Cite as: Kirsten Wolf (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Heilagra meyja drápa 44’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 918-19.

Júliána fekk hrein og heilög hatr og mein af greifa einum; læstu þeir að meyju mæstri myrkvarann í fjötrum styrkum.

Sendiz þangað hinn svikli fjandi svíkjandi með eingils líki; kúgaðr var hann af fljóði fögru fagnaðarlauss til margra sagna.

Hrein og heilög Júliána fekk hatr og mein af einum greifa; þeir læstu mæstri meyju í styrkum fjötrum að myrkvarann. Hinn svikli fjandi sendiz þangað svíkjandi með líki eingils; fagnaðarlauss var hann kúgaðr af fögru fljóði til margra sagna.

The pure and holy Juliana incurred the hatred and torture of a count; they locked the most precious maiden in strong fetters in a dungeon. The deceitful devil was sent there, deceiving [her] in the shape of an angel; joyless he was forced by the fair woman to tell much [lit. forced to many stories].

Mss: 721(9v), 713(26)

Readings: [3] læstu: letu 713;    mæstri: mætri 713    [7] kúgaðr: ‘kugadr’ corrected from ‘kugadrar’ 721;    af: so 713, og 721

Editions: Skj: [Anonyme digte og vers XIV], [B. 12]. Af heilogum meyjum 44: AI, 535, BII, 593, Skald II, 328, NN §2971A.

Notes: [All]: S. Juliana appears not to have been popular in Iceland, even though she was well known in other parts of medieval Western Europe. According to legend she was the daughter of Affricanus of Nicomedia, who betrothed her at the age of nine to one Eleusis, a senator. When she reached eighteen, Eleusis became keen to marry her but by then she had converted to Christianity, and refused to marry a pagan. To break her will, Eleusis had Juliana tortured and thrown into prison, where the devil appeared to her in the shape of an angel. They engaged in debate, and Juliana forced him to confess many of his crimes. After many tortures, Juliana was eventually beheaded. — [3-4] þeir læstu mæstri meyju í styrkum fjötrum að myrkvarann ‘they locked the most precious maiden in strong fetters in a dungeon’: The construction is læsa e-t at e-m ‘to lock (a building) on somebody, lock somebody in’ (cf. LP: læsa). — [5-6] hinn svikli fjandi sendiz þangað svíkjandi með líki eingils ‘the deceitful devil was sent there, deceiving [her] in the shape of an angel’: Juliana was tested by Satan in the shape of an angel of light; cf. the OE Juliana 244b hæfde engles hiw ‘he had the form of an angel’ (Woolf 1955, 31); note the use of adnominatio in svikli/svíkjandi.