ÞjóðA Har 5^II

Eigu skjól und skógi
skafnir snekkju stafnar;
læsir leiðangrs vísi
lǫnd herskipa brǫndum.
Almenningr liggr innan
— eið láta sér skeiðar
hábrynjaðar hlýja —
hverja vík í skerjum.

Skafnir stafnar snekkju eigu skjól und skógi; vísi leiðangrs læsir lǫnd brǫndum herskipa. Almenningr liggr innan hverja vík í skerjum; hábrynjaðar skeiðar láta eið hlýja sér.

The planed stems of the vessel get shelter in the lee of the wood; the fleet’s prince encloses the lands with the prows of warships. The host lies at anchor in every bay in the skerries; the longships, armoured around the oarports, let the headland protect them.

Mss: Kˣ(558v), F(48va), E(20v), J2ˣ(281v) (Hkr); H(55r), Hr(40rb) (H-Hr)

Readings: [1] Eigu: ‘Eigvt’ F    [3] leiðangrs vísi: leiðangr vísa F    [5] Almenningr: almenning Hr    [6] sér: svá H, Hr    [7] ‑brynjaðar: ‑brynjandi H, Hr;    hlýja: so F, E, J2ˣ, hlýra Kˣ, hrynja H, Hr    [8] í: und F

Editions: Skj AI, 382, Skj BI, 352, Skald I, 177, NN §873; Hkr 1893-1901, III, 157-8, IV, 225-6, ÍF 28, 143-4, Hkr 1991, 652 (HSig ch. 60), F 1871, 226, E 1916, 73; Fms 6, 310 (HSig ch. 76), Fms 12, 154.

Context: Sailing east into Viken (Vík), Haraldr’s fleet meets adverse winds and has to seek shelter in harbours.

Notes: [3, 5] leiðangrs; almenningr ‘the fleet’s; the host’: Leiðangr refers to a fleet of ships together (at least in some contexts) with their crews, and almenningr to a body of people. Malmros (1985) argued that these words constitute proof that an organised levy system already existed under Haraldr, but the skaldic evidence does not support this, though it does support the sense ‘expeditionary fleet’ for at least some instances of leiðangr (Jesch 2001a, 196-8; Note to Bǫlv Hardr 8/1). — [3] vísi leiðangrs ‘the fleet’s prince’: The F reading leiðangr vísa ‘the prince’s fleet’ is also viable, and is adopted in Skj B (evoking protest from Kock in NN §873), but has no other ms. support. — [7] hábrynjaðar ‘armoured around the oarports’: The adj. also occurs in Steinn Óldr 13/4 and Þfagr Sveinn 4/4. This translation assumes that the first element is from hár m. ‘oarport’ (see Note to st. 4/3, 4), but h(r) ‘high’ is also possible, as assumed in Skj B. The ‘armour’ is normally assumed to be the row of shields which could be set up when the ship was at anchor or under sail, though not when it was being rowed, and this seems correct in the absence of any archaeological evidence for defensive plating on Viking Age warships (see Jesch 2001a, 157-9).

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. Fms = Sveinbjörn Egilsson et al., eds. 1825-37. Fornmanna sögur eptir gömlum handritum útgefnar að tilhlutun hins norræna fornfræða fèlags. 12 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
4. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
6. Jesch, Judith. 2001a. Ships and Men in the Late Viking Age: The Vocabulary of Runic Inscriptions and Skaldic Verse. Woodbridge: Boydell.
7. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
8. Hkr 1893-1901 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1893-1901. Heimskringla: Nóregs konunga sǫgur af Snorri Sturluson. 4 vols. SUGNL 23. Copenhagen: Møller.
9. Hkr 1991 = Bergljót S. Kristjánsdóttir et al., eds. 1991. Heimskringla. 3 vols. Reykjavík: Mál og menning.
10. F 1871 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1871. Fríssbók: Codex Frisianus. En samling af norske konge-sagaer. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
11. E 1916 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1916. Eirspennill: AM 47 fol. Nóregs konunga sǫgur: Magnús góði – Hákon gamli. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske historiske kildeskriftskommission.
12. Malmros, Rikke. 1985. ‘Leding og skjaldekvad: Det elvte århundredes nordiske krigsflåder, deres teknologi og organisation og deres placering i samfundet belyst gennem den samtidige fyrstedigtning’. ÅNOH, 89-139.
13. Internal references
14. (forthcoming), ‘ Heimskringla, Haralds saga Sigurðssonar’ 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=142> (accessed 3 May 2024)
15. Not published: do not cite (Run^VI)
16. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Bǫlverkr Arnórsson, Drápa about Haraldr harðráði 8’ 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. 293.
17. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Steinn Herdísarson, Óláfsdrápa 13’ 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. 378-9.
18. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Þorleikr fagri, Flokkr about Sveinn Úlfsson 4’ 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. 316.