Note to Ótt Hfl 9I
[3] Hringmaraheiði ‘Ringmere Heath’: According to John of Worcester, Þorkell’s army fought a battle at Ringmere near Thetford in Norfolk, 5 May 1010, and the English were put to flight (Darlington and McGurk 1995-, II, 464-7; the ASC s. a. 1010 mentions the battle but does not specify the location). As Sigv Víkv 7/3 acknowledges, the local forces were led by the ealdorman (high-ranking nobleman) Ulfcytel, who is also named in Anon Liðs 6/2. For discussion of the p. n. Hringmaraheiðr see Townend (1998, 38-42). Óttarr’s use of the name matches that of Sigv Víkv 7/5 (stóð Hringmaraheiði) and ÞKolb Eirdr 15/7 (rauð Hringmaraheiði), though it is uncertain whose usage comes first. It has been argued that the attempt to incorporate the name into a dróttkvætt line led to a new metrical type, in which the first hending came in position 1 in the line, immediately before the first alliterating syllable (Kuhn 1969a, 416; Gade 2001b, 66-8).
References
- Bibliography
- Gade, Kari Ellen. 2001b. ‘The Dating and Attributions of Verses in the Skald Sagas’. In Poole 2001a, 50-74.
- Kuhn, Hans (1899). 1969a. ‘Die Dróttkvættverse des Typs “brestr erfiði Austra”’. In Jakob Benediktsson 1969, 403-17. Rpt. in Kuhn (1899) 1969-78, IV, 105-16.
- ASC [Anglo-Saxon Chronicle] = Plummer, Charles and John Earle, eds. 1892-9. Two of the Saxon Chronicles Parallel. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon. Rpt. 1952.
- Townend, Matthew. 1998. English Place-Names in Skaldic Verse. English Place-Name Society extra ser. 1. Nottingham: English Place-Name Society.
- Darlington, R. R. and P. McGurk, eds. 1995-2007. The Chronicle of John of Worcester. 3 vols. Oxford Medieval Texts. Oxford: Clarendon.
- Internal references
- Russell Poole (ed.) 2012, ‘Anonymous Poems, Liðsmannaflokkr 6’ 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. 1023.
- Judith Jesch (ed.) 2012, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Víkingarvísur 7’ 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. 544.
- Jayne Carroll (ed.) 2012, ‘Þórðr Kolbeinsson, Eiríksdrápa 15’ 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. 510.