Cite as: George S. Tate (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Líknarbraut 34’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 266-8.

Stigi nefniz þú stafna stálfríðundum smíði traustr af tvennrar ástar — tek ek minni þess — kinnum. Framm kemr hverr á himna hræskóðs ok fær góða stétt, þá er stig þín hittir, styrjar lundr af grundu. Stigi nefniz þú stafna stálfríðundum smíði traustr af tvennrar ástar — tek ek minni þess — kinnum. Framm kemr hverr á himna hræskóðs ok fær góða stétt, þá er stig þín hittir, styrjar lundr af grundu. Þú nefniz stigi, traustr af kinnum tvennrar ástar, smíði stafna stálfríðundum; ek tek minni þess. Hverr lundr styrjar hræskóðs kemr framm ok fær góða stétt af grundu á himna, þá er hittir þín stig.

text prose order   You are called a ladder, trusty on account of side-poles of twofold love, a smith-work of stems {for prow-adorners}; [SEAFARERS] I take remembrance of this. Each {tree {of the tumult {of the corpse-scathe}}} [WEAPON > BATTLE > WARRIOR] advances and receives a good pathway from the earth to the heavens, when he gains your steps.

notes: The dominant image of the st., the Cross as ladder, is an exegetical commonplace deriving from commentary on Jacob’s vision of a ladder extending to heaven (Gen. XXVIII.12-13). E.g., in a sermon that circulated under Augustine’s authority in the Middle Ages, Caesarius of Arles (C6th) writes: Scala ipsa usque ad caelos attingens, crucis figuram habuit ‘The ladder itself extending to the heavens held the figure of the Cross’ (Sermo 87 in Morin 1953, 360; cf. Classis prima, auctor incertus [Augustinus Hipponensis?], col. 1761). The connection of Jacob’s ladder with the Cross also occurs in the late medieval Icel. Gimsteinn 102/5-03/4 (ÍM I.2, 327). Medieval commentators often gloss the parts of the ladder – e.g., the side-poles or stiles (latera) as Christ’s two natures, the two Testaments, etc. The probable source for kinnum tvennrar ástar ‘side-poles of twofold love’ (ll. 3-4), i.e. love of God and neighbour (Matt. XXII.37-9), is Honorius Augustodunensis (C12th), who was known in Iceland mainly through his Eluc and Gemma animae, both of which were translated into ON. In his sermon on Quinquagesima Sunday in Speculum ecclesiae, and again in Scala coeli minor, Honorius allegorises the parts of a ladder of love which is clearly the Cross. Of the side-poles he writes: Hujus scalae vero latera sunt geminae dilectionis, Dei scilicet et proximi dilectio ‘The side-poles of this ladder are indeed twofold love, i.e. love of God and neighbour’ (cols 869 and 1239). An analogue (noted by Paasche 1914a, 130) is in the Icel. homily on the Cross, which allegorises the arms of the Cross as óst viþ goþ oc meɴ ‘love for God and men’ (HómÍsl 1993, 17v; HómÍsl 1872, 38; cf. HómNo, 104). Árni Jónsson later borrows several details from Líkn for his Gd^IV, including the ‘ladder of twofold love’ elsku tvennrar stigi (72/6-7); see Tate 1978-9.

editions: Skj Anonyme digte og vers [XIII]: C. 1. Líknarbraut 34 (AII, 156; BII, 169); Skald II, 89, NN §1395; Sveinbjörn Egilsson 1844, 45-6, Rydberg 1907, 17, 51, Tate 1974, 79.

sources

AM 757 a 4° (B)	12r, 3 - 12r, 6	(Has)
JS 399 a-b 4°x (399a-bx)	-