Cookies on our website

We use cookies on this website, mainly to provide a secure browsing experience but also to collect statistics on how the website is used. You can find out more about the cookies we set, the information we store and how we use it on the cookies page.

Continue

skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

Menu Search

Rekstefja — HSt RstI

Hallar-Steinn

Rolf Stavnem 2012, ‘ Hallar-Steinn, Rekstefja’ 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. 893. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1237> (accessed 24 April 2024)

 

Hallar-Steinn’s Rekstefja, possibly ‘Split-refrain’ (HSt Rst; see below on title), is a drápa in thirty-five stanzas describing the life and death of the Norwegian king Óláfr Tryggvason (r. c. 995-c. 1000). After the traditional bid for a hearing (st. 1), the skald outlines Óláfr’s youth in Russia (sts 2-4), then tells of his success as a warlord raiding in the British Isles and elsewhere (sts 5-8), his missionary activities Christianizing five countries (sts 9-11), and his qualities as leader, including generosity towards his men (sts 12-14). He then narrates Óláfr’s last battle at Svǫlðr (sts 15-23), comments on the further course of the poem (st. 24), relates incidents, some semi-miraculous, proving Óláfr’s extraordinary agility, strength, piety and closeness to God (sts 25-31), praises God (sts 32-3) and concludes with remarks on previous praise-poems for Óláfr and the status of his own work (sts 34-5). From this summary it is clear that the poem follows the traditional pattern of a saint’s life (vita). Óláfr Tryggvason was never acknowledged as a saint and no formally recognised miracles were associated with him, but he was revered as a missionary king, a ‘friend of God’ (Guðs vinr) and as the John the Baptist to S. Óláfr’s (Óláfr Haraldsson’s) Christ; see, e.g., the Prologus to ÓTOdd (ÍF 25, 125). Interest in Óláfr was particularly intense in Iceland from the twelfth to fourteenth centuries, and the poem bears witness to that, as do works including the anonymous Óláfs drápa Tryggvasonar (Anon Óldr) and Poem about Óláfr Tryggvason (Anon Ól) in this volume, and the sagas of Óláfr Tryggvason: those by Oddr Snorrason (ÓTOdd, originally in Latin) and Gunnlaugr Leifsson (now lost, also Latin) and the expansive ÓT; see further Sveinbjörn Rafnsson (2005) and Heslop (2006a). Rst echoes earlier skaldic poetry (see, e.g., Note to st. 12 [All] and de Vries 1964-7, II, 43 nn. 78-80) and has kinship with twelfth-century poems celebrating heroes of the past: Þorkell Gíslason’s drápa about the Jómsvíkingar, Búadrápa (ÞGísl Búdr), and Einarr Skúlason’s great hagiographic drápa about Óláfr Haraldsson, Geisli (ESk GeislVII), whose closing words, en ek þagna ‘and I fall silent’ (ESk Geisl 71/8VII) are echoed in HSt Rst 35/8. There are particularly striking parallels with Anon Óldr, which is of uncertain date (see Introduction to Óldr).

Rekstefja is attributed to Hallar-Steinn in all mss except Flat, which consistently attributes the stanzas to the lǫgmaðr ‘lawspeaker’ Markús Skeggjason (MarkII; d. 1107), though there is no evidence to support this. The poet is conscious of his distance from earlier poetry on Óláfr (st. 34), and Rst appears to belong to the late twelfth or early thirteenth century (e.g. Skj AI, 543, BI, 525). The following seem to support this. (1) The relationship with ESk GeislVII, mentioned above. (2) The blend of saint’s vita and traditional encomium for a warlord is compatible with a date after the tenth- and eleventh-century praise poetry and before the thirteenth- and fourteenth-century devotional poetry. (3) The metrical evidence is also compatible with this dating, since aðalhendingar of a : ǫ are still used (see below), and linguistic changes of the thirteenth and fourteenth century do not appear to be indicated by hendingar. (4) The metre itself (below) is a learned construct of the sort that reaches its height in SnSt HtIII in the 1220s. Nothing is known about the context for the composition of the poem, or about its audience, beyond the fact that the poet addresses women in sts 1 and 35 but seems to have a male audience in mind in sts 24 and 32, and to address an individual male in st. 35; among possible scenarios would be a religious community where women predominate. The poet is technically ambitious, highly accomplished (although viewed as emotionally cold by de Vries, 1964-7, II, 43), and was clearly familiar with both skaldic and hagiographic conventions. De Vries (ibid., 44) suggests that the theme of thwarted love in HSt Frag 2-5III places those stanzas at the end of the thirteenth century, but this conclusion seems unwarranted. A still later dating for Rst, contemporary with ÓT, is proposed by Sveinbjörn Rafnsson (2005, 185-8).

The full meaning of the title Rekstefja, which is found in st. 1/4, is uncertain. The second element ‑stefja clearly refers to the stef or refrain in the poem (cf., e.g. Sexstefja ‘Six-Refrains’ (ÞjóðA SexII)), but various interpretations of rek- (cf. reka ‘drive’) are possible on the evidence of Old Norse lexical usage and the characteristics of the poem’s stef. This consists of three lines, and one of the three occupies the last line of each stanza from st. 9 to 23; thus, these fifteen lines consist of a five-fold repetition of the refrain (for the complete refrain, see Note to st. 9/8). This configuration could point to the sense ‘Split-refrain’ for the title (so, e.g., LP: Rekstefja); cf. the term klofastef ‘split refrain’ as applied to Edáð Banddr, Sigv Knútdr and Þloft Tøgdr (see Introductions to these). Further possibilities are ‘with inlaid refrains’ (cf. the past participle rekinn, used of weapons inlaid with precious metal; LP: 2. rekinn) or ‘extended’, which is the sense of rekit when applied to kennings comprising four or more elements (SnE 1998, I, 74, and see ‘The diction of skaldic poetry’ in General Introduction).

The poem is preserved continuously in Bergsbók (Bb), and this continuous text is referred to throughout this edition as the Bb version or Bb text. Rst is the first of four extended skaldic poems written out in Bb between texts of ÓT and ÓH; the others are Anon Óldr, Anon LilVII and ESk GeislVII. Twenty-five stanzas (whole or partial) of Rst are also found in ÓT, and these are collectively referred to below as the ÓT version or text. The ÓT compiler selects and arranges extracts from the poem (sometimes as single helmingar) to suit the specific context (see Heslop 2006a, 385-7). He cites stanzas from Rst alongside poetry from Óláfr Tryggvason’s own era (from Hfr ErfÓl, Hókr Eirfl and ÞKolb Eirdr) without distinguishing the eulogy of past heroes from contemporary material. The Bb text makes a satisfactory whole in terms of both content and structure, and may well be complete, with its opening section of eight stanzas, fifteen stanzas of stefjabálkr ‘refrain section’, divided into five groups of three, and a slœmr or final section of twelve stanzas. The Bb ordering of stanzas is therefore followed in this edition, just as Bb is taken as the main ms. in the editing of individual stanzas (see further below). A particular problem arises from sts 3-5, where the Bb version has Óláfr raiding in the British Isles and Wendland and then back to the British Isles, whereas the ÓT version followed in Skj has more geographical logic. Given the uncertainties about the early career of Óláfr and the probability that complicated viking itineraries may have been simplified or misunderstood in later tradition (see Introduction to Hfr Óldr), however, it would be unwise to depart from the ms. evidence here. Hence sts 3, 4 and 5 in the present edition are equivalent to sts 4, 5, 3 in Skj (and therefore Skald); for the remainder of the poem Skj follows the Bb ordering.

The metre is a variant of dróttkvætt called tvískelft ‘twice-trembled’ or ‘double-shaken’, and Hallar-Steinn himself refers in st. 35/4 to tvískelfð drápa (‘drápa in tvískelft’) and comments on the rarity of the metre. A recurrent feature is that in odd lines the two alliterating staves are in positions 1 and 3, and this may be the ‘trembling’ effect that Hallar-Steinn had in mind. Most odd lines also belong to Sievers’ Type A2l (Sievers 1893, 103) with a long syllable in position 2, which in practice means that the first three syllables are heavy in the majority of the odd lines. There are several exceptions, however, where odd lines are regular Type A2-lines rather than A2l (e.g. sts 7/5, 7/7, 11/7, and cf. Kock, NN §2543). The hendingar in Rst frequently fall in positions 1 and 5, but placing in positions 2 and 5 also occurs, and in this respect the poem resembles skjálfhent ‘tremble-rhymed’ stanzas (SnSt Ht 35III, RvHbreiðm Hl 81-2III), while Snorri’s tvískelft stanza (SnSt Ht 28III) has the hendingar in positions 1 and 5 in all four odd lines. Meanwhile, the poem is notable for the irregularity with which the traditional rule of internal rhyme is observed, and given the number of occurrences of irregular rhyme shared by both the Bb and the ÓT versions, this cannot be explained by simple misreadings or corruptions in transmission. Traditionally dróttkvætt requires skothending ‘half rhyme’ in odd lines and aðalhending ‘full rhyme’ in even lines. However, in the present edition of Rst there are several occurrences of full rhyme in odd lines (sts 2/5, 3/3, 3/7, 4/1, 4/5, 5/5, 5/7, 6/5, 8/7, 9/1, 12/7, 16/5, 20/1, 21/1, 22/5, 22/7, 23/5, 23/7, 25/5, 27/1, 29/1, 30/3, 31/3, 32/5). On the other hand, some of the aðalhendingar in even lines may be inexact: Óláf : stôlum (st. 3/8, see Note), hôtt : dróttir (st. 8/2), hollr : ǫllu (st. 11/8, stef), hóps : drôpu (st. 35/4), and hending is lacking in st. 35/2. A special case is of aðalhendingar of a : ǫ (long and short), which were permitted until at least the twelfth century (see Hreinn Benediktsson 1963a; Kuhn 1983, 79) and occur in Rst in even lines where aðalhending is required, e.g. hjaldr : skjǫldu (st. 12/2), frár : ôrum (st. 25/8). Rst contains relatively high proportions of inverted kennings and of abnormal placement of finite verbs within main clauses, and the distinctive and demanding metre may be the partial cause of these phenomena; further research would be needed to establish this.

As noted above, all thirty-five stanzas are preserved in Bb, and twenty-five of these (sts 2-6, 9, 12-23, 25-31) are also embedded in ÓT, hence in mss 61, 53, 54, Bb, 325VIII 2 b, 62, Flat. Mss 54, Bb, Flat have all twenty-five stanzas, while 61 lacks sts 16-20; 53 lacks sts 4, 9, 22, 30, 31; 62 lacks sts 12-23, 25-31 and 325VIII 2 b has only sts 18, 19; the texts of a few stanzas are incomplete in some or all of the ÓT mss. Judging from the substantial variation between the continuous Bb version and the version embedded in ÓT, there seem to be two different transmission processes. Fidjestøl (1982, 53) suggests that at least one of these could have been under the influence of oral tradition. The two versions are, as already noted, referred to in this edition as the Bb and ÓT versions, but since Bb contains both versions folio numbers are used to distinguish between them where necessary: the drápa is recorded complete on Bb 111va-112va, whereas the stanzas embedded in ÓT range from Bb 16ra to Bb 100rb.

The textual divergences between the Bb and ÓT versions are numerous, though often minor, and neither has a clear majority of preferable readings, so that an edition based on either has to have regard to the other; significant divergences are mentioned in the Notes below. Most earlier editions of Rst (including Skj B and Skald) have been based on the ÓT version, with 61 as the main ms. and supplemented by readings from the Bb version, though Bb is the basis for the editions by Guðbrandur Vigfússon (CPB II, 294-300), Wisén (1886-9, I, 46-50) and Konráð Gíslason (1895-7, I, 185-290). The present edition uses Bb as the main ms. for the following reasons: (1) The Bb version is complete, whereas the ÓT version only covers twenty-five stanzas in all, and given the substantial differences between the two traditions it is preferable to follow one version as far as possible instead of combining two. (2) Although Bb is relatively young in relation to the extant mss and has a low stemmatic priority as an ÓT text (cf. ‘Sources’ in Introduction to this volume), there is nothing to indicate that the Bb version represents a younger version of the drápa. On the contrary, it displays fewer metrical flaws than the ÓT version.

The Context sections for sts 2-6, 9, 12-23, 25-31 below summarise the accompanying prose of ÓT. Because sts 1, 7-8, 10-11, 24 and 32-5 are preserved only within the continuous text in Bb, there is no Context for those.

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. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
  4. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
  5. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
  6. LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
  7. Fidjestøl, Bjarne. 1982. Det norrøne fyrstediktet. Universitet i Bergen Nordisk institutts skriftserie 11. Øvre Ervik: Alvheim & Eide.
  8. Hreinn Benediktsson. 1963a. ‘Phonemic Neutralization and Inaccurate Rhymes’. APS 26, 1-18.
  9. CPB = Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and F. York Powell, eds. 1883. Corpus poeticum boreale: The Poetry of the Old Northern Tongue from the Earliest Times to the Thirteenth Century. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon. Rpt. 1965, New York: Russell & Russell.
  10. Sievers, Eduard. 1893. Altgermanische Metrik. Sammlung kurzer Grammatiken germanischer Dialekte. Ergänzungsreihe 2, ed. Wilhelm Braune. Halle: Niemeyer.
  11. Vries, Jan de. 1964-7. Altnordische Literaturgeschichte. 2 vols. 2nd edn. Grundriss der germanischen Philologie 15-16. Berlin: de Gruyter.
  12. Wisén, Theodor, ed. 1886-9. Carmina Norrœnæ: Ex reliquiis vetustioris norrœnæ poësis selecta, recognita, commentariis et glossario instructa. 2 vols. Lund: Ohlsson.
  13. Kuhn, Hans (1899). 1983. Das Dróttkvætt. Heidelberg: Winter.
  14. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
  15. Konráð Gíslason. 1895-7. Efterladte skrifter. 2 vols. I: Forelæsninger over oldnordiske skjaldekvad. II: Forelæsninger og videnskablige afhandlinger. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
  16. ÍF 25 = Færeyinga saga; Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar eptir Odd munk Snorrason. Ed. Ólafur Halldórsson. 2006.
  17. Heslop, Kate. 2006a. ‘Assembling the Olaf-archive? Verses in Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta’. In McKinnell et al. 2006, 381-9.
  18. Sveinbjörn Rafnsson. 2005. Óláfs sögur Tryggvasonar: um gerðir þeira, heimildir og höfunda. Reykjavík: Háskólaútgáfan.
  19. Internal references
  20. Kari Ellen Gade 2017, ‘(Biography of) Einarr Skúlason’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 140.
  21. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Óláfs saga helga’ 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. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=53> (accessed 24 April 2024)
  22. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta’ 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. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=60> (accessed 24 April 2024)
  23. (forthcoming), ‘ Oddr Snorrason, Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar by Oddr Snorrason’ 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. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=66> (accessed 24 April 2024)
  24. Russell Poole 2017, ‘(Biography of) Gunnlaugr Leifsson’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 38.
  25. Jayne Carroll 2017, ‘(Biography of) Markús Skeggjason’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 292.
  26. Diana Whaley 2012, ‘(Biography of) Óláfr Tryggvason’ 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. 383.
  27. Emily Lethbridge 2012, ‘(Biography of) Þorkell Gíslason’ 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. 940.
  28. Diana Whaley 2012, ‘(Biography of) Oddr Snorrason’ 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. 890.
  29. Kate Heslop 2012, ‘ Anonymous, Óláfs drápa Tryggvasonar’ 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. 1031. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1036> (accessed 24 April 2024)
  30. Kate Heslop 2012, ‘ Anonymous, Poem about Óláfr Tryggvason’ 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. 1061. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1096> (accessed 24 April 2024)
  31. Martin Chase 2007, ‘ Einarr Skúlason, Geisli’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 5-65. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1144> (accessed 24 April 2024)
  32. Russell Poole 2012, ‘ Eyjólfr dáðaskáld, Bandadrápa’ 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. 454. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1158> (accessed 24 April 2024)
  33. Martin Chase 2007, ‘ Anonymous, Lilja’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 544-677. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1185> (accessed 24 April 2024)
  34. Kate Heslop 2012, ‘ Hallfreðr vandræðaskáld Óttarsson, Erfidrápa Óláfs Tryggvasonar’ 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. 400. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1256> (accessed 24 April 2024)
  35. Diana Whaley 2012, ‘ Hallfreðr vandræðaskáld Óttarsson, Óláfsdrápa’ 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. 387. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1258> (accessed 24 April 2024)
  36. Kari Ellen Gade 2012, ‘ Halldórr ókristni, Eiríksflokkr’ 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. 469. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1267> (accessed 24 April 2024)
  37. Matthew Townend 2012, ‘ Sigvatr Þórðarson, Knútsdrápa’ 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. 649. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1356> (accessed 24 April 2024)
  38. Kari Ellen Gade 2017, ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Háttatal’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1094. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1376> (accessed 24 April 2024)
  39. Emily Lethbridge and Diana Whaley 2012, ‘ Þorkell Gíslason, Búadrápa’ 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. 941. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1412> (accessed 24 April 2024)
  40. Jayne Carroll 2012, ‘ Þórðr Kolbeinsson, Eiríksdrápa’ 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. 487. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1415> (accessed 24 April 2024)
  41. Diana Whaley 2009, ‘ Þjóðólfr Arnórsson, Sexstefja’ 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. 108-47. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1444> (accessed 24 April 2024)
  42. Matthew Townend 2012, ‘ Þórarinn loftunga, Tøgdrápa’ 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. 851. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1454> (accessed 24 April 2024)
  43. Martin Chase (ed.) 2007, ‘Einarr Skúlason, Geisli 71’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 64-5.
  44. Rolf Stavnem (ed.) 2012, ‘Hallar-Steinn, Rekstefja 35’ 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. 938.
  45. Edith Marold (ed.) 2017, ‘Hallar-Steinn, Fragments 2’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 202.
  46. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Rǫgnvaldr jarl and Hallr Þórarinsson, Háttalykill 81’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1092.
  47. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Snorri Sturluson, Háttatal 28’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1134.
  48. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Snorri Sturluson, Háttatal 35’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1142.
Close

Log in

This service is only available to members of the relevant projects, and to purchasers of the skaldic volumes published by Brepols.
This service uses cookies. By logging in you agree to the use of cookies on your browser.

Close

Information about a text: poem, sequence of stanzas, or prose work

This page is used for different resources. For groups of stanzas such as poems, you will see the verse text and, where published, the translation of each stanza. These are also links to information about the individual stanzas.

For prose works you will see a list of the stanzas and fragments in that prose work, where relevant, providing links to the individual stanzas.

Where you have access to introduction(s) to the poem or prose work in the database, these will appear in the ‘introduction’ section.

The final section, ‘sources’ is a list of the manuscripts that contain the prose work, as well as manuscripts and prose works linked to stanzas and sections of a text.