Fragment — Skapti Frag^III

The helmingr (Skapti Frag) is preserved in SnE (Skm), and nothing is known about its context or circumstances of composition. It has been assumed to be a remnant of a Christian poem, and this is supported both by its unambiguously Christian content, and by the resemblance of its opening words Máttr es ‘The power is’ to the start of a later stanza about Christ by Eilífr kúlnasveinn (Ekúl Kristdr 3/1). The lost poem from which Skapti’s fragment is extracted was given the editorial title Kristsdrápa ‘Drápa about Christ’ by Jón Sigurðsson (cited in SnE 1848-87, III, 552) and Krist-drápa by Guðbrandur Vigfússon (CPB II, 115). The fragment is valuable as one of the earliest skaldic compositions on a Christian theme (for others, see Edwards 1982-3), and with its emphasis on creation it is wholly orthodox. Prose sources contain occasional indirect references to Skapti’s faith. He and other important Icelanders were bidden by King Óláfr Haraldsson to revise the Icelandic laws that were most incompatible with Christianity (ÓHHkr ch. 60, ÍF 27, 77), and he built a church (Flóamanna saga ch. 18, ÍF 13, 326) in fulfilment of a vow made when his wife Þóra broke her foot. Finnur Jónsson (LH I, 543) suggests that the fragment below was composed on the occasion of the dedication of the church. The SnE mss R (as main ms.), Tˣ, W, U, A are used below. The half-stanza was copied from W in the Y version of LaufE (see LaufE 1979, 364) and (from LaufE Y) in RE 1665(Hh), neither of which has any independent value. The helmingr is also preserved in 761bˣ(83r), but the text there appears to be a copy from one of the SnE mss, probably W, and is not used in the present edition.

References

1. Bibliography
2. SnE 1848-87 = Snorri Sturluson. 1848-87. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar: Edda Snorronis Sturlaei. Ed. Jón Sigurðsson et al. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Legatum Arnamagnaeanum. Rpt. Osnabrück: Zeller, 1966.
3. LaufE 1979 = Faulkes, Anthony, ed. 1979. Edda Magnúsar Ólafssonar (Laufás Edda). RSÁM 13. Vol. I of Two Versions of Snorra Edda from the 17th Century. Reykjavík: Stofnun Árna Magnússonar, 1977-9.
4. Edwards, Diana C. 1982-3. ‘Christian and Pagan References in Eleventh-Century Norse Poetry: The Case of Arnórr Jarlaskáld’. SBVS 21, 34-53.
5. 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.
6. LH = Finnur Jónsson. 1920-4. Den oldnorske og oldislandske litteraturs historie. 3 vols. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Gad.
7. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
8. ÍF 13 = Harðar saga. Ed. Þórhallur Vilmundarson and Bjarni Vilhjálmson. 1991.
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].
11. Margaret Clunies Ross 2017, ‘(Biography of) Eilífr kúlnasveinn’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 130.
12. 2022, ‘ Anonymous, Flóamanna saga’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 476-476. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=61> (accessed 26 April 2024)
13. (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Skáldskaparmál’ 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=112> (accessed 26 April 2024)
14. (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 26 April 2024)
15. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Eilífr kúlnasveinn, Kristsdrápa 3’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 132.
16. (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 26 April 2024)