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Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Sigurðarbálkr — Ív SigII

Ívarr Ingimundarson

Kari Ellen Gade 2009, ‘ Ívarr Ingimundarson, Sigurðarbálkr’ 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, pp. 501-27. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1282> (accessed 19 March 2024)

 

All sts of SigurðarbálkrBálkr about Sigurðr’ (Ív Sig) are preserved in SslembMork. Fsk (FskBˣ, FskAˣ), MbHgHkr (Kˣ, 39, F, E, J2ˣ and 42ˣ) and H-Hr (H, Hr) cite sts 10 and 13. Stanzas 14-15, 17-18, 22, and 24-25 are also preserved in F, which is not a Hkr ms. at this point. Mork has been chosen as the main ms. (except for st. 13, where the Mork reading is corrupt). The entire Sig was copied from Mork in AM 761b 4°ˣ (761bˣ at 200r-208r) by Árni Magnússon. That ms. has no independent value, but variants from 761bˣ are given when Mork contains corrupt readings and Árni was the first to suggest the correct forms.

Sig is a poem in fornyrðislag that commemorates the turbulent life of Sigurðr slembidjákn Magnússon (see Slembir Lv, above, and ‘Royal Biographies’ in Introduction to this vol.), and it was composed after Sigurðr’s death in 1139. Stanzas 1-13 recall Sigurðr’s youth, his warlike exploits in Orkney and Scotland, his journeys to Rome and Palestine and his return to the Western Isles. His election as king of Norway after the killing of his half-brother, Haraldr gilli(-kristr) ‘Servant (of Christ)’ is described in st. 13, followed by a series of sts (14-23) that are devoted to Sigurðr’s exile to Denmark (in 1137) and his campaigns in Denmark and Sweden. The next section of the poem (sts 24-33) records Sigurðr’s and Magnús inn blindi’s return to Norway (in 1138) and their rampage along the Norw. coast. The final section (sts 34-45) gives an account of the battle of Holmengrå in Hvaler, present-day Sweden, including the death of Magnús inn blindi and the capture, torture, and execution of Sigurðr (on 12 November 1139). For a useful overview of these events, see Anderson 1922, II, 186-90. The poem forms the backbone of SslembMork, and it must have been known to Eiríkr Oddsson, the compiler of the no longer extant *Hryggjarstykki, the first prose account of Sigurðr’s life and death (see Bjarni Guðnason 1978, 47, 89; Andersson and Gade 2000, 46). Stories about Sigurðr (and perhaps even Sig itself) must also have been available to Saxo (see Notes to sts 42 and 45 below).

Throughout the poem, Ívarr introduces overt echoes from poems in the eddic Sigurðr-cycle, and he must have done so intentionally to lend additional glory to Sigurðr slembir by indirectly comparing him to Sigurðr the Dragon-slayer.

The name of the poem, Sigurðarbálkr, is preserved in MbHgHkr (ÍF 28, 298) and in H-Hr (Fms 7, 200). Bálkr means ‘section, partition’ and it could be that the name was chosen because the poem consists of a sequence of sections documenting Sigurðr’s life (see above). The order of the first twelve sts is problematic, because there is a discrepancy between the sequence of events as described in the prose texts of Hkr and Mork. Finnur Jónsson (Skj) rearranged the order of the sts to fit the Hkr prose. However, as Fidjestøl (1982, 159) points out, as long as Mork is the only version which cites the poem in its entirety, the sequence of sts cannot be corrected from other sources and Mork is followed here (though see Knudsen 1975). In the present edn, the poem contains forty-five sts. Skj (and Skald) assigns an additional half-st. in fornyrðislag to Sig, but that attribution is uncertain and it has been edited in this vol. as Anon (Hsona) 2. The present order of sts is as follows: sts 2-7 = Skj 6-11; sts 8-9 = Skj 2-3; st. 10 = Skj 12; sts 11-12 = Skj 4-5. Because Anon (Hsona) 2 (= Skj 26) has been edited separately, the sts after Sig 25 in the present edn are numbered one lower that those given in Skj. For a detailed discussion of the transmission of the poem and the relations between prose and poetry in Mork, Hkr and Fsk, see Andersson and Gade 2000, 46-56. For a discussion of Ív Sig, Gísl Magnkv and eddic poetry, see Neckel 1908a, 424-31.

References

  1. Bibliography
  2. Fms = Sveinbjörn Egilsson et al., eds. 1825-37. Fornmanna sögur eptir gömlum handritum útgefnar að tilhlutun hins norræna fornfræða fèlags. 12 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
  3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
  4. Andersson, Theodore M. and Kari Ellen Gade, trans. 2000. Morkinskinna: The Earliest Icelandic Chronicle of the Norwegian Kings (1030-1157). Islandica 51. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.
  5. Fidjestøl, Bjarne. 1982. Det norrøne fyrstediktet. Universitet i Bergen Nordisk institutts skriftserie 11. Øvre Ervik: Alvheim & Eide.
  6. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
  7. Anderson, Alan Orr. 1922. Early Sources of Scottish History A.D. 500 to 1286. 2 vols. Edinburgh and London: Oliver and Boyd.
  8. Bjarni Guðnason. 1978. Fyrsta sagan. Studia islandica 37. Reykjavík: Bókaútgáfa menningarsjóðs.
  9. Knudsen, Arne Frank. 1975. ‘Sigurðarbǫlkr av Ivar Ingemundsson’. Cand. philol. thesis. University of Bergen, Norway.
  10. Neckel, Gustav. 1908a. Beiträge zur Eddaforschung mit Exkursen zur Heldensage. Dortmund: Ruhfus.
  11. Internal references
  12. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Heimskringla’ 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=4> (accessed 19 March 2024)
  13. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Fagrskinna’ 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=56> (accessed 19 March 2024)
  14. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Hulda-Hrokkinskinna’ 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=84> (accessed 19 March 2024)
  15. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Morkinskinna’ 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=87> (accessed 19 March 2024)
  16. Kari Ellen Gade 2009, ‘(Biography of) Sigurðr slembidjákn Magnússon’ 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, pp. 499-500.
  17. Kari Ellen Gade 2009, ‘ Gísl Illugason, Erfikvæði about Magnús berfœttr’ 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, pp. 416-30. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1201> (accessed 19 March 2024)
  18. Kari Ellen Gade 2009, ‘ Sigurðr slembidjákn Magnússon, Lausavísa’ 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, pp. 499-500. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1373> (accessed 19 March 2024)
  19. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Ívarr Ingimundarson, Sigurðarbálkr 25’ 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. 516.
  20. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Anonymous Lausavísur, Lausavísur from Haraldssona saga 2’ 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, pp. 836-7.
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