Note to Þórálfr Frag 1^III

[4] Háreks ‘Hárekr’s’: The most prominent Hárekr in the kings’ sagas is Hárekr Eyvindarson ór Þjóttu ‘from Tjøtta’, a Norwegian magnate, son of a skald and a composer and patron of skaldic poetry; see further skald Biography of Hárekr, SkP I, 808. Hárekr was killed c. 1035, however, which puts him well within the Christian era. An earlier and more promising candidate might be Hárekr Guthormsson, who according to Snorri Sturluson (Hákgóð ch. 4, ÍF 26, 154) fell in England with Eiríkr blóðøx ‘Blood-axe’ c. 954. Eiríkr was commemorated in the distinctly pagan poem Eiríksmál (Anon Eirm^I), which contains (in st. 7) a reproachful question to Óðinn as to why he deprived Eiríkr of victory. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson (ÍF 26, 154 n.) suggests that Hárekr and others were named in a now lost portion of Eirm, and if correct this might in turn suggest that he is the Hárekr mentioned by Þórálfr l. 4. However, whether Anon Eirm^I named the fallen companions of Eiríkr is disputed (see Introduction to the poem), and this identification remains highly speculative.

References

1. Bibliography
2. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
3. SkP I = Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Ed. Diana Whaley. 2012.
4. Internal references
6. R. D. Fulk 2012, ‘ Anonymous, Eiríksmál’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1003. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1009> (accessed 26 April 2024)