Note to Þskakk Erldr 1II
[All]: Both narratives agree that the Norsemen struck openings in the lower and the upper parts of the warship, but, while Hkr basically paraphrases the poetry (see Context above), Orkn offers a more detailed account of these events which has a bearing on the interpretation of the st. (ÍF 34, 225): Þar er þeir Erlingr hǫfðu at lagt, hekk akkeri mikit á drómundinum, ok var krœkt fleininum á borðit, en leggrinn vissi ofan at skipi Erlings. Auðun inn rauði hét stafnbúi Erlings. Honum var lypt á akkerisstokkinn, en síðan heimti hann sér fleiri menn, svá at þeir stóðu sem þeir máttu þrøngst á stokkinum ok hjuggu þaðan borðin, sem þeir máttu, ok var þat hǫggvit miklu efst ‘Where Erlingr and his men had come alongside, there was a large anchor hanging from the dromon, and one fluke was fastened on the gunwale but the shank was pointing down towards Erlingr’s ship. Auðun inn rauði (‘the Red’) was the name of Erlingr’s forecastle-man. He was lifted up onto the anchor-stock and then he pulled up more men to him, so that they stood as cramped as possible on the stock and struck blows at the planking with all their might. And they were striking at the very top of the planking’. Erlingr and his men then boarded the upper deck of the warship through these openings, while Rǫgnvaldr and his men, who had been striking openings down by the waterline, entered the lower deck.
References
- Bibliography
- ÍF 34 = Orkneyinga saga. Ed. Finnbogi Guðmundsson. 1965.
- Internal references
- (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Heimskringla’ 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. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=4> (accessed 26 April 2024)
- (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Orkneyinga saga’ 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. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=47> (accessed 26 April 2024)