ESk Geisl 28^VII

Gekk sínum bur søkkvir
sólar straums í drauma,
— vald lézk fylgja foldar
framlyndum gram myndu —
áðr á Hlýrskógsheiði
harðgeðr konungr barðisk
— góðs eldis naut gyldir
gnótt — við heiðnar dróttir.

{Søkkvir {sólar straums}} gekk bur sínum í drauma — {vald foldar} lézk myndu fylgja framlyndum gram —, áðr harðgeðr konungr barðisk við heiðnar dróttir á Hlýrskógsheiði; gyldir naut gnótt góðs eldis.

{The enemy {of the sun of the stream}} [GOLD > GENEROUS MAN] appeared to his son in a dream — {the strength of the land} [= Óláfr] said he would help the forward-striving prince — before the hard-minded king fought against the heathen hosts at Lyrskovshede; the wolf enjoyed an abundance of good food.

Mss: Flat(2ra), Bb(117va); H(9r), Hr(9ra) (H-Hr)

Readings: [1] søkkvir: so H, Hr, ‘sueckuir’ Flat, ‘sekir’ Bb    [3] vald: valdr Bb, H, Hr;    lézk: ‘kuedz’ Bb, Hr, ‘kvadz’ H    [4] ‑lyndum: ‑lundum Bb;    myndu: mundu Bb, Hr    [5] Hlýr‑: ‘hly‑’ Hr    [6] ‑geðr: ‘feingr’ Bb, H, lyndr Hr;    konungr: jǫfurr Bb, H, gramr Hr    [7] góðs: góð Hr;    naut: fekk Bb, H, Hr

Editions: Skj AI, 464, Skj BI, 434, Skald I, 214; Flat 1860-8, I, 3-4, Cederschiöld 1873, 4-5, Chase 2005, 78, 146; Fms 6, 66.

Context: H and Hr quote this st. in their account of the battle of Lyrskovshede. It is introduced as follows: Þess getr Einar Skúlason í Óláfsdrápu, at Óláfr konungr sýndisk Magnúsi konúngi í svefni fyrir þenna bardaga, ok hꜵt at veita honum lið. Hann segir svá ... ‘Einarr Skúlason tells of this in Óláfsdrápa: that King Óláfr showed himself to King Magnús in a dream before this battle, and promised to give him assistance. He says...’.

Notes: [All]: The miracle of Óláfr’s appearance to his son Magnús in a dream the night before the battle of Hlýrskógsheiðr (Lyrskovshede) is also recounted in C12th historical writings, including Theodoricus’s Historia de Antiquitate Regum Norwagiensium (MHN 48-50), Saxo Grammaticus’s Gesta Danorum (Olrik & Ræder 1931-57, I, 302-3) and Ágr 1929, 37-8; for discussion see Chase 2005, 38-9. — [3] vald foldar ‘strength of the land’: Bb, H, and Hr read valdr foldar ‘ruler of the land’, a typical kenning which may be the better reading. But the Flat version is appropriate in this context. Abstract nouns were rarely used as base-words in kennings (cf. líf in Geisl 3/6), but Einarr may be imitating Scripture, where God is repeatedly called fortitudo ‘strength’ and robur ‘power’. Cf. especially the circumlocutions in Ps. XXVII.8 (fortitudo plebis suae ‘the strength of his people’) and Joel III.16 (fortitudo filiorum Israhel ‘the strength of the children of Israel’). — [5] á Hlýrskógsheiði ‘at Lyrskovshede’: The name of the battle, fought by Magnús the Good against the Wends on a heath in Southern Jutland between Hedeby and Ribe on 28 September 1043. The Wends were a Slavic tribe who raided and colonised along the southern coast of the Baltic. According to Adam of Bremen, the Wends attacked Denmark to avenge the killing of their chief, Ratibor, by the Danes. Magnús led an army of his own men joined with a Danish force to a great victory: 15,000 Wends were killed, according to Adam, and Heimskringla reports that it was the greatest carnage seen in the North in Christian times (Gesta, II.lxxix in Schmeidler 1917, 136-8; Hkr, ÍF 28, 43-5). Although Adam identifies Ratibor as being Christian, most Wends were not, and battles with the Wends were often regarded as campaigns against paganism. Danes and Saxons fought a series of battles with the Wends in the century following, and they were not subjugated and forcibly converted before 1169 (Helle 2003, 423). Snorri (Hkr, ÍF 28, 43-4) associates Arn Magndr 10^II and ÞjóðA Magnfl 7^II with this battle, although neither skald mentions the name of the place.

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. Cederschiöld, Gustaf J. Chr., ed. 1873b. ‘Bandamanna saga’. Acta Universitatis Lundensis 10.
4. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. Ágr 1929 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1929. Ágrip af Nóregs konunga sǫgum. ASB 18. Halle: Niemeyer.
6. Cederschiöld, Gustaf J. Chr., ed. 1873a. Geisli eða Óláfs Drápa ens Helga er Einarr orti Skúlason: efter ‘Bergsboken’ utgifven. Acta Universitatis Lundensis 10. Lund: Berling.
7. Chase, Martin, ed. 2005. Einarr Skúlason’s Geisli. A Critical Edition. Toronto Old Norse and Icelandic Studies 1. Toronto, Buffalo and London: Toronto University Press.
8. Schmeidler, Bernhard, ed. 1917. Magistri Adami Bremensis. Hamburgische Kirchengeschichte / Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum. Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores rerum Germanicarum 2. 3rd edn. Hannover and Leipzig: Hahn.
9. 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.
10. Helle, Knut, ed. 2003. The Cambridge History of Scandinavia. 1: Prehistory to 1520. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
11. MHN = Storm, Gustav, ed. 1880. Monumenta historica Norvegiæ: Latinske kildeskrifter til Norges historie i middelalderen. Kristiania (Oslo): Brøgger. Rpt. 1973. Oslo: Aas & Wahl.
12. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
13. Theodoricus = Theodrici monachi historia de antiquitate regum Norwagiensium. In MHN 1-68.
14. Internal references
15. (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 7 May 2024)
16. Kari Ellen Gade 2017, ‘(Biography of) Einarr Skúlason’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 140.
17. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Arnórr jarlaskáld Þórðarson, Magnússdrápa 10’ 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. 219-20.
18. Martin Chase (ed.) 2007, ‘Einarr Skúlason, Geisli 3’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 9.
19. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Þjóðólfr Arnórsson, Magnússflokkr 7’ 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. 72-3.
20. Not published: do not cite ()