Drápa about Sveinn tjúguskegg — Þjsk SveindrI
Þorleifr jarlsskáld RauðfeldarsonKate Heslop 2012, ‘ Þorleifr jarlsskáld Rauðfeldarson, Drápa about Sveinn tjúguskegg’ 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. 373. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1449> (accessed 24 April 2024)
This stanza from Þorleifr’s drápa about Sveinn (Þjsk Sveindr) is preserved only in ÞorlJ (ÍF 9, 218), where it is said to be a stef ‘refrain’ from a forty-stanza drápa Þorleifr composed about King Sveinn tjúguskegg ‘Fork-beard’ of Denmark (Svtjúg; see skald Biography and ‘Ruler biographies’ in Introduction to this volume). According to ÞorlJ the drápa was enthusiastically received and well rewarded, but no other trace of it survives; nor is Þorleifr listed as Sveinn’s skald in Skáldatal (SnE 1848-87, III, 258, 267). If genuine, the stanza belongs to the early 990s, but doubts about its placement in the careers of Þorleifr and Sveinn (see Note to l. 4) and about some of its kennings (see Note to l. 2) have led to suspicions that it is not by Þorleifr, but instead a rather later production. The stanza is also indubitably Christian (see Notes to ll. 1 and 2), and there is no indication that Þorleifr was anything other than pagan (cf. Þjsk Hák 1/5), though he could conceivably have converted during his stay in Denmark.
The mss used in the edition below are Flat as the main ms., 4867ˣ and 563aˣ (see the entry for ÞorlJ in ‘Sources’ in Introduction to this volume).
References
- Bibliography
- 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.
- ÍF 9 = Eyfirðinga sǫgur. Ed. Jónas Kristjánsson. 1956.
- Internal references
- (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Þorleifs þáttr jarlaskálds’ 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=50> (accessed 24 April 2024)
- Kate Heslop (ed.) 2012, ‘Þorleifr jarlsskáld Rauðfeldarson, Poem about Hákon 1’ 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. 369.
- Not published: do not cite ()
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