Cite as: Kirsten Wolf (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Heilagra meyja drápa 50’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 922.

Sóma vann í sínum dæmum signað fljóð, er Skotland tignar; Brígiða hielt frá bernsku dægri blóm greinanda meydóm hreinum.

Skifti hun því, sem æ var eftir, jafnan heilt í drottins nafni; ástrík var hun fyr einu klaustri abbadís með heiðri vísum.

Signað fljóð, er Skotland tignar, vann sóma í sínum dæmum; Brígiða, greinanda blóm, hielt frá bernsku dægri hreinum meydóm. Hun skifti jafnan heilt því, sem æ var eftir, í nafni drottins; ástrík var hun abbadís fyr einu klaustri með vísum heiðri.

The consecrated woman, whom Scotland praises, achieved honour by her good examples; Brigid, an exuberant flower, preserved from childhood her pure virginity. She always completely divided that which always remained behind in the name of the Lord; full of love she was abbess of a monastery with certain esteem.

Mss: 721(9v), 713(27)

Readings: [3] Brígiða: ‘Brígide’ 713;    bernsku: so 713, ‘bernku’ 721    [5] því: þó 713    [6] jafnan: so 713, ‘jafan’ 721

Editions: Skj: [Anonyme digte og vers XIV], [B. 12]. Af heilogum meyjum 50: AII, 536-7, BII, 594, Skald II, 329, NN §§1848, 2978.

Notes: [All]: Stanzas 50-1 celebrate S. Brigid of Kildare, the second patron saint of Ireland (after S. Patrick), who is said to have lived in the early C6th and to have founded the first monastery in Ireland. She was a popular saint in the North Sea littoral, and there is a certain amount of evidence for her cult in Iceland, though her feast day was removed from the list of Holy Days of Obligation in 1275 (Cormack 1994, 24). — [2] er Skotland tignar ‘whom Scotland praises’: The cult of S. Brigid was certainly practised in Scotland, if that is what the poet means (rather than Ireland). Here the stem vowel of tignar ‘praises’ is short, to give aðalhending with sign-, but in 54/1 the poet accords it its normal long <í>. — [4] greinanda blóm ‘an exuberant flower’: cf. NN §1848. Another interpretation is offered by Skj B: ‘she preserved from childhood her pure virginity with its flower’. — [5-6]: The meaning of these ll. is not entirely clear, but they possibly refer to Brigid’s practice of giving away local agricultural produce to feed the poor. A number of the miracles attributed to her refer to her ability to give away food (e.g. butter, bacon) to the needy and still have those things remain in stock undiminished (see Connolly and Picard 1987, 13-15). — [7-8]: The reference is to the basilica at Kildare, in the southeast of Ireland, Brigid’s monastery and the resting place of her body until it was removed for reburial with the remains of SS. Patrick and Columba some time before 1185.