Fragment — Eil Frag^III

In addition to Þórsdrápa (Eil Þdr), the skald Eilífr Goðrúnarson is credited with a helmingr (Eil Frag) recorded in SnE (R (main ms.), Tˣ, W, U, A) and LaufE (2368ˣ). The mss unanimously attribute it to him (SnE 1998, I, 76): sem kvað Eilífr Guðrúnarson ‘as Eilífr Guðrúnarson said’. Eilífr Goðrúnarson appears to have been active as a skald at the court of Hákon jarl Sigurðarson in Norway around the end of the tenth century (see his Biography). The original context of the stanza is unknown; it is often assumed that it was part of a Christian poem (LH I, 536; Lange 1958a, 54; SnE 1998, I, 201), because it tells of Christ supplanting the heathen bǫnd ‘gods’ in the North and taking up residence at the mythical brunnr Urðar ‘well of Urðr’. The stanza thus bears significant witness to the religious changes in Scandinavia (von See 1959-60, 87; Weber 1969, 152; 1970, 87-8; Frank 1978, 118) and to North-Germanic syncretism (Kahle 1901, 12; Lange 1958a, 57).

This syncretism, however, did not mean that different forms of religion were coalescing into a new one through a conscious process; rather, existing beliefs that seemed useful from a Christian perspective were being reinterpreted. According to Rev. XXII.1-2, Christ’s throne, i.e. his seat of power in Paradise, is located at a spring with trees of life growing on either bank of the stream emanating from it (see Lange 1958a, 56-7); hence the heathen myth of the brunnr Urðar could well have been transferred to Christ. It is not clear whether Eilífr himself converted to Christianity; his intention may also have been to express regrets about a heathen religion on the wane.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Frank, Roberta. 1978. Old Norse Court Poetry: The Dróttkvætt Stanza. Islandica 42. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.
3. Kahle, Bernhard. 1901. ‘Das Christentum in der altwestnordischen Dichtung’. ANF 17, 1-40, 97-159.
4. Lange, Wolfgang. 1958a. Studien zur christlichen Dichtung der Nordgermanen 1000-1200. Palaestra 222. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.
5. LH = Finnur Jónsson. 1920-4. Den oldnorske og oldislandske litteraturs historie. 3 vols. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Gad.
6. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
7. See, Klaus von. 1959-60. Review of Wolfgang Lange. 1958a. Studien zur christlichen Dichtung der Nordgermanen 1000-1200. Palaestra 222. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. GGA 213, 81-97.
8. Weber, Gerd Wolfgang. 1969. Wyrd: Studien zum Schicksalsbegriff der altenglischen und altnordischen Literatur. Frankfurter Beiträge zur Germanistik 8. Bad Homburg v.d.H.: Gehlen.
9. Internal references
10. Edith Marold 2017, ‘Snorra Edda (Prologue, Gylfaginning, Skáldskaparmál)’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols [check printed volume for citation].
12. Edith Marold with the assistance of Vivian Busch, Jana Krüger, Ann-Dörte Kyas and Katharina Seidel, translated from German by John Foulks 2017, ‘ Eilífr Goðrúnarson, Þórsdrápa’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 68. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1170> (accessed 28 April 2024)
13. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Laufás Edda’ 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=10928> (accessed 28 April 2024)