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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Anon Lil 1VII

Martin Chase (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Lilja 1’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 562-3.

Anonymous PoemsLilja
12

text and translation

Almáttigr guð allra stietta,
yfirbjóðandi eingla og þjóða,
ei þurfandi staða nie stunda,
staði haldandi í kyrrleiks valdi,
senn verandi úti og inni,
uppi og niðri og þar í miðju,
lof sie þier um aldr og æfi
eining sönn í þrennum greinum.

Almáttigr guð allra stietta, {yfirbjóðandi eingla og þjóða}, ei þurfandi staða nie stunda, haldandi staði í valdi kyrrleiks, senn verandi úti og inni, uppi og niðri og þar í miðju, sie þier lof um aldr og æfi, sönn eining í þrennum greinum.
 
‘Almighty God of all orders of things, supreme ruler of angels and peoples [= God], not dependent on places or times, holding places in the power of tranquility, at once being without and within, above and below and there in the middle, praise be to you forever and ever, true unity in three parts.

notes and context

Cf. the ON Eluc: Iollom stoþom. segesc Goþ allr vesa. þuiat hann es iammottogr íollom stoþom slict íhelvite sem íhiminriki. Allr saman segesc hann vesa þuiat hann stýrer ollom senn íaustre oc ivestre. Of valt segesc hann vesa íollom stoþom. þuiat hann stvrer ollo iamt áhverre tiþ. Iengom staþ segesc hann vesa. þuiat hann es ólicamlegr oc ma eige licamlegr staþr halda á Goþe. enn hann heldr samann ollom hlutom oc livom ver ihonom oc erom ‘God is said to be One in all places at once because He is equally powerful everywhere, in hell as well as in heaven. He is said to be One because He rules everything at once in the East and in the West. He is said to be in all places always because He rules over everything at the same time. He is said to be in no particular place because He has no physical body, and no physical place can comprehend God. He holds together the whole universe and in Him we live and have our being’ (Eluc 1992, 4-7). Cf. also the ON translation of the Dialogues of Gregory the Great: Gvþ er allr i ollom ſtoþom ſen ‘God is all in all places at once’ (Þorvaldur Bjarnarson 1878, 65). Paasche (1915, 36) says of this st.: ‘God is apart from time and place; he lives in his own “powerful peace”; he is the centre of all things and fills all depths and reaches all heights. He is at once outside and within all things. He is without time or place, he stands still ... he is here, he is there, he is far, he is near, he is deep, he is high’. He suggests that the model may have been Alpha et O, magne Deus, the popular hymn on the Trinity by Hildebert of Lavardin (Scott 2001, 46-7; AH 50, 409; see also Paasche 1948, 238 and Schottmann 1973, 195). The st. celebrates the eternal Trinity, which is paradoxically both transcendent and immanent.

readings

sources

Text is based on reconstruction from the base text and variant apparatus and may contain alternative spellings and other normalisations not visible in the manuscript text. Transcriptions may not have been checked and should not be cited.

editions and texts

Skj: Eysteinn Ásgrímsson, Lilja 1: AII, 363-4, BII, 390, Skald II, 212, NN §1513.

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