Lausavísur — Sigv Lv^I

Most of Sigvatr’s lausavísur (Sigv Lv) pertain to the poet’s dealings with King Óláfr inn helgi Haraldsson (S. Óláfr; Lv 2-17) and to his inconsolable grief over the death of the king in 1030 (Lv 18-24). Also found in the mss are a possibly spurious lausavísa described as a juvenilium (Lv 1) and a few lausavísur pertaining to Óláfr’s successors (Lv 25-30). Finnur Jónsson (Skj) assigns the following dates of composition to the lausavísur, chiefly on the basis of the prose contexts that the sagas provide: c. 1010: Lv 1; 1015: Lv 2-4; 1018: Lv 5-7; c. 1020-7: Lv 8-17, 19; 1030: Lv 18, 20; 1031-5: Lv 21-7; 1035: Lv 28-9; 1036: Lv 30. In the sagas, these lausavísur are all ascribed to Sigvatr on specific occasions, but possibly a few of them should be regarded as belonging to longer compositions (Finnur Jónsson LH I, 595), most notably Lv 6 and 7.

The order of the stanzas in the present edition departs from that employed in Skj and Skald in three ways: (1) what is Lv 5 in those editions is now st. 5 of Sigv Nesv, and this has necessitated the renumbering of all the subsequent lausavísur; (2) what is Lv 11 in those editions is now Lv 19 (for reasons summarised in the Note to Lv 19/8); (3) what is Lv 12 in those editions is now Ótt Lv 3 (see Introduction to this for the reasons for preferring the ascription to Óttarr).

Many of the lausavísur appear in the main text of Snorri Sturluson’s Separate Óláfs saga helga (ÓH) as well as in either the version of ÓH found in Hkr (Lv 2-7, 12-17) or in MGóð in the same (Lv 18, 20, 23), while a smaller number (Lv 21-2, 24-5 and 28-30) are found in MGóð but not in the main ÓH text. The ÓH mss used are Holm2 (as main ms.), 972ˣ, 61, Holm4, Bb and Flat for Lv 2-7, 12-18, 20, 23, plus R686ˣ, J1ˣ, J2ˣ, 325VI, 75a, 321ˣ, Bæb, 73aˣ, 78aˣ, 68, 325V, 75c, 325VII, Tóm, 325XI 2g and 325XI 2l for subsets of these. It may be noted that among the ÓH mss the defective 75a is supplemented where necessary by 321ˣ and the defective Bæb by 73ˣ. The Hkr mss used are Kˣ for Lv 2-7, 12-17, J2ˣ for Lv 13-15, and Kˣ, 39, F, J2ˣ and E for Lv 18, 20-5, 28-30 (with Kˣ as main ms. in Lv 21-2, 24-5, 28-30). The Bb text for the lausavísur belongs to the ÓH redaction except for Lv 5-7, where it follows a Hkr ms.; see Note to Lv 5. In the case of J2ˣ its text of stanzas from MGóð belongs to the Hkr tradition, while its text of Óláfs saga helga belongs to the Separate saga (ÓH) recension rather than the Hkr one, except that certain lacunae in the J2ˣ text of Óláfs saga helga were filled from K (Kringla; see Jørgensen 2000a, 39), so that verse texts at those points belong to the Hkr recension; this applies to Lv 13-15. Lv 23/6 is also cited in TGT (mss A, W).

Of the remaining vísur most are found not in ÓH proper but in extracts from various sources, especially the now lost Lífssaga of Óláfr helgi by Styrmir Kárason, inserted into certain compilations containing interpolated texts of ÓH. Thus Lv 1, 9-11, 19, 22, 26-7 are found in Flat and subsets of these in 73aˣ, 71ˣ, 76ˣ, 78aˣ, 61, Bb and Tóm. Of these, Lv 9, 19, 26 are also preserved in ÓHLeg (DG8) and Lv 26 is found additionally in Ágr (Ágr). Finally, Lv 8 stands out in that it is attested in none of these works, but only in Mork (Mork), Flat (Flat) and H-Hr (H, Hr). Ms. 761bˣ is generally copied from 61, or, for lausavísur not preserved in 61, from Tóm or Flat, but for Lv 21, 24, 25 and 28-30, not preserved in those mss, it is copied from the now mostly destroyed Jöfraskinna (J), perhaps directly, and so only in regard to these vísur is the witness of 761bˣ taken into account.

Previous editions of Sigvatr’s lausavísur are mainly of two kinds: editions of the prose works in which they are preserved (such as the invaluable 1941 diplomatic edition of ÓH, or critical editions of Hkr from 1777 to 1991) and editions of the skaldic corpus (Skj and Skald, with NN). In addition, Jón Skaptason (1983) focuses on the poetry of Sigvatr, and most of the lausavísur are in Konráð Gíslason (1892). A number of individual articles which address problems relating to particular lausavísur are cited in the Notes.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
3. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. Ágr = [Anonymous] Ágrip af Nóregs konunga sögum.
5. LH = Finnur Jónsson. 1920-4. Den oldnorske og oldislandske litteraturs historie. 3 vols. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Gad.
6. Jón Skaptason. 1983. ‘Material for an Edition and Translation of the Poems of Sigvat Þórðarson, skáld’. Ph.D. thesis. State University of New York at Stony Brook. DAI 44: 3681A.
7. Jørgensen, Jon Gunnar. 2000a. Det tapte handskrift Kringla. Series of Dissertations submitted to the Faculty of Arts, University of Oslo, 80. Oslo: Unipub forlag.
8. Konráð Gíslason, ed. 1892a. Udvalg af oldnordiske skjaldekvad, med anmærkninger. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
9. Internal references
10. (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 27 April 2024)
11. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Óláfs saga helga (Legendary)’ 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=31> (accessed 27 April 2024)
12. (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 27 April 2024)
13. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Flateyjarbók’ 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=44> (accessed 27 April 2024)
14. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Óláfs saga helga’ 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=53> (accessed 27 April 2024)
15. (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 27 April 2024)
16. (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 27 April 2024)
17. (forthcoming), ‘ Heimskringla, Magnúss saga ins góða’ 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=116> (accessed 27 April 2024)
18. Russell Poole 2012, ‘(Biography of) Óláfr inn helgi Haraldsson’ 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. 515.
20. Russell Poole 2012, ‘ Sigvatr Þórðarson, Nesjavísur’ 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. 555. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1357> (accessed 27 April 2024)
21. R. D. Fulk (ed.) 2012, ‘Óttarr svarti, Lausavísur 3’ 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. 788.