Fragments — HSt Frag^III

Aside from Rekstefja (HSt Rst^I), a drápa in honour of King Óláfr Tryggvason of Norway, only seven fragments of Hallar-Steinn’s poetic oeuvre have been preserved (for his Biography, see SkP I). One of these fragments (HSt Frag 1^I) is presumably about Óláfr Tryggvason (it is recorded in the kings’ sagas and edited in SkP I). The other six stanzas (HSt Frag 2-7) are transmitted only in SnE, LaufE and TGT, and they are edited here. Fragment 2 is preserved in TGT (mss A (main ms.) and W), and Frag 3-5 are cited in mss R (main ms.), Tˣ, W, U, A and C of SnE (Skm). Fragment 3 is also recorded in mss papp10ˣ, 2368ˣ and 743ˣ of LaufE, and Frag 6-7 are transmitted only in LaufE (Frag 6: papp10ˣ (main ms.), 2368ˣ, 743ˣ, 738ˣ; Frag 7: 2368ˣ (main ms.), 743ˣ, 738ˣ).

Three of these fragments (Frag 2-4) are about the skald’s love for a woman, and one stanza (Frag 5) confirms that Hallar-Steinn had composed the beginning (upphaf) of a drápa about a woman. Previous editors have therefore treated these four fragments as a coherent group (CPB II, 300; LH II, 106; Skj; SnE 1998, I, 191). In Skj they are given the title Af et digt om en kvinde ‘From a poem about a woman’.

Fragments 6 and 7, cited as one stanza in LaufE, on the other hand, deal with battle. According to Finnur Jónsson (LH II, 106-7; Skj; so also Faulkes in SnE 1998, I, 191), they may have been part of a poem about Skáldhelgi Þórðarson (see his Biography in this volume). Skáldhelgi’s life is recounted in seven rímur which were probably based on a lost saga about him. In Skáldhelgarímur II, st. 63/1 refers to Hallar-Steinn’s poem about Skáldhelgi (Finnur Jónsson 1905-22, I, 122): Þad er j hrodre Hallar-Steins ‘That is in Hallar-Steinn’s praise poem’. The six fragments edited here have been dated to the same time period as Rekstefja, late twelfth or early thirteenth century (see Skj B; LH II, 106).

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. 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.
4. LH = Finnur Jónsson. 1920-4. Den oldnorske og oldislandske litteraturs historie. 3 vols. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Gad.
5. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
6. SkP I = Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Ed. Diana Whaley. 2012.
7. Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1905-22. Rímnasafn: Samling af de ældste islandske rimer. 2 vols. SUGNL 35. Copenhagen: Møller.
8. Internal references
9. 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].
10. (forthcoming), ‘ Óláfr hvítaskáld Þórðarson, The Third Grammatical Treatise’ in Tarrin Wills (ed.), The Third Grammatical Treatise. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=32> (accessed 25 April 2024)
11. (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 25 April 2024)
12. Diana Whaley 2012, ‘(Biography of) Óláfr Tryggvason’ 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. 383.
13. Kari Ellen Gade 2022, ‘(Biography of) Skáldhelgi Þórðarson’ in Margaret Clunies Ross and Kari Ellen Gade (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1485.
14. Rolf Stavnem 2012, ‘ Hallar-Steinn, Rekstefja’ 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. 893. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1237> (accessed 25 April 2024)
15. Edith Marold (ed.) 2017, ‘Hallar-Steinn, Fragments 2’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 202.
16. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2012, ‘Hallar-Steinn, Fragment 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. 940.
17. (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 25 April 2024)