Haraldsdrápa II — ESk Hardr II^II

This poem in hagmælt ‘skilfully spoken’ metre (see SnSt Ht 70^III, SnE 1999, 30, 113), Haraldsdrápa II ‘Drápa about Haraldr’ (ESk Hardr II), appears to have been composed after Haraldr’s death in 1136 (see the invocation in the last st.). All sts are attributed to Einarr, but sts 4-5, which are cited only in Mork (Mork), are introduced by the abbreviated Oc eɴ s. h. (‘And again says/said he’ (?)). The sts follow directly after two sts by Einarr, and Finnur Jónsson expands the abbreviation ‘h.’ variously as ‘Halldórr’ (Mork 1928-32, 403) and ‘hann’ ‘he’ (Skj A). Because of the metre, it is reasonable to assign the two sts to Einarr. The name of the poem is transmitted as Haraldsdrápa in MbHgHkr (ÍF 28, 286) and H-Hr (Fms 7, 184). Three of the sts (sts 3-5) are recorded only in Mork, and another (st. 1) is given only in F (but could have been part of Mork, which has a lacuna here). Stanza 2 is cited in Mork, in MbHgHkr (Kˣ, 39, F, E, J2ˣ, 42ˣ), H-Hr (H, Hr) and in Fsk (FskBˣ, FskAˣ). The sts commemorate Haraldr’s escape to Denmark (1134; st. 1), the siege of Bergen (1134-5; st. 2), Haraldr’s sole rule of Norway (1135; st. 3) and two unknown battles in Denmark (sts 4-5; see Hardr I). In Skj, Finnur rearranges the order of the sts because he believed that the two battles described in sts 4-5 took place prior to 1135 (see LH 1894-1901, II, 65). This cannot be ascertained (see Fidjestøl 1982, 154), and in the present edn the sequence of sts follows that of F and Mork. Mork and F are the main mss.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj A = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15a. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. A: Tekst efter håndskrifterne. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1967. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. Fms = Sveinbjörn Egilsson et al., eds. 1825-37. Fornmanna sögur eptir gömlum handritum útgefnar að tilhlutun hins norræna fornfræða fèlags. 12 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
4. Fidjestøl, Bjarne. 1982. Det norrøne fyrstediktet. Universitet i Bergen Nordisk institutts skriftserie 11. Øvre Ervik: Alvheim & Eide.
5. Mork 1928-32 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1928-32. Morkinskinna. SUGNL 53. Copenhagen: Jørgensen.
6. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
7. SnE 1999 = Snorri Sturluson. 1999. Edda: Háttatal. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. Rpt. with addenda and corrigenda. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
8. LH 1894-1901 = Finnur Jónsson. 1894-1901. Den oldnorske og oldislandske litteraturs historie. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Gad.
9. Internal references
10. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Fagrskinna’ 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=56> (accessed 19 April 2024)
11. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Hulda-Hrokkinskinna’ 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=84> (accessed 19 April 2024)
12. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Morkinskinna’ 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=87> (accessed 19 April 2024)
13. Kari Ellen Gade 2009, ‘ Einarr Skúlason, Haraldsdrápa I’ 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, pp. 542-4. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1145> (accessed 19 April 2024)
14. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Snorri Sturluson, Háttatal 70’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1181.