Arn Hardr 12^II

Olli ofrausn stillis,
ormalátrs þats máttit,
stáls í strǫngu éli
stríðir elli bíða,
sás aldrigi, aldins
ótams lituðr hramma
viggs, í vápna glyggvi
Varðrúnar, sik sparði.

Ofrausn stillis olli í {strǫngu éli stáls}, þats {stríðir {ormalátrs}} máttit bíða elli, {lituðr hramma {aldins, ótams viggs Varðrúnar}}, sás aldrigi sparði sik í {glyggvi vápna}.

The excess of heroism in the ruler caused [this] in {the stern blizzard of steel} [BATTLE], that {the foe {of the reptiles’ lair}} [GOLD > GENEROUS MAN = Haraldr] could not live to see old age, {the stainer of the claws {of the old, untamed steed of Varðrún <troll-woman>}} [WOLF > WARRIOR] who never spared himself in {the wind-storm of weapons} [BATTLE].

Mss: Mork(19r) (Mork); Flat(203vb) (Flat); H(75v), Hr(53vb) (H-Hr)

Readings: [1] stillis: stillir Hr    [2] þats (‘þat er’): er Flat, þar er Hr;    máttit: mttuð Flat, ‘mattið’ H, Hr    [6] lituðr: ‘vítudr’ Flat, ‘b(ru)dr’(?) Hr    [7] viggs: ‘vigs’ all;    glyggvi: ‘gleyse’ Flat

Editions: Skj AI, 351-2, Skj BI, 324, Skald I, 164, NN §2022; Mork 1928-32, 273, Andersson and Gade 2000, 269, 481 (MH); Flat 1860-8, III, 393 (MH); Fms 6, 417 (HSig ch. 118), Fms 12, 165; Whaley 1998, 289-91.

Context: In Mork and Flat, st. 12 is quoted immediately after st. 10. In H-Hr, an interlude separates sts 10 and 12, in which the Engl. king Harold Godwineson (Haraldr Guðinason) comes to Tostig (Tósti), his own brother but Haraldr Sigurðarson’s ally, with a peace offer that is rejected. The saga reports the common opinion that Tostig’s proposal to return to the ships when confronted by the enemy had been the best. The compiler adds that the Norw. king’s excessive zeal (ofrkapp)—his refusal to act with caution lest it should be construed as cowardice—led to disaster, and the st. is cited to confirm this.

Notes: [1] ofrausn ‘excess of heroism’: Or lit. ‘over-magnificence’. Like the near-synonym ofermōd, lit. ‘over-courage’ in the OE Battle of Maldon (l. 89), this word introduces the rare possibility that heroic excess is being criticised. While rausn implies magnificent deeds and hospitality (cf. Arn Magndr 19/4, Arn Þorfdr 2/3, 6/7), the ofrausn which here causes Haraldr’s death seems to have a near-pejorative sense, as also in Sigv Berv 11/3 and Sturl Hákkv 9/9 (see also Note to Halli XI Fl 4/7 and see Fritzner for prose examples). It could refer generally to his reckless zeal or more specifically to his presumption in marching from the ships without armour, his decision to tackle the superior Engl. host (as suggested by the Context to the st. in H-Hr) or his overweening ambition in invading England: cf. Þjóðólfr’s comment (ÞjóðA Lv 11/4) that it was þarflaust ‘needlessly’ that Haraldr called up troops for the expedition westwards. See also Note to Þfagr Sveinn 6/6. — [2] þats ‘that’: (a) The Mork, H reading þat has been emended by previous eds (beginning with Sveinbjörn Egilsson, SHI 6, 387 n.) to dat. sg. því, since dat. would normally be required by olli, 3rd pers. sg. pret. of valda ‘cause’ (l. 1). However, if því were the object of olli, it would be stressed, not cliticized with es and in an unstressed position. (b) Þats is therefore retained in the present edn, and taken as a conj. functioning like at ‘that’ (a usage found elsewhere, e.g. Ill Har 1/1); the Flat reading er would have a similar function. Olli ‘caused’ is assumed to have a suppressed object ‘this’. Alternatively, the þats-cl. could be taken as its object, albeit acc. rather than dat., or olli could be read as intransitive, with the sense ‘prevailed, determined the outcome’ (see LP: valda for examples). — [6, 7, 8] lituðr hramma aldins, ótams viggs varðrúnar ‘the stainer of the claws of the old, untamed steed of Varðrún <troll-woman> [WOLF > WARRIOR]’: Viggs is a slight and well-justified emendation. Ms. ‘vigs’, presumably vígs ‘of battle’, would not make sense, and would provide a less exact consonantal rhyme with glygg-. Varðrún occurs only here and among the heiti for ‘troll-woman’ in Þul Trǫllkvenna 5/3^III.

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. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
6. 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.
7. Whaley, Diana, ed. and trans. 1998. The Poetry of Arnórr jarlaskáld: An Edition and Study. Westfield Publications in Medieval Studies 8. Turnhout: Brepols.
8. Flat 1860-8 = Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and C. R. Unger, eds. 1860-8. Flateyjarbók. En samling af norske konge-sagaer med indskudte mindre fortællinger om begivenheder i og udenfor Norge samt annaler. 3 vols. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
9. Fritzner = Fritzner, Johan. 1883-96. Ordbog over det gamle norske sprog. 3 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske forlagsforening. 4th edn. Rpt. 1973. Oslo etc.: Universitetsforlaget.
10. Mork 1928-32 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1928-32. Morkinskinna. SUGNL 53. Copenhagen: Jørgensen.
11. SHI = Sveinbjörn Egilsson, ed. 1828-46. Scripta historica islandorum de rebus gestis veterum borealium, latine reddita et apparatu critico instructa, curante Societate regia antiquariorum septentrionalium. 12 vols. Copenhagen: Popp etc. and London: John & Arthur Arch.
12. Internal references
13. (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 26 April 2024)
14. (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 26 April 2024)
15. (forthcoming), ‘ Heimskringla, Haralds saga Sigurðssonar’ 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=142> (accessed 26 April 2024)
16. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Magnúss saga góða ok Haralds harðráða’ 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=147> (accessed 26 April 2024)
17. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Arnórr jarlaskáld Þórðarson, Magnússdrápa 19’ 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. 229.
18. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Arnórr jarlaskáld Þórðarson, Þorfinnsdrápa 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, p. 232.
19. Russell Poole (ed.) 2009, ‘Halli stirði, Flokkr 4’ 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. 341-2.
20. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Illugi bryndœlaskáld, Poem about Haraldr harðráði 1’ 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. 282-3.
21. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Bersǫglisvísur 11’ 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. 22-3.
22. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Sturla Þórðarson, Hákonarkviða 9’ 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. 706.
23. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Þorleikr fagri, Flokkr about Sveinn Úlfsson 6’ 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. 317-18.
24. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Þjóðólfr Arnórsson, Lausavísur 11’ 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. 175-6.