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Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Note to Anon (FoGT) 7III

[All]: Sveinbjörn Egilsson (SnE 1848-87, II, 190 n. 1) first suggested that the main event mentioned in this stanza might be a reference to the burning of the cathedral at Skálholt by a lightning strike in 1309, mentioned in many of the Icelandic annals. Cf. Lárentíus saga biskups (ÍF 17, 304), Skálholts-Annaler (Storm 1888, 202). This took place in the reign of King Hákon háleggr ‘Long-leg’ Magnússon of Norway (r. 1299-1319). As the stanza represents this event as having taken place in the past, it has been presumed to date from after Hákon’s death in 1319, thus providing a terminus post quem for the stanza and possibly the treatise as a whole (cf. FoGT 1884, xliii). The stanza presents the cathedral fire as God’s punishment on the sinful Icelanders. It is an open question as to whether the author of FoGT considered this stanza an example of contemporaneous events or of a named ruler of the land, or both. See further Anon (FoGT) 11 and Notes.

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. Storm, Gustav, ed. 1888. Islandske annaler indtil 1578. Christiania (Oslo): Det norske historiske kildeskriftfond. Rpt. 1977. Oslo: Norsk-historisk kjeldeskrift-institutt.
  4. ÍF 15-17 = Biskupa sögur. Ed. Sigurgeir Steingrímsson, Ólafur Halldórsson and Peter G. Foote (15), Ásdís Egilsdóttir (16), Guðrún Ása Grímsdóttir (17). 1998-2003.
  5. FoGT 1884 = Björn Magnússon Ólsen, ed. 1884. Den tredje og fjærde grammatiske afhandling i Snorres Edda tilligemed de grammatiske afhandlingers prolog og to andre tillæg. SUGNL 12. Copenhagen: Knudtzon.
  6. Internal references
  7. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, The Fourth Grammatical Treatise’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=34> (accessed 19 March 2024)
  8. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Lausavísur, Stanzas from the Fourth Grammatical Treatise 11’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 584.
  9. Not published: do not cite ()

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