Note to StarkSt Vík 32^VIII (Gautr 40)

[5-8]: This helmingr refers to an event in Starkaðr’s life which is not attested elsewhere except in the R715ˣ version of Heiðr, and there it is associated with Starkaðr Áludrengr. Ms. R715ˣ tells that a certain Hergrímr hálftrǫll ‘Half-troll’ abducted a woman named Ǫgn Álfasprengi from Jǫtunheimar, while Starkaðr Áludrengr, to whom she had been betrothed, was away in the north beyond the rivers Élivágar (cf. Vafþr 31/1, SnE 2005, 9, 10). When Starkaðr returned he challenged Hergrímr to single combat for the woman. They fought við inn efsta fors at Eiði ‘by the uppermost waterfall at Eið’ and Starkaðr killed Hergrímr though he did not get back his betrothed, who committed suicide. It is not said that Þórr had anything to do with the Hergrímr episode, as ll. 5-8 of this stanza seem to imply. However, this narrative is very similar to another, told shortly after the first in the R715ˣ version of Heiðr, in which Þórr kills Starkaðr because he abducted another woman, Álfhildr, against her father’s wishes. On this, see Note to [All] above.

References

1. Bibliography
2. SnE 2005 = Snorri Sturluson. 2005. Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
3. Internal references
4. 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 367. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=23> (accessed 24 April 2024)
5. Not published: do not cite ()