Cite as: David McDougall (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Pétrsdrápa 48’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 839-40.

Varð yfir várum hirði vel skýrð gleði dýrðar hærri en heimrinn fyrri

Kemr í stað að styðja sterkligt trúar merki mildingr mána foldar †mýr lífs fyldur skýrum†.

Vel skýrð gleði dýrðar, hærri en heimrinn fyrri ... varð yfir várum hirði. {Mildingr {foldar mána}} kemr í stað að styðja sterkligt merki trúar; †mýr lífs fyldur skýrum†.

A well-expounded joy of glory, greater than the world previously ... came over our pastor. {The king {of the land of the moon}} [SKY/HEAVEN > = God (= Christ)] comes at once to support the strong standard of faith; ...

Mss: 621(59v)

Readings: [4] line om. 621    [7] mildingr: mildings 621

Editions: Skj: [Anonyme digte og vers XIV], [B. 7]. En drape om apostlen Peder 48: AII, 507, BII, 556, Skald II, 305, NN §§1751, 1752; Kahle 1898, 89, 111-12.

Notes: [1-2] vel skýrð gleði dýrðar ... varð yfir várum hirði ‘a well-expounded joy of glory ... came over our pastor’: Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) translates: Der opstod hos vor hyrde en velforståelig glædens herlighed ‘There arose in our pastor a perfectly understandable glory of joy.’ Kock points out that the genitival construction dýrðar gleði ‘joy of glory’ = ‘glorious joy’ is well documented (NN §1751, cf. NN §§1007B, 1760). Rather than referring to an ‘understandable’ joy which arises in Peter, however, the passage would appear to refer to the joy in heaven over his repentance, alluding to Luke XV.7 (a verse which is ‘well expounded’): ita gaudium erit in caelo super uno peccatore paenitentiam habente quam super nonaginta novem iustis qui non indigent paenitentia ‘even so there shall be joy in heaven upon one sinner that doth penance, as upon ninety-nine just who need not penance’, cf. e.g. Hóm677 57/10-12: slicr fognodr mon vera ývir einom svngom þeim er iþron górir sem ývir niotegom oc ix. retlotom þeim er eigi þurfo iþronar ‘there will be such joy over one sinful person who does penance as over ninety-nine just who do not need penance’. (For references to several other OWN texts in which the verse is vel skýrð see Kirby 1976-80, I, 255-7.) — [4]: The l. is omitted in the ms. Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) conjectures for (ll. 3-4): höjere end verden för [nogensinde har set?] ‘higher than the world previously [has ever seen?]’. — [5] í stað ‘at once’: see Fritzner: staðr, m. 16. — [6] merki trúar ‘standard of faith’: Cf. the corresponding Lat. phrase vexillum fidei ‘standard of faith’ frequently used as a circumlocution for the Cross (e.g. in the hymn Rex aeterne Domine: AH 51, 5, no. 2, st. 9). — [7] mildingr foldar mána ‘king of the land of the moon’: Cf. Árni Gd 4/1^IV; Kálf Kátr 8/7, 17/7, 20/3-4; Meissner, 378. — [8] †Mýr lífs fyldur skýrum†: Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) merely notes: den sidste linje er uforståelig ‘the last line is incomprehensible’. Kock objects to bisyllabic fyldur (see Note to st. 4/2) and proposes that lífs is a transcription error for lífi, and skýrum an error for skýru. He takes mýr (a form the authenticity of which is confirmed by both alliteration and internal rhyme) as the MIcel. word meaning ‘immense quantity’ (see Blöndal: mýr), which he suggests is here used as an intensifying prefix in a nonce-cpd mýrlíf: mýrlífi fylldr skýru translated as fylld av klart, oändligt liv ‘filled with clear eternal life’, referring to mildingr l. 7. This unusual use of mýr- as a prefix, however, does not appear to be attested elsewhere. Kahle (1898, 111-12) records a suggestion of Finnur Jónsson’s that mýrlíf may be a cpd meaning ‘earthly life’ if the first element is mýrr ‘swamp’, used in the extended sense ‘land’ (cf. kennings like Fáfnis mýrr ‘Fáfnir’s land’ for ‘gold’, más mýrr ‘the gull’s land’ for ‘sea’). If ms. ‘skyrum’ is an error for skýranns (cf. st. 23/2 sólranns), the l. might perhaps be construed: ‘[Christ] ... filled with the life of the land (mýr-) of the cloud-house [SKY/HEAVEN]’ (i.e. ‘filled with eternal life’): fylla can take either gen. or dat.; cf. Fritzner: fylla. See LP: skýrann (and cf. especially the similarly redundant heaven-kenning skýranna tjaldi (dat.) ‘tent of the cloud-halls’ at Anon Óldr 28/5,8^I).