(297v) (Hkr); FskAˣ(308-309) (Fsk); Mork(19v) (Mork); Flat(204ra-b) (Flat); H(76r), Hr(54ra) (H-Hr); Hb(71r) (Hb); R(40r) (ll. 5-8), Tˣ(41v) (ll. 5-8), U(37v) (ll. 5-6), A(15r-v) (ll. 5-8), B(6v) (ll. 5-8), 744ˣ(43r) (ll. 5-8), C(9v) (ll. 5-8) (SnE)
Readings: [1] hefr: om. Flat; afráð: so F, E, J2ˣ, Mork, Hb, ‘afroð’ Kˣ, H, Hr, ‘afhrod’ Flat [2] kveðk her (‘qveð ec her’): ‘quad eg hann’ Flat [3] bauð: ‘boð’ FskAˣ; fǫr: ferð E, J2ˣ, ‘for’ FskAˣ, Mork, Hb [4] Haraldr: konungr E, J2ˣ [5] siklings: ‘siklingns’ FskAˣ [6] snjalls: ‘síallz’ 744ˣ [7] lofðungr: ‘lǫfðungr’ E, lofðung Flat; beið: fekk FskAˣ, Mork, H, Hr, Hb, ‘b..ð’ 744ˣ; inn leyfði: ens leyfða Mork, Hr, hins leyfða H [8] grand: ‘gran’ Hb
Editions: Skj AI, 383, Skj BI, 353, Skald I, 177, NN §2039; Hkr 1893-1901, III, 210, IV, 239-40, ÍF 28, 190, Hkr 1991, 685 (HSig ch. 92), F 1871, 249, E 1916, 97-8; Fsk 1902-3, 293-4 (ch. 60), ÍF 29, 288 (ch. 70); Mork 1928-32, 279, Andersson and Gade 2000, 273, 482 (MH); Flat 1860-8, III, 396 (MH); Fms 6, 420 (HSig ch. 119), Fms 12, 166; Hb 1892-6, 344-5, Fellows-Jensen 1962, 53 (Hem); SnE 1848-87, I, 526-7, II, 344, 463, 542, 608, SnE 1931, 185, SnE 1998, I, 104.
Context: In Hkr and H-Hr, Haraldr Sigurðarson is slain at the battle of Stamford Bridge, upon which Tostig (Tósti) jarl takes takes up the leadership under the king’s standard for the second phase of the battle. Fsk, Mork and Flat set the st. in a pause before the battle-lines clashed. In SnE, the second helmingr is cited to illustrate the way that names of legendary dynasties are used as general honorific titles, in this case both lofðungr and siklingr, which are traced respectively to an eponymous Lofði and Sigarr.
Notes: [All]: The B text (ll. 5-8) is so damaged that to note the many illegible places would be unhelpful, and it is therefore represented instead by the transcript in 744ˣ. — [All]: Flat names ‘Þorolfr’ as the skald; U cites only ll. 5-6, which are followed immediately by Arn Hryn 20. — [All]: For other poetry on the battle of Stamford Bridge, see note to Lv 11 [All]. — [1] afráð ‘penalty’: Strictly, ‘tax, tribute, payment’, hence ‘loss, damage’. Gade suggests a possible echo of Vsp 23/5-6: hvárt scyldo æsir | afráð gialda ‘whether the gods should pay restitution’ (NK 6). — [2] stilltan ‘quelled’: I.e. ‘quietened’ or ‘controlled’. This translation is appropriate if the word refers, with ironic understatement, to the men’s death in battle. The reference could alternatively be to the ill-advised nature of Haraldr’s campaign. Stilla can mean ‘bring into a dangerous, difficult situation’ (LP: stilla 3), and this sense seems the basis for interpretations in Skj B and Ulset 1975, 109-10. The eds of ÍF 28 and 29 interpret stilltan as ‘deceived, tricked’ (vélaður/vélaðan), and Hkr 1991 similarly has hafi verið ginnt ‘has been duped’. — [7] beið ‘endured’: The variant fekk ‘received, got’ (so FskAˣ, Mork, H, Hr, Hb) is equally good. — [8] inn leyfði ‘the praised’: This qualifies lofðungr ‘prince’; and the two may be etymologically related, sharing reference to ‘praise’ (AEW: lof). The variant ins leyfða (so Mork, H, Hr) instead qualifies lífs, hence ‘(destruction) of the praised life’.
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