Cite as: Katrina Attwood (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Máríudrápa 23’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 497-8.

Heil sierðu, mildra meyja mildust, en þier vildi fylgja hugr … helgum hirðar himna dýrðum.

Hef eg alls konar illum afgerðum mig vafðan; sönn, kom þú sálu minni …gnótt, í frið dróttins.

Heil sierðu, mildust mildra meyja, en hugr … vildi fylgja þier helgum dýrðum {hirðar himna}. Eg hef vafðan mig alls konar illum afgerðum; sönn …gnótt, kom þú sálu minni í frið dróttins.

Hail be to you, most merciful of merciful maidens, and the mind … would wish to accompany you with the holy glories {of the retinue of the heavens} [ANGELS]. I have embroiled myself in all kinds of wicked deeds; true …-abundance, bring my soul into the peace of the Lord.

Mss: B(14r), 399a-bˣ

Readings: [1] meyja: mey B    [3] helgum: ‘m[...]elgum’ B, 399a‑bˣ    [4] hirðar: ‘hirdr’ B, 399a‑bˣ, BRydberg, hirð ok BFJ;    dýrðum: ‘dýrd[...]’ B, ‘dyrdụṃ’ 399a‑bˣ    [7] minni: so 399a‑bˣ, ‘[...]inne’ B    [8] …gnótt: ‘[...]r gnott’ B, ‘[...]gnótt’ 399a‑bˣ, BFJ, ‘(s) [...] gnott’(?) BRydberg

Editions: Skj: [Anonyme digte og vers XIV], [B. 1]. En drape om jomfru Maria (Máríudrápa) 23: AII, 468, BII, 501, Skald II, 274, NN §§1650, 2983; Rydberg 1907, 36, 56, Attwood 1996a, 107-8, 309.

Notes: [1-2] mildust mildra meyja ‘most merciful of merciful maidens’: The 399a-bˣ copyist corrects B’s reading mey acc. sing. to gen. pl. meyja. This correction has been adopted by all subsequent eds. The phrase is a calque on the Marian commonplace virgo virginum ‘virgin of virgins’. Both Skj and Skald reverse mildra meyja to meyja mildra. — [2-4]: There are numerous difficulties with B’s readings in these ll., and the full sense of the text is probably irrecoverable. — [3] …: B is badly damaged here, and it is not possible to reconstruct the missing word, which must be monosyllabic, with any certainty. Initial <m> is visible, and Jón Sigurðsson (n. to 444ˣ transcript) suggested reconstruction to minn pron., qualifying hugr ‘soul’. Initial <h> in helgum is confirmed by the alliteration. — [4] hirðar himna ‘of the retinue of the heavens [ANGELS]’: B clearly reads ‘hírdr hímna’. It is not possible to make grammatical sense of hirðr, and the l. has over-alliteration on <h>. Sveinbjörn Egilsson (n. to the 444ˣ transcript) emended to hirðar gen. sg. of hirð ‘court’, forming the angel-kenning hirð himna ‘retinue of the heavens’, which also occurs in a fragment of a C12th Christian poem, Ekúl Kristdr 2/1^III. — [5-8]: Cf. Gamlkan’s confession in Has 16/5-8 that ek, yðvarr aumligr þræll, hefi mik vafðan í ǫllum afgerðum ‘I, your wretched servant, have wrapped myself in all misdeeds’. Line 6 is identical to Has 16/8. — [8] …gnótt ‘…-abundance’: It is not possible to read more of the first syllable of the first word in B than an <r> preceding gnótt. Initial <s> is confirmed by the alliteration. Rydberg (1907, 36 n. 7) notes traces of possible s…grgnótt and tentatively reconstructs sigrgnótt ‘abundance of victory’. Jón Sigurðsson (note to 444ˣ transcript) suggests reconstruction to sælugnótt ‘abundance of bliss’.