Vígf Hák 1^I

Varðat hœgt, þás hurðir
hjǫrklofnar sák rofna
(hôtt sǫng Hǫgna) Geitis,
(hregg) til Vagns at leggja.
Þar gengum vér, þrøngvar
þunníss, í bǫð, Gunnar,
(strǫng vas) danskra drengja
(darra flaug) til knarrar.

Varðat hœgt at leggja til Vagns, þás sák {hjǫrklofnar hurðir Geitis} rofna; {hregg Hǫgna} sǫng hôtt. Þar gengum vér í bǫð til knarrar danskra drengja, {þrøngvar {þunníss Gunnar}}; flaug darra vas strǫng.

It was not easy to attack Vagn, when I saw {the sword-riven doors of Geitir <sea-king>} [SHIELDS] split; {the storm of Hǫgni <legendary hero>} [BATTLE] sang loudly. There we advanced into battle towards the vessel of the Danish warriors, {forcers {of the slender ice of Gunnr <valkyrie>}} [SWORD > WARRIORS]; the flight of spears was mighty.

Mss: FskBˣ(29v), FskAˣ(109-110) (Fsk); 510(63r) (Jvs)

Readings: [1] Varðat: so FskAˣ, var at þar FskBˣ, varðar 510;    þás (‘þa er’): þar er 510    [2] sák (‘sa ek’): sá er FskAˣ;    rofna: ‘hornna’ or ‘hrornna’ 510    [3] hôtt: ‘het’ FskAˣ;    Hǫgna: hjǫrva 510;    Geitis: so 510, ‘giætte’ FskBˣ, ‘gattar’ FskAˣ    [4] hregg: hers 510    [5] þrøngvar (‘þro᷎nguar’ or ‘þio᷎nguar’): so 510, ‘þrongann’ FskBˣ, ‘þrꝍngrar’ FskAˣ    [6] þunníss í bǫð Gunnar: ‘þunn enn borð at gunne’ FskAˣ, ‘þunn ise baud grimnar’ 510    [8] darra: dǫrru 510

Editions: Skj AI, 120, Skj BI, 115, Skald I, 65, NN §§385, 386, 1817, 1853C; Fsk 1902-3, 99 (ch. 20), ÍF 29, 134 (ch. 22); Fms 11, 142 n., Fms 12, 241, Jvs 1879, 87.

Context: Hákon jarl, though prevailing against the Jómsvíkingar at Hjǫrungavágr (Liavågen), has not yet captured Vagn Ákason’s high-sided ship. He orders his larger ships to be advanced and the smaller ones withdrawn. Fsk introduces the stanza, Um þat orti Vígfúss Víga-Glúmsson ‘Vígfúss Víga-Glúmsson composed about that’, while 510 seems to set its composition more explicity within the time of the action (Fms 11): kvað […] þá, er menn sóktu at skeiðinni Vagns Ákasonar ‘then, as men attacked Vagn Ákason’s warship, [he] said’.

Notes: [1] þás ‘when’: Þars ‘where’ in 510 would be equally acceptable, and it is adopted by Konráð Gíslason (1892, 19). — [3] Hǫgna ‘of Hǫgni <legendary hero>’: The 510 variant hjǫrva ‘of swords’ would also form a battle-kenning with hregg ‘storm’. — [3] Geitis ‘of Geitir <sea-king>’: Geitir appears among heiti for sea-kings in Þul Sækonunga 1/7^III, and in a shield-kenning garðr Geitis ‘enclosure of Geitir’ in Þjóð Haustl 20/5^III. Kock (Skald; NN §385), pointing out the awkwardness of the word order assumed here and in previous eds, opts for the FskAˣ reading gáttar and reads hregg gáttar Hǫgna ‘storm of the door of Hǫgni [SHIELD > BATTLE]’. This, however, leaves hurðir ‘doors’ in l. 1 as a shield-kenning without a determinant, and Kock’s suggestion that a determinant is supplied in the following adj. hjǫrklofnar ‘sword-riven’ does not entirely convince. — [4] Vagns ‘Vagn’: Vagn Ákason, one of the leaders of the force known in later tradition as the Jómsvíkingar; see skald Biography of Vagn. — [5] þrøngvar ‘forcers’: Emendation to nom. sg. þrøngvir would produce an apostrophe to a single warrior, presumably to Hákon jarl (see Introduction), but if this straightforward nomen agentis were the original reading it would be difficult to account for its corruption. The pl. form leads Fidjestøl (1982, 165) to suggest that the stanza is a lausavísa addressed after the battle to Vígfúss’s comrades. It could alternatively be taken in apposition to vér ‘we’. — [7] danskra drengja ‘of the Danish warriors’: This phrase could instead be taken with darra flaug ‘flight of spears’ (l. 8), as by Kock in Skald and NN §386, though Kock does not rule out the arrangement above, which is adopted by most eds. Jesch (2001a, 130, cf. 232) finds the use of the word drengr to refer to opponents ‘rather odd’ since in early usage it generally refers to fellow-warriors on the same side, and she counts the stanza’s authenticity as ‘doubtful on other grounds’, but drengr could be honorific, showing how tough the opposition was. An ironic use of drengr is possible (e.g. Þvíðf Lv 1/2^IV), but unlikely here. On the word, see Jesch (2001a, 216-32) and Goetting (2006).

References

1. Bibliography
2. Fms = Sveinbjörn Egilsson et al., eds. 1825-37. Fornmanna sögur eptir gömlum handritum útgefnar að tilhlutun hins norræna fornfræða fèlags. 12 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. Fidjestøl, Bjarne. 1982. Det norrøne fyrstediktet. Universitet i Bergen Nordisk institutts skriftserie 11. Øvre Ervik: Alvheim & Eide.
6. Jesch, Judith. 2001a. Ships and Men in the Late Viking Age: The Vocabulary of Runic Inscriptions and Skaldic Verse. Woodbridge: Boydell.
7. Fsk 1902-3 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1902-3. Fagrskinna: Nóregs kononga tal. SUGNL 30. Copenhagen: Møller.
8. Goetting, Lauren. 2006. ‘Þegn and drengr in the Viking Age’. SS 78, 375-404.
9. ÍF 29 = Ágrip af Nóregskonunga sǫgum; Fagrskinna—Nóregs konungatal. Ed. Bjarni Einarsson. 1985.
10. Jvs 1879 = Petersens, Carl af, ed. 1879. Jómsvíkinga saga (efter Cod. AM. 510, 4:to) samt Jómsvíkinga drápa. Lund: Gleerup.
11. Konráð Gíslason, ed. 1892a. Udvalg af oldnordiske skjaldekvad, med anmærkninger. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
12. Internal references
13. (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 25 April 2024)
14. Matthew Townend 2012, ‘(Biography of) Vagn Ákason’ 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. 365.
15. Diana Whaley 2012, ‘(Biography of) Vígfúss Víga-Glúmsson’ 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. 361.
16. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Sækonunga heiti 1’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 678.
17. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Þjóðólfr ór Hvini, Haustlǫng 20’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 461.
18. Not published: do not cite (Þvíðf Lv 1^IV)