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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Note to KormǪ Sigdr 7III

[1-2, 3] algildan allvald aldar Yngva ‘the excellent mighty ruler of the people of Yngvi <legendary king> [YNGLING = Haraldr gráfeldr?]’: It cannot be determined for certain which ruler the poet addresses here. Despite Finnur Jónsson’s (1931, 115-16) suggestion, hardly anything indicates Sigurðr jarl, as there is no way to establish that Yngvi was an ancestor of the jarls of Lade. Finnur Jónsson’s interpretation assumes, unjustifiably so, that all of the stanzas collected in Sigdr actually refer to Sigurðr jarl (see Introduction above). Faulkes’s (SnE 1998, I, 159-60) interpretation ‘he who has complete power over the people of Norway’ is also unlikely, because it cannot be shown that anyone associated Norway with Yngvi or thought of the Norwegians as descended from the Ynglingar. It is more likely that the stanza is addressed to a ruler from the Yngling dynasty. According to Skáldatal (see Introduction above), Kormákr composed poetry also for Haraldr gráfeldr ‘Grey-cloak’, the grandson of Haraldr hárfagri, and he is probably the one honoured in the present stanza (as suggested already in SnE 1848-87, III, 8).

References

  1. Bibliography
  2. 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.
  3. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
  4. Internal references
  5. Not published: do not cite ()

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