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Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Note to SnSt Ht 37III

[5-8]: The main controversy in this helmingr is the placement of áttar hǫlða ‘of the clan of freeholders’ (l. 5). (a) In the present edn it qualifies rauðum auð ‘the red wealth’ (l. 6). The stanza describes the events that occurred in 1214 when Skúli and Ingi forced the rebellious farmers of Trøndelag to submit to Ingi. As st. 36 above shows, part of the dealings took place at the legal assembly when people were forced to swear allegiance and pay compensation. Skúli was hardly ‘generous’ in this situation (see the comments below); rather, he exacted payment from the farmers and destroyed their wealth in the real sense of the word. (b) Skj B (followed by SnE 2007) offers the following interpretation of this helmingr: Þengill skatna gat bjóða þrátt þjóð hǫlða áttar hátt; þat stóð af gram; jǫfurr hrauð rauðum auð translated as Mændenes fyrste kunde byde bøndernes skare kraftig, hvorledes de skulde opføre sig; det udgik fra fyrsten; han viste sig meget gavmild ‘The lord of men told the crowd of farmers powerfully how they should behave; that issued from the lord; he showed himself to be very generous’. The problems here are the unparalleled þjóð hǫlða áttar lit. ‘people of the clan of freeholders’ (Skj B: bøndernes skare ‘crowd of farmers’) and the concept alluded to in ‘he showed himself to be very generous’ (so also SnE 2007; but see comments in (a) above). (c) Kock (NN §1311) takes hátt (ädelt ‘nobly’) (l. 5) as an adv. modifying hrauð ‘wasted’ and construes áttar hǫlða ‘of the clan of freeholders’ with jǫfurr ‘prince’ (l. 6). He also adopts the W, U variant of ‘around’ (l. 8). In Kock’s interpretation, the helmingr reads as follows: Hátt, þrátt hrauð jǫfurr hǫlða áttar rauðum auð, þat gat þengill skatna bjóða, þjóð stóð of gram translated as Ädelt, ivrig ödelade folkets furste röda guldet: sådant bjöd oss kämpars hövding – skaran stod omkring sin drott! ‘Nobly, eagerly, the lord of the people destroyed the red gold; thus the chieftain of heroes commanded us – the crowd stood around their leader!’. That reading requires an unattested adv. hátt ‘nobly’ as well as the unparalleled jǫfurr hǫlða áttar ‘the prince of the clan of freeholders’. It also results in another awkward asyndetic construction (hátt, þrátt ‘nobly, eagerly’) and it is unsatisfactory from the point of view of the content (see SnE 2007, 60). (d) Following SnE 1848-87, Konráð Gíslason (1895-7) connects áttar hǫlða ‘of the clan of freeholders’ (l. 5) with gram ‘ruler’ (l. 8) and þrátt ‘obstinately’ (l. 5) with hrauð ‘wasted’ (l. 6) which forces an unprecedented four-part line (l. 5). He also suggests that áttar hǫlða ‘of the clan of freeholders’ (l. 5) may qualify hátt ‘manners’ (l. 5), which is certainly possible: Þengill skatna gat þrátt bjóða þjóð hátt áttar hǫlða ‘The lord of chieftains obstinately taught men the manners of the clan of freeholders’. This would mean that Skúli taught the freeholders to behave according to rank.

References

  1. Bibliography
  2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
  3. SnE 1848-87 = Snorri Sturluson. 1848-87. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar: Edda Snorronis Sturlaei. Ed. Jón Sigurðsson et al. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Legatum Arnamagnaeanum. Rpt. Osnabrück: Zeller, 1966.
  4. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
  5. Konráð Gíslason. 1895-7. Efterladte skrifter. 2 vols. I: Forelæsninger over oldnordiske skjaldekvad. II: Forelæsninger og videnskablige afhandlinger. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
  6. SnE 2007 = Snorri Sturluson. 2007. Edda: Háttatal. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.

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