ESk Eystdr 1^II

Vôru sogns með sára
syni Maddaðar staddir
mágrenni (fekksk) manna
(máttigr) tigir átta.
Þrimr skútum tók þreytir
þann jarl drasils hranna;
hraustr gaf hræskúfs nistir
hǫfuð sitt frǫmum jǫfri.

Átta tigir manna vôru staddir með {{{sogns sára} má}grenni}, {syni Maddaðar}; máttigr fekksk. Þrimr skútum tók {þreytir {drasils hranna}} þann jarl; {hraustr nistir {hræskúfs}} gaf frǫmum jǫfri hǫfuð sitt.

Eighty men were stationed with {the feeder {of the seagull {of the fjord of wounds}}} [(lit. ‘seagull-feeder of the fjord of wounds’) BLOOD > RAVEN/EAGLE > WARRIOR], {Maddaðr’s son} [= Haraldr]; the mighty one was captured. With three ships {the tester {of the steed of waves}} [SHIP > SEAFARER] seized that jarl; {the bold feeder {of the carrion-skua}} [RAVEN/EAGLE > WARRIOR] surrendered his head to the outstanding prince.

Mss: Kˣ(658v-659r), F(73va), E(57r), J2ˣ(356r) (Hkr); H(124r), Hr(81rb) (H-Hr); Mork(35v) (Mork)

Readings: [1] sogns: ‘songs’ Mork    [2] Maddaðar: ‘magdadar’ Hr;    staddir: staddr J2ˣ, skaddir Hr    [3] ‑grenni: ‑grenn Kˣ, ‑grennir F, E, J2ˣ, H, Hr, Mork;    fekksk: so F, ‘fezc’ Kˣ, fremsk E, J2ˣ, H, Hr, Mork;    manna: manni Mork    [4] máttigr: mttugr F, H, Hr    [5] Þrimr: so F, E, J2ˣ, H, Mork, þrim Kˣ, Hr;    skútum: httum Mork    [6] hranna: hrafna Hr    [7] hraustr: hraust H, Hr;    ‑skúfs: ‘‑kúfs’ E, ‑skips H, Hr    [8] frǫmum: spǫkum Mork

Editions: Skj AI, 475, Skj BI, 447, Skald I, 220, NN §955; ÍF 28, 327-8 (Hsona ch. 20), F 1871, 339, E 1916, 198; Fms 7, 235 (Hsona ch. 20); Mork 1867, 225, Mork 1928-32, 443, Andersson and Gade 2000, 391, 494-5 (Hsona).

Context: On his expedition to England, Eysteinn first landed in Caithness, Scotland. He heard that Jarl Haraldr Maddaðarson of Orkney was in Thurso and set out with three small ships to capture him. Eysteinn and his men came upon Haraldr unawares, and, although Haraldr had a superior force (thirty ships and eighty men), he was unable to muster any resistance.

Notes: [All]: For Eysteinn’s campaign, see Run sts 3-9 above. The campaign took place c. 1151, while Jarl Rǫgnvaldr Kali Kolsson (Rv) was away on his crusade to the Holy Land. Haraldr Maddaðarson was jarl of Orkney from 1139 until his death in 1206. For his genealogy, see ÍF 34, Genealogy IV. — [1-4]: This helmingr is garbled and difficult to reconstruct. — [3] mágrenni (m. dat. sg.) ‘the seagull-feeder’: Retention of the nom. mágrennir ‘seagull-feeder’ forces a fourpartite first l. (vru, sogns, með, sára), in which sogns sára ‘of the fjord of wounds’ and vru með ‘were (stationed) with’ belong to two different clauses (so Skj B; ÍF 28). Such a construction is otherwise unattested in the corpus of skaldic poetry. Kock (NN §955; Skald) emends mágrennir (m. nom. sg.) ‘seagull-feeder’ (l. 3) to mágrenni (m. dat. sg.), fekksk (3rd pers. sg. pret. indic.) ‘was captured’ (l. 3) to fæst, sup. of the adj. fár ‘few’, and máttigr (m. nom. sg.) ‘powerful’ (l. 4) to máttigra (m. gen. pl.). He suggests the following reading: Fæst átta tigir máttigra manna vru staddir með mágrenni sogns sára, syni Maddaðar ‘At least eighty powerful men were stationed with the seagull-feeder of the fjord of wounds, the son of Maddaðr’. However, the emendation of máttigr ‘powerful’ to máttigra creates an unmetrical l., since a l. of this type cannot begin with a trisyllabic cpd; see Gade 1995a, 118-21. — [3] fekksk ‘was captured’: For this sense, see LP: 2. fáa, fá 4. The variant fremsk (3rd pers. sg. pres. indic.) ‘promotes oneself’ (so J2ˣ, E, H, Hr, Mork) gives the reading máttigr fremsk ‘the mighty one (i.e. Eysteinn) promotes himself’. However, the use of the pres. tense here would certainly speak against the attribution of this st. to a memorial poem about Eysteinn (see Introduction, above, and Fidjestøl 1982, 155). — [7, 8] gaf frǫmum jǫfri hǫfuð sitt ‘surrendered his head to the outstanding prince’: Haraldr had to redeem his head with three marks of gold. — [7] hræskúfs ‘of the carrion-skua’: Skúfr ‘skua’ is an arctic bird of prey (Lestris catarrhactes).

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. Fms = Sveinbjörn Egilsson et al., eds. 1825-37. Fornmanna sögur eptir gömlum handritum útgefnar að tilhlutun hins norræna fornfræða fèlags. 12 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
4. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. Fidjestøl, Bjarne. 1982. Det norrøne fyrstediktet. Universitet i Bergen Nordisk institutts skriftserie 11. Øvre Ervik: Alvheim & Eide.
9. Gade, Kari Ellen. 1995a. The Structure of Old Norse dróttkvætt Poetry. Islandica 49. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
10. Mork 1928-32 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1928-32. Morkinskinna. SUGNL 53. Copenhagen: Jørgensen.
11. ÍF 34 = Orkneyinga saga. Ed. Finnbogi Guðmundsson. 1965.
12. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
13. F 1871 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1871. Fríssbók: Codex Frisianus. En samling af norske konge-sagaer. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
14. E 1916 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1916. Eirspennill: AM 47 fol. Nóregs konunga sǫgur: Magnús góði – Hákon gamli. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske historiske kildeskriftskommission.
15. Mork 1867 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1867. Morkinskinna: Pergamentsbog fra første halvdel af det trettende aarhundrede. Indeholdende en af de ældste optegnelser af norske kongesagaer. Oslo: Bentzen.