Cite as: George S. Tate (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Líknarbraut 42’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 278.

Sett hefr sína dróttar sigrstoð konungr roðna blikmeiðundum blóði bauga láðs fyr augu.

Sjá má hverr í heimi hnossa brjótr, á krossi dyggr hvé sinn faðm seggjum sólstéttar gramr réttir.

{Konungr dróttar} hefr sett {sína sigrstoð} roðna blóði fyr augu {{{láðs bauga} blik} meiðundum}. {Hverr brjótr hnossa} í heimi má sjá, hvé {dyggr gramr {sólstéttar}} á krossi réttir seggjum faðm sinn.

{The king of the host} [RULER = Christ] has set {his victory-post} [CROSS], reddened with blood, before the eyes {of harmers {of the radiance {of the land of rings}}} [(lit. ‘radiance-harmers of the land of rings’) ARM > GOLD > GENEROUS MEN]. {Each breaker of treasures} [GENEROUS MAN] in the world may see how {the faithful king {of the sun’s path}} [SKY/HEAVEN > = God (= Christ)] on the Cross extends his embrace to men.

Mss: B(12r), 399a-bˣ

Readings: [5] Sjá: ‘[...]’ B, ‘[...]a’ 399a‑bˣ

Editions: Skj: Anonyme digte og vers [XIII], C. 1. Líknarbraut 42: AII, 158, BII, 171, Skald II, 90, NN §1399; Sveinbjörn Egilsson 1844, 48, Rydberg 1907, 18, 52, Tate 1974, 87.

Notes: [2] sigrstoð ‘victory-post [CROSS]’: Cf. -stólpi ‘pillar’ 41/3. The kenning (cited by Meissner, 432) may well be a translation of Lat. trop(h)aeum ‘victory memorial’ (originally a tree trunk bedecked with captured arms), a common appellative of the Cross. (Cf. the Gk cognate σταυρου̂ τρόπαιον ‘trophy of the Cross’ in Eusebius’ account of Constantine’s dream, by which sign the emperor was instructed to conquer [De vita Constantini I, 28 in Winkelmann 1991, 30]. See, e.g., Fortunatus’ Pange lingua, st. 2: et super crucis trophaeo dic triumphum nobilem ‘and over the trophy of the Cross, sound the noble triumph’ (Bulst 1956, 128), in which trophaeo alliterates (with triumphum) just as does sigrstoð (with sétt and sína). (In his Genesis commentary, Alcuin also refers to crucis trophaeum. Alcuinus, Epistolae XCVII, col. 307.) On the early history of the Cross as trophaeum, see Reijners 1965, 192-3. — [5] sjá má hverr í heimi: The restoration of sjá, proposed marginally by Jón Sigurðsson in 399a-bˣ and adopted by all eds, is supported by an accent indicating possible <í> followed by trace of possible <a>. Skothending is achieved by eliding the <á> of sjá and the <m> of má to rhyme with heimi. — [7] faðm ‘embrace’: Cf. faðm miskunnar ‘embrace of mercy’ 45/5-8. — [8] gramr sólstéttar ‘king of the sun’s path’ [SKY/HEAVEN > = God (= Christ)]’: ‘Sun’s path’ in a kenning for Christ on the Cross may evoke the patristic idea that his proffered embrace was cosmic in scope, encompassing the whole world (see Rahner 1963, 51; Reijners 1965, 195-6). Moving from active (placing the victory-pillar) to passive (stretched upon on the Cross), the st. thus juxtaposes Christ’s justice and mercy.