Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Bjǫrn krepphendi, Magnússdrápa 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. 396-7.
Vítt lét Vǫrsa dróttinn
— varð skjótt rekinn flótti —
— hús sveið Hǫrða ræsir —
Halland farit brandi.
Brenndi buðlungr Þrœnda
— blés kastar hel fasta —
— vakði viskdœlsk ekkja —
víðs mǫrg herǫð síðan.
{Dróttinn Vǫrsa} lét Halland farit vítt brandi; flótti varð rekinn skjótt; {ræsir Hǫrða} sveið hús. Síðan brenndi {buðlungr Þrœnda} víðs mǫrg herǫð; {hel kastar} blés fasta; viskdœlsk ekkja vakði.
{The lord of the Vǫrsar} [NORWEGIAN KING = Magnús] advanced far and wide in Halland with the sword; the fleeing ones were pursued with haste; {the ruler of the Hǫrðar} [NORWEGIAN KING = Magnús] scorched houses. Later {the lord of the Þrœndir} [NORWEGIAN KING = Magnús] burned a great many herǫð; {the death of the wood pile} [FIRE] breathed life into the blaze; the widow from Viskedal lay awake.
Mss: Kˣ(593v-594r), 39(33va), E(31r-v), J2ˣ(305v), 42ˣ(7r) (Hkr); H(81v), Hr(57rb) (H-Hr); Mork(23r) (Mork); F(58rb)
Readings: [4] Hal‑: heldr Hr; ‑land: so all others, ‑lands Kˣ; farit: varit Hr [6] kastar: so E, J2ˣ, H, Hr, Mork, F, rastar Kˣ, 39, kasta 42ˣ; hel fasta: él fasta 39, vel fasta 42ˣ, Hr, hræfasti Mork, F [7] vakði: varði E; viskdœlsk: ‘viskdǫsk’ E, ‘viskdolg’ 42ˣ, vígdœlsk H, víkdœlsk Hr [8] víðs: vígs 39, við H, Hr
Editions: Skj AI, 434-5, Skj BI, 404, Skald I, 200, NN §§1148, 2785, 3217; ÍF 28, 213 (Mberf ch. 3), E 1916, 110; Fms 7, 4 (Mberf ch. 3); Mork 1867, 142, Mork 1928-32, 315, Andersson and Gade 2000, 297, 484 (Mberf); F 1871, 268 (Mberf).
Context: Magnús campaigned in Halland.
Notes: [All]: The date of this campaign is disputed. Fsk (ÍF 29, 302) gives the year 1093, whereas Hkr (ÍF 28, 212-13) and Mork (Mork 1928-32, 315) place the campaign in 1094-5. There is no other information about the expedition, and we do not know what prompted Magnús to attack this Dan. district. Saxo (2005, II, 13, 1, 2, pp. 86-7) mentions an attack by Magnús on Halland, but this seems to have taken place at a later point in his career. — [1] vítt (adv.) ‘far and wide’: Skj B takes this as an adj. ‘wide’ (n. acc. sg.) modifying Halland (l. 2). That reading is unlikely because the word is used adverbially on numerous occasions in this poem (e.g. sts 2/3, 4/3, 5/3, 8/1, 11/7; see NN §§1148, 2785). — [1, 4] lét Halland farit vítt brandi ‘advanced far and wide in Halland with the sword’: For this meaning of fara, see LP: fara 4. See also st. 11/5-6 below and Sturl Hákfl 3/5-6. — [4] Halland: The Kˣ variant Hallands (n. gen. sg.) could qualify hús (n. acc. pl.) ‘houses’ (l. 3) (hús Hallands ‘the houses of Halland’), but the form is not supported by the other ms. witnesses. Halland is a district in the south-west of present-day Sweden (then a part of Denmark). — [6] hel kastar ‘the death of the wood pile [FIRE]’: Hel is a synonym for ‘death’, but it is also the name of Hel, the daughter of Loki, who in ON mythology presided over the realm of the dead. It is not clear whether the word should be taken as a pers. n. or as a common noun here. — [7] viskdœlsk ekkja ‘the widow from Viskedal’: Viskedal is located near the river Viskan in Halland. — [8] víðs mǫrg ‘a great many’: Víðs is used adverbially, serving as an intensifier to the adj. mǫrg. Kock (NN §3217) is inclined to treat it as a locative adv. (cf. vítt ‘far and wide’; l. 1), but his argument is not persuasive considering other instances in which víðs occurs as an intensifier to an adj. (see LP: víðr).
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