Knútsdrápa — Ótt Knútdr^I

Nine complete stanzas and two helmingar are printed here as Óttarr svarti’s Knútsdrápa ‘Drápa about Knútr’ (Ótt Knútdr). Composed in honour of Knútr inn ríki Sveinsson (Cnut the Great, d. 1035), most of the poem (sts 1-10) is preserved exclusively in Knýtl chs 8-13, whereas st. 11 is preserved (in whole or part) in ÓHLeg and Fsk, in the Separate (ÓH) and Hkr (ÓHHkr) versions of Snorri Sturluson’s Óláfs saga helga, and in SnE.

The likely date of Óttarr’s poem is c. 1027 (see Townend 2001, 157-61). On the basis of the stanzas preserved, it appears to date from after the battle of Á in helga (Helgeå, Skåne, c. 1026), but before Knútr’s annexation of Norway (c. 1028). The greater part of the poem (sts 1-10) is concerned with Knútr’s English battles. Knútr’s father Sveinn tjúguskegg ‘Fork-beard’ Haraldsson, king of England and Denmark, died in February 1014. Following the return from exile of the Anglo-Saxon king Æthelred II, Knútr’s forces soon withdrew from England to Denmark. However, in September 1015 Knútr launched his assault on England, and the ensuing campaign lasted till late 1016 (see Lawson 1993, 9-48). For a saga account of Óttarr’s service to Knútr, see ÓHLeg 1982, 130-2.

Most of the Knútdr stanzas are introduced with Svá segir Óttarr ‘As Óttarr says’ or a similar tag, which normally indicates that the stanza belonged to an extended poem (see ‘Reconstruction of skaldic poems’ in General Introduction). The title is given as Knútsdrápa in the introduction to st. 1 and indicated more loosely in the introductions to st. 11 (see Notes to st. 1 [All] and st. 11 [All]). However, the coherence of the poem, as reconstructed, is not without problems. Ten of the eleven surviving stanzas are relatively poorly witnessed; st. 11 has a different preservation history from the rest of the poem; st. 9 may conceivably belong to a different poem (see Note to st. 9 [All]); and Óttarr’s Lv 2 may possibly have functioned as a prologue-like preliminary to the Knútdr proper. On the plus side, the likely order of the stanzas can readily be determined by reference to other historical sources, and through attention to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (ASC, s. a. 1016) the sequence of sts 8-10 in this edition departs from that in Skj and Skald, which simply follow the sequence of Knýtl. Knýtl quotes stanzas from Óttarr’s Knútdr for a series of battles, in the following sequence: Sherston (Wiltshire), Brentford (Middlesex), Ashingdon (Essex), Norwich (Norfolk) and London. The ASC’s ordering, however, differs, and is followed here: Sherston (st. 6), Brentford (st. 7), London (our st. 8), Ashingdon (our st. 10). If Knútr fought a battle at or near Norwich (on which, see Note to st. 9 [All]), it must – again judging from ASC – have come between those at London and Ashingdon.

The poem, with its numerous English place names (both northern and southern) is a valuable source for early eleventh-century Scandinavian campaigns in England, whereas the extant Knútsdrápa by Sigvatr (Sigv Knútdr) only refers to Knútr’s eventual success, and Hallvarðr’s Knútsdrápa (Hallv Knútdr^III) offers little detail. In terms of style, a salient feature of Ótt Knútdr is the predominance of second-person rather than third-person narration (see Frank 1994a). In a number of cases this use of second-person narration is metrically guaranteed (e.g. sts 1/5, 8/1, 8/5). However, this is not always the case, and it is difficult to judge whether the (metrically unguaranteed) examples of third-person narration found in the mss represent Óttarr’s original, or alteration to the more usual mode on the part of scribes (e.g. st. 2/3; cf. st. 8/1, where emendation seems necessary). The poem is composed in dróttkvætt, in this case with an apparent fondness for self-contained couplets.

The portion of Knýtl containing sts 1-10 is poorly witnessed in terms of mss, and the best text (though far from excellent) is a printed edition of 1741 by Jón Ólafsson (JÓ); also used in this edition are 20dˣ, 873ˣ and 41ˣ. Such an insecure preservation for most of the poem means that in places more editorial intervention is required than would otherwise be desirable; several emendations that have become traditional go back to Sveinbjörn Egilsson’s edition of Knýtl (Fms 11, 186-97, Fms 12, 247-50 and notes to SHI 11, 174-85). For the numerous ms. witnesses to st. 11, which include the sole vellum leaf that survives from the Kringla ms. of Hkr, see ms. listing there.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Fms = Sveinbjörn Egilsson et al., eds. 1825-37. Fornmanna sögur eptir gömlum handritum útgefnar að tilhlutun hins norræna fornfræða fèlags. 12 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. ÓHLeg 1982 = Heinrichs, Anne et al., eds and trans. 1982. Olafs saga hins helga: Die ‘Legendarische Saga’ über Olaf den Heiligen (Hs. Delagard. saml. nr. 8^II). Heidelberg: Winter.
5. ASC [Anglo-Saxon Chronicle] = Plummer, Charles and John Earle, eds. 1892-9. Two of the Saxon Chronicles Parallel. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon. Rpt. 1952.
6. SHI = Sveinbjörn Egilsson, ed. 1828-46. Scripta historica islandorum de rebus gestis veterum borealium, latine reddita et apparatu critico instructa, curante Societate regia antiquariorum septentrionalium. 12 vols. Copenhagen: Popp etc. and London: John & Arthur Arch.
7. Frank, Roberta. 1994a. ‘When Poets Address Princes’. In Gísli Sigurðsson et al. 1994, 189-95.
8. Lawson, M. K. 1993. Cnut: The Danes in England in the Early Eleventh Century. London: Longman.
9. Townend, Matthew. 2001. ‘Contextualising the Knútsdrápur: Skaldic Praise-Poetry at the Court of Cnut’. ASE 30, 145-79.
10. Internal references
11. 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. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Heimskringla’ 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=4> (accessed 24 April 2024)
13. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Knýtlinga saga’ 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=19> (accessed 24 April 2024)
14. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Óláfs saga helga (Legendary)’ 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=31> (accessed 24 April 2024)
15. (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)
16. (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 24 April 2024)
17. (forthcoming), ‘ Heimskringla, Óláfs saga helga (in Heimskringla)’ 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=152> (accessed 24 April 2024)
18. Matthew Townend 2017, ‘(Biography of) Óttarr svarti’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 335.
20. Matthew Townend 2017, ‘ Hallvarðr háreksblesi, Knútsdrápa’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 230. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1246> (accessed 24 April 2024)
21. 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)