Fragment — Gizsv Frag^III

This helmingr (Gizsv Frag), with its non-specific praise of deeds of battle cast in the present tense, could well belong in a drápa, perhaps as its stef ‘refrain’, but the source poem is lost. The identity and biography of the poet (Gizsv) are obscure, not least because it is uncertain whether Gizurr svarti ‘the Black’ and Gizurr gullbrár ‘Gold-eyelash’ or gullbrárskáld ‘Gold-eyelash’s poet’ were one and the same (see SkP I, 817-19 for skald Biography and his only other surviving composition, Gizsv Lv^I). The fragment below is attributed merely to ‘Gizurr’ (though ms. B and 761bˣ add svarti), which may suggest that only one well-known poet named Gizurr existed. The dedicatee named in l. 3 may well be Óláfr Haraldsson of Norway (later inn helgi, S. Óláfr), since Gizurr svarti is celebrated for serving him faithfully, and falling with him at the battle of Stiklestad (Stiklastaðir, 1030; see Ref Giz; also ÓHHkr chs 206 and 227, ÍF 27, 358, 381). However, since Skáldatal (SnE 1848-87, III, 252) also lists a Gizurr among the poets of Óláfr sœnski ‘the Swede’ Eiríksson (d. c. 1021), that Óláfr cannot be ruled out (and SnE 1848-87, III, 334 tentatively assumes that). The fragment is preserved only in SnE (Skm; R as main ms., Tˣ, B supplemented by 744ˣ, and C). A transcript in 761bˣ(124r) is clearly copied from SnE but since it is not evident which ms. was its exemplar its readings are included here.

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. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
4. SkP I = Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Ed. Diana Whaley. 2012.
5. Internal references
6. 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].
7. (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 20 April 2024)
8. (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 20 April 2024)
9. Diana Whaley 2012, ‘ Gizurr svarti (gullbrárskáld), Lausavísa’ 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. 817. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1205> (accessed 20 April 2024)
10. Edith Marold with the assistance of Vivian Busch, Jana Krüger, Ann-Dörte Kyas and Katharina Seidel, translated from German by John Foulks 2017, ‘ Hofgarða-Refr Gestsson, Poem about Gizurr gullbrárskáld’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 254. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1231> (accessed 20 April 2024)
11. Not published: do not cite ()