Eskál Vell 15^I

Ok herþarfir hverfa
(Hlakkar móts) til blóta
(rauðbríkar fremsk rœkir
ríkr) ásmegir (slíku).
Nú grœr jǫrð sem áðan;
aptr geirbrúar hapta
auðrýrir lætr ôru
óhryggva vé byggva.

Ok herþarfir ásmegir hverfa til blóta; {ríkr rœkir {rauðbríkar {móts Hlakkar}}} fremsk slíku. Nú grœr jǫrð sem áðan; {auðrýrir} lætr {ôru {geirbrúar}} byggva vé hapta aptr óhryggva.

And the sons of the Æsir, beneficial to the people, turn to the sacrifices; {the powerful keeper {of the red board {of the meeting of Hlǫkk <valkyrie>}}} [BATTLE > SHIELD > WARRIOR = Hákon jarl] prospers from this. Now the earth flourishes as before; {the wealth-diminisher} [GENEROUS MAN] lets {the messengers {of the spear-bridge}} [SHIELD > WARRIORS] once again inhabit the sanctuaries of the gods without sorrow.

Mss: Kˣ(140r), 39(5va-b), F(23ra), J2ˣ(76r-v) (Hkr); FskBˣ(19v), FskAˣ(78) (Fsk)

Readings: [3] rauð‑: ‘rand‑’ FskAˣ;    rœkir: rœkar FskAˣ    [4] ás‑: at‑ FskBˣ;    ‑megir: so 39, F, ‑megi Kˣ, J2ˣ, ‑megri FskAˣ;    slíku: slíka FskAˣ    [6] geir‑: ‘gœrð‑’ FskAˣ;    hapta: ‘hatta’ FskAˣ    [7] ‑rýrir: ‑fyrir FskBˣ;    lætr: lætr at FskBˣ    [8] ‑hryggva: so FskBˣ, FskAˣ, ‑hryggja Kˣ, 39, F, J2ˣ;    byggva: so FskBˣ, FskAˣ, byggja Kˣ, 39, F, J2ˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 126, Skj BI, 119-20, Skald I, 67, NN §§1814D, 2240A; Hkr 1893-1901, I, 281, IV, 73-4, ÍF 26, 242, Hkr 1991, I, 161 (ÓTHkr ch. 16), F 1871, 105; Fsk 1902-3, 69 (ch. 14), ÍF 29, 111-12 (ch. 16).

Context: For Hkr see the previous stanza. After st. 12, which relates Hákon’s return from Denmark, Fsk reports that Hákon begins sacrificing with even greater zeal than before, whereupon the harvest quickly improves, the grain begins growing again, the herring return and the earth blossoms.

Notes: [1, 2] hverfa til blóta ‘turn to the sacrifices’: The gods who had been denied their sacrifices return and begin accepting them again; see Finnur Jónsson (1891a, 166-7). They are now charitably inclined toward the people (herþarfir). — [4] ásmegir ‘the sons of the Æsir’: I.e. the Æsir, the gods (Finnur Jónsson 1891a, 167). Olsen (1962a, 44-5) refers to a parallel in Vsp 62 and 63, where a second generation of Æsir, sons of the first, found a new world. This would mean Hákon’s reign would be compared to the renewal of the earth after the end of the world. — [5]: The hending is missing from this line, but there is no reason to restore it as proposed by Konráð Gíslason (1895-7, I, 126). The line is reminiscent of Vsp 59, where the green earth rises again out of the sea (Olsen 1962a, 44). Nú ‘now’ constitutes the link to the previous sentence, because the newly growing earth is portrayed as the result of the renewed heathen sacrifices. Hkr (ÍF 26, 221) gives an account of harvests failing and herring disappearing during the rule of the Eiríkssynir (Gunnhildarsynir), and of abundance restored during the rule of Hákon jarl (ÍF 26, 243). — [6-8]: Turville-Petre (1976, 61-2) reads aptr auðrýrir geirbrúar lætr áru hapta óhryggja byggja vé ‘again the destroyer of the wealth of the spear-bridge allows the merry messengers of the gods to inhabit the temples’, but this is unconvincing because the kenning ‘the destroyer of the wealth of the spear-bridge’ is overdetermined. — [6] hapta ‘of the gods’: This designation of a collective of gods (Marold 1992, 707) appears in four other skaldic stanzas: Þjóð Haustl 3/3^III, 11/8^III, Glúmr Gráf 1/1 and KormǪ Sigdr 5/3^III.

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. Turville-Petre, Gabriel. 1976. Scaldic Poetry. Oxford: Clarendon.
5. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
6. Hkr 1893-1901 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1893-1901. Heimskringla: Nóregs konunga sǫgur af Snorri Sturluson. 4 vols. SUGNL 23. Copenhagen: Møller.
7. Hkr 1991 = Bergljót S. Kristjánsdóttir et al., eds. 1991. Heimskringla. 3 vols. Reykjavík: Mál og menning.
8. F 1871 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1871. Fríssbók: Codex Frisianus. En samling af norske konge-sagaer. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
9. Fsk 1902-3 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1902-3. Fagrskinna: Nóregs kononga tal. SUGNL 30. Copenhagen: Møller.
10. ÍF 29 = Ágrip af Nóregskonunga sǫgum; Fagrskinna—Nóregs konungatal. Ed. Bjarni Einarsson. 1985.
11. Konráð Gíslason. 1895-7. Efterladte skrifter. 2 vols. I: Forelæsninger over oldnordiske skjaldekvad. II: Forelæsninger og videnskablige afhandlinger. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
12. Olsen, Magnus. 1962a. Edda- og Skaldekvad. Forarbeider til kommentar. VI. Eyvindr Skáldaspillir, Glúmr Geirason, Einarr Skálaglamm. Avhandlingar utgitt av Det Norske Videnskaps-Akademi i Oslo II. Hist.-filos. kl. new ser. 4. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.
13. Marold, Edith. 1992. ‘Die Skaldendichtung als Quelle der Religionsgeschichte’. In Beck et al. 1992, 685-719.
14. Finnur Jónsson. 1891a. ‘Vellekla: Tekstkritiske bemærkninger’. ÅNOH, 147-82.
15. Internal references
16. (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 23 April 2024)
17. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Fagrskinna’ 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=56> (accessed 23 April 2024)
18. Alison Finlay (ed.) 2012, ‘Glúmr Geirason, Gráfeldardrápa 1’ 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. 248.
19. Not published: do not cite ()
20. Edith Marold (ed.) 2017, ‘Kormákr Ǫgmundarson, Sigurðardrápa 5’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 281.
21. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Þjóðólfr ór Hvini, Haustlǫng 3’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 435.