[1] Míkáll ‘Michael’: The majority ms. spelling is followed here, but Tx’s spelling Míkj- is also possible, and is matched, e.g., in the readings of mss 39, F, E for Okík Magn 1/1II Míkjálsmessu; see also ANG §263 on the forms. S. Michael appears with his angels fighting the dragon in an apocalyptic battle in Rev. XII.7. The image of him weighing souls at Doomsday is not Scriptural, but is widespread in medieval art (see, e.g. Johnson 2005, 146-8 for English examples).
References
- Bibliography
- ANG = Noreen, Adolf. 1923. Altnordische Grammatik I: Altisländische und altnorwegische Grammatik (Laut- und Flexionslehre) unter Berücksichtigung des Urnordischen. 4th edn. Halle: Niemeyer. 1st edn. 1884. 5th unrev. edn. 1970. Tübingen: Niemeyer.
- Johnson, Richard Freeman. 2005. St Michael the Archangel in Medieval English Legend. Woodbridge and Rochester: Boydell.
- Internal references
- Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Oddr kíkinaskáld, Poem about Magnús góði 1’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 32.