Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Þorkell hamarskáld, Magnússdrápa 3’ 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. 411-12.
Dunði broddr á brynju;
bragningr skaut af magni;
sveigði allvaldr Egða
alm; stǫkk blóð á hjalma.
Strengs fló hagl í hringa;
hné ferð, en lét verða
Hǫrða gramr í harðri
hjarlsókn banat jarli.
Broddr dunði á brynju; bragningr skaut af magni; {allvaldr Egða} sveigði alm; blóð stǫkk á hjalma. {Hagl strengs} fló í hringa; ferð hné, en {gramr Hǫrða} lét verða banat jarli í harðri hjarlsókn.
The arrow-point resounded against the byrnie; the sovereign shot with strength; {the mighty ruler of the Egðir} [NORWEGIAN KING = Magnús] bent the elm-bow; blood spurted onto helmets. {The hail of the bow-string} [ARROWS] flew into chain-mail; the company fell, and {the lord of the Hǫrðar} [NORWEGIAN KING = Magnús] caused the earl to be killed in the hard battle for land.
Mss: Mork(23r) (Mork); H(89r), Hr(61va-b) (H-Hr); F(58va); Kˣ(598v), 39(34vb), E(34r), J2ˣ(311r), 42ˣ(11v) (Hkr); FskBˣ(85v-86r), FskAˣ(338) (Fsk); 325III α(2r), R702ˣ(40v) (Orkn)
Readings: [1] brynju: brynjur H, Hr, J2ˣ, 325III α, R702ˣ [3] sveigði: ‘suegðe’ E, ‘svegði’ J2ˣ, ‘svæghde’ FskAˣ; ‑valdr: ‑vald H [5] Strengs: so all others, ‘stengs’ Mork; fló: flaug FskBˣ; í: so F, Kˣ, 39, E, FskBˣ, FskAˣ, 325III α, R702ˣ, á Mork, H, Hr, í corrected from á J2ˣ, 42ˣ [6] hné: ‘hve’ 42ˣ [7] Hǫrða: hǫrð þá er 42ˣ [8] hjarl‑: hjarls H, hjǫrs FskBˣ; ‑sókn: ‘skaull’ Hr
Editions: Skj AI, 438, Skj BI, 408, Skald I, 201, NN §2908; Mork 1867, 145, Mork 1928-32, 319, Andersson and Gade 2000, 300, 485 (Mberf); Fms 7, 46 (Mberf ch. 22); F 1871, 271 (Mberf); ÍF 28, 223 (Mberf ch. 10), E 1916, 119; ÍF 29, 308 (ch. 81); Orkn 1913-16, 102, ÍF 34, 96-7 (ch. 39).
Context: Magnús killed Earl Hugh of Shrewsbury (Hugi inn prúði ‘the Proud’) at the battle of the Menai Strait, between northern Wales and Anglesey, in 1098.
Notes: [All]: For this battle, see Bkrepp Magndr 11 and Gísl Magnkv 10-13. See also Power 1986, 109-11 and the literature cited there. — [8] hjarlsókn ‘battle for land’: Lit. ‘land-battle’ (hap. leg.). All sources agree that Magnús shot from his ship, hence the word is taken here to mean that Magnús fought to expand his dominions in the west. Alternatively, it could also be construed as ‘attack on the land’. Skj B separates the two elements of the cpd and takes hjarl ‘land’ with hringa ‘chain-mail’ (lit. ‘rings’) (l. 5): í hjarl hringa ‘into the land of rings’, i.e. ‘into the chain-mail’. That reading creates a very convoluted w. o. (see NN § 2908) and it is unnecessary because hringar ‘rings’ can denote ‘chain-mail, ring-byrnie’. See Note to SnH Lv 1/3 and LP: hringr 2.
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