Hrafnsmál ‘Raven’s Speech’ (
Sturl Hrafn) consists of twenty sts in
Haðarlag metre ‘Hǫðr’s metre’ (see
SnSt Ht 79III;
SnE 1999, 33, 160), and it is interspersed with the prose in
Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar (
Hák). The name is given in Flat (
Flat 1860-8,
III, 218, 222, 224, 226), F (
F 1871,
570, 573, 575) and in 8 and
304ˣ (
Hák 1977-82, 195-6, 200, 204).
Hrafnsmál is also one of the names of
Þorbjǫrn hornklofi’s panegyric to Haraldr hárfagri (
Þhorn HarkvI) and of
Þormóðr Trefilsson’s poetic account of slayings and battles that took place in Iceland in the late C10th and early C11th (
ÞTref HrafnV; see also
Eyrbyggja saga,
ÍF 4, 67, 102, 124, 156, 168). The latter poem is in
Haðarlag as well, and Sturla seems to have modelled his encomium on Þormóðr’s poem.
Þhorn HarkvI, a poem mostly in
málaháttr metre whose main topic is the battle of Hafrsfjorden, is framed as a conversation between a valkyrie and ravens, but it is not clear what the name
Hrafnsmál signifies in the other two instances (see
LH 1894-1901, I, 480 n. 7). Because all three poems with this title chronicle battles and killings, however, it is likely that
Hrafnsmál ‘Raven’s Speech’ alludes to birds of prey taking pleasure in the carnage. ÞTrefil
Hrafn mentions ravens or eagles feasting on carrion in three out of four sts, and
Sturl Hrafn contains the same imagery in sts 9, 10 and 18. Furthermore,
mál ‘speech’ can also mean ‘meal’, and the subject matter of these poems certainly encompasses both meanings of that word (‘raven’s speech, speech about the raven’, ‘raven’s meal’; cf. ÞTref 5/8
V þar fekk hrafn væri ‘there the raven got food’).
Hrafn must have been composed after Hákon’s death in 1264, and it is cited in
Hák to illustrate events that took place during his campaign to the Northern and Western Isles in 1263 (for a detailed overview of this campaign based on the extant versions of
Hák and other sources, see
Anderson 1922, II, 607-42). The order of the sts is chronological and unproblematic, and all extant sts are preserved in F (the main ms. for the present edn) and Flat. Stanzas 1-2, 7-11 and 18-20 are also found in 8, sts 12-17 in
304ˣ, and 325X has sts 7/7-8, 8-11, 15 and 16/1. Because of restrictions imposed by the metre, the poem contains a wealth of nominal compounds, many of which are
hap. leg. and some of which are very awkward. The metrical restrictions also seem to have forced Sturla to use many inverted kennings and kennings that are hyperdetermined, such as
glymstæri glyggs geira ‘the din-increaser of the storm of swords’ (st. 1/3-4; see also sts 9/6, 16/3, 4), as well as nominal circumlocutions that are not kennings, such as
virðar hrings ‘men of the sword’ (st. 18/2, 4; further sts 11/6, 8, 13/7, 8 and 17/2-3). For this poem, see also
Konráð Gíslason 1895-7, I, 90-104.
References
- Bibliography
- Flat 1860-8 = Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and C. R. Unger, eds. 1860-8. Flateyjarbók. En samling af norske konge-sagaer med indskudte mindre fortællinger om begivenheder i og udenfor Norge samt annaler. 3 vols. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
- ÍF 4 = Eyrbyggja saga. Ed. Einar Ólafur Sveinsson and Matthías Þórðarson. 1935.
- F 1871 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1871. Fríssbók: Codex Frisianus. En samling af norske konge-sagaer. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
- Anderson, Alan Orr. 1922. Early Sources of Scottish History A.D. 500 to 1286. 2 vols. Edinburgh and London: Oliver and Boyd.
- SnE 1999 = Snorri Sturluson. 1999. Edda: Háttatal. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. Rpt. with addenda and corrigenda. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
- Hák 1977-82 = Mundt, Marina, ed. 1977. Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar etter Sth. 8 fol., AM 325VIII, 4° og AM 304, 4°. Oslo: Forlagsentralen. Suppl. by James E. Knirk, Rettelser til Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar etter Sth. 8 fol., AM 325VIII, 4° og AM 304, 4°. Norrøne tekster 2. Oslo: Norsk historisk kjeldeskrift-institutt, 1982.
- Konráð Gíslason. 1895-7. Efterladte skrifter. 2 vols. I: Forelæsninger over oldnordiske skjaldekvad. II: Forelæsninger og videnskablige afhandlinger. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
- LH 1894-1901 = Finnur Jónsson. 1894-1901. Den oldnorske og oldislandske litteraturs historie. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Gad.
- Internal references
- Kate Heslop 2022, ‘ Anonymous, Eyrbyggja 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. 409-473. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=10> (accessed 19 April 2024)
- (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar’ 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=33> (accessed 19 April 2024)
- (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Hrafns saga Sveinbjarnarsonar in sérstaka’ in Guðrún Nordal (ed.), Poetry on Icelandic History. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 4. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=42> (accessed 19 April 2024)
- Not published: do not cite (ÞTrefV)
- R. D. Fulk 2012, ‘(Biography of) Þorbjǫrn hornklofi’ 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. 73.
- Judy Quinn (forthcoming), ‘ Þormóðr Trefilsson, Hrafnsmál’ 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, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1424> (accessed 19 April 2024)
- R. D. Fulk 2012, ‘ Þorbjǫrn hornklofi, Haraldskvæði (Hrafnsmál)’ 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. 91. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1436> (accessed 19 April 2024)
- Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Snorri Sturluson, Háttatal 79’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1190.