Cite as: Ian McDougall (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Allra postula minnisvísur 13’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 870-1.

Hieldr Matthías mildi mætr postuli sæti; hlaut hann hlaðinn af ítri hlutskifti það giftu.

Og á Sýrlandi sendi sína önd frá pínu guðs til göfgra náða; gæti húss og sætis. Signi hier sveit öll inni sæls Matthías minni.

Matthías, mætr postuli, hieldr sæti mildi; hlaðinn af ítri giftu, hlaut hann það hlutskifti. Og á Sýrlandi sendi sína önd frá pínu til guðs göfgra náða; gæti húss og sætis. Signi öll sveit hier inni minni sæls Matthías.

Matthias, the worthy Apostle, holds the seat of mercy; full of glorious grace, he got that share by lot. And in Syria he sent his soul from torment to God’s noble mercies; may he watch over our house and bench. Let all the company herein bless a memorial toast for the blessed Matthias.

Mss: 721(15v)

Editions: Skj: [Anonyme digte og vers XIV], [B. 9]. Allra postula minnisvísur 13: AII, 511, BII, 562, Skald II, 308.

Notes: [1-4]: Lines 1-4 are strikingly reminiscent of the opening ll. of the hymn for the feast of S. Matthias (14 May, see Ordo Nidr. 321): Mathia iuste, duodeno solio residens sorte ‘Just Matthias, sitting on the twelfth throne by lot’ (AH 51, 122, no. 107, v. 9; DH, 114). The same detail is included in prayers to S. Matthias; cf. Gjerløw 1980, I, 185 [Mortemer]. — [1] Matthías: On S. Matthias the Apostle, see Cross and Livingstone 1983, 892; Widding, Bekker-Nielsen and Shook 1963, 325; Kilström 1966b, 502; Foote 1976, 171; Cormack 1994, 131, 243. — [3, 4] hlaut hann það hlutskifti ‘he got that share by lot’: Matthias was chosen by lot to fill the place among the Apostles left vacant by Judas Iscariot; cf. Acts I.26: et dederunt sortes eis et cecidit sors super Matthiam et adnumeratus est cum undecim apostolis ‘and they gave them lots, and the lot fell upon Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles’, and Brev. 4/29-30: Mathias ... pro Iuda Scarioth duodecimus inter apostolos subrogatus, electus sorte ‘Matthias ... substituted for Judas Iscariot as the twelfth among the Apostles, was chosen by lot’. Cf. IO 78; Holm perg 5 fol, 60ra (Foote 1976, 155); cf. JJ SÁM 1 546/1; Mthiasˣ 768/13-17. — [5] á Sýrlandi ‘in Syria’: Most accounts record that Matthias preached the Gospel in Judaea (see Festa 3/8; Brev. 4/31; IO 78), and several accounts add that this is where he was martyred; cf. AM 764 4° 16v: Mathias uar píndr j íudea fyst gryttr en sidan drepinn meþ exi ‘Matthias was tortured in Judea, first stoned and then slain with an axe’; Mthiasˣ 770/34-6: Mathias kendi þar helgar kenningar a Gyðingalandi, ok þar tok hann pining ok liflat fyrir guðs sakir ‘Matthias preached the holy gospel in the land of the Jews, and there he suffered torture and death for God’s sake’.