Cite as: Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 56 (Ǫrvar-Oddr, Lausavísur 23)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 870.

Hefi ek á Saxa ok á Svía herjat, Frísi ok Frakka ok á Flæmingja, Íra ok Engla ok endr Skota; þeim hefi ek öllum óþarfr verit. Hefi ek á Saxa ok á Svía herjat, Frísi ok Frakka ok á Flæmingja, Íra ok Engla ok endr Skota; þeim hefi ek öllum óþarfr verit. Ek hefi herjat á Saxa ok á Svía, Frísi ok Frakka ok á Flæmingja, Íra ok Engla ok endr Skota; ek hefi verit óþarfr öllum þeim.

text prose order   I have harried upon the Saxons and the Swedes, the Frisians and the Franks and upon the Flemings, the Irish and the English and formerly the Scots; I have been harmful to them all.

context: As for Ǫrv 53.

notes: Most of the peoples listed in this stanza are mentioned in various episodes of the prose Ǫrv, though not always centrally nor in all mss: the Irish, English and Scots (ll. 5-6) appear in several of the saga’s early chapters; however, no mention is made in the prose text of the Saxar ‘Saxons’; the Svíar ‘Swedes’ and their territory Svíþjóð are mentioned quite frequently, particularly in the episode of the battle on Sámsey and its aftermath; the Frísir ‘Frisians’ are never mentioned in Ǫrv, nor are the Frakkar ‘Franks’, although Frakkland ‘France’ is named once in 344a (Ǫrv 1888, 112) and again in the younger mss (Ǫrv 1888, 130) as a country Oddr visited. Flæmingjaland ‘Flanders’ is only mentioned in 344a (Ǫrv 1888, 100) and in 471 in conjunction with a mention of Frakkland (Ǫrv 1888, 113 n.). Lines 3-4, and perhaps the stanza as a whole, reflect a version of the saga not represented in the prose text of 7 and only marginally in 344a, and depend on an amplification of the number of peoples Oddr visited, which is realised in the prose of the younger mss (Ǫrv 1888, 130); cf. the following passage in an episode only in the younger mss: Lágu þeir mǫrg sumur í hernaði ok herjuðu um Svíþjóð, Saxland, Frakkland ok Flæmingjaland … ‘They spent many summers raiding and harried all over Sweden, Saxony, France and Flanders …’. The younger mss (343a, 471 and 173ˣ) reverse the order of ll. 3-4 and 5-6.

texts: ‹Ǫrv 56›

editions: Skj Anonyme digte og vers [XIII]: E. 10. Vers af Fornaldarsagaer: Af Ǫrvar-Oddssaga VII 23 (AII, 302; BII, 321); Skald II, 171; Ǫrv 1888, 166-7, Ǫrv 1892, 84, FSGJ 2, 319-20; Edd. Min. 70.

sources

Holm perg 7 4° (7)	55r, 16 - 55r, 17	(Ǫrv)
AM 344 a 4° (344a)	22r, 7 - 22r, 8	(Ǫrv)
AM 343 a 4° (343a)	77v, 19 - 77v, 20	(Ǫrv)
AM 471 4° (471)	89r - 89r	(Ǫrv)
AM 173 folx (173x)	54r, 24 - 54r, 27	(Ǫrv)
AM 344 b 4°x (344bx)	28v, 11 - 28v, 13	(Ǫrv)