Gamlkan Has 60^VII

Vættik oss með ótta,
alskírt himins birti
hǫfuðmusteri ins hæsta
hildings, af þér mildi,
hauðrs, þvít hugga fríðir
hug minn siðir þínir,
grams kastali inn glæsti
glyggs, en várt líf hryggvir.

Vættik oss með ótta mildi af þér, alskírt hǫfuðmusteri {ins hæsta hildings {himins birti}}, þvít þínir fríðir siðir hugga hug minn, en líf várt hryggvir, inn glæsti kastali {grams {hauðrs glyggs}}.

I hope for us [for myself] with fear for mercy from you, altogether brilliant chief temple {of the highest prince {of heaven’s brightness}} [SUN > = God (= Christ)], because your fine virtues comfort my mind, but our [my] way of life distresses [it], splendid fortress {of the prince {of the land of the wind}} [SKY/HEAVEN > = God (= Christ)].

Mss: B(13v), 399a-bˣ

Readings: [3] ins hæsta: ‘e[...]hęs[...]’ B, ‘e(ns) hęsta’(?) 399a‑bˣ    [4] hildings: ‘h[...]’ B, ‘h(illdings)’(?) 399a‑bˣ    [8] glyggs: so 399a‑bˣ, ‘[...]yggs’ B

Editions: Skj AI, 571, Skj BI, 563-4, Skald I, 273; Sveinbjörn Egilsson 1844, 32, Kempff 1867, 18, Rydberg 1907, 30-31, Black 1971, 290, Attwood 1996a, 237.

Notes: [3] hǫfuðmusteri ‘chief temple’: The only other use of this cpd in skaldic poetry, also with reference to the Virgin Mary, is Mdr 14/3. — [4] hildings ‘prince’s’: Although the 399a-bˣ copyist is not certain of the reading, the reconstruction here is confirmed by aðalhending with mildi. — [5-8] kastali grams hauðrs glyggs ‘fortress of the prince of the land of the wind’: Cf. Mdr 1/7, where Mary is praised as God’s hæstr hǫfuðkastali ‘highest chief fortress’. It is possible that the Mdr poet consciously imitated the two appellations for Mary used in this st. Gamli’s use of kenning-types that compare the Virgin Mary to a building, especially a sacred or royal one, the receptacle for Christ’s incarnation, is among the earliest in skaldic verse and is based on Old Testament typology (templum Domini ‘the temple of the Lord’, solium Salomonis ‘the throne of Solomon’), whereby Solomon’s temple is a type or allegorical figure of the Virgin and she in turn is a type of the Church (Schottmann 1973, 47-51, 76).

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
3. Attwood, Katrina. 1996a. ‘The Poems of MS AM 757a 4to: An Edition and Contextual Study’. Ph.D. thesis. University of Leeds.
4. Black, Elizabeth L. 1971. ‘Harmsól: an edition’. B. Litt. thesis. University of Oxford.
5. Rydberg, Hugo, ed. 1907. ‘Die geistlichen Drápur und Dróttkvættfragmente des Cod. AM 757 4to.’. Ph.D. thesis. University of Lund. Copenhagen: Møller.
6. Schottmann, Hans. 1973. Die isländische Mariendichtung. Untersuchungen zur volkssprachigen Mariendichtung des Mittelalters. Münchner germanistische Beiträge 9. Munich: Fink.
7. Kempff, Hjalmar, ed. 1867. Kaniken Gamles ‘Harmsól’ (Sol i Sorgen): isländskt andligt qväde från medeltiden med öfversättning och förklaringar. Uppsala: Edquist & Berglund.
8. Sveinbjörn Egilsson, ed. 1844. Fjøgur gømul kvæði. Boðsrit til að hlusta á þá opinberu yfirheyrslu í Bessastaða Skóla þann 22-29 mai 1844. Viðeyar Klaustri: prentuð af Helga Helgasyni, á kostnað Bessastaða Skóla. Bessastaðir: Helgi Helgason.
9. Internal references
10. (forthcoming), ‘ Anonymous, Landnámabók’ in Guðrún Nordal (ed.), Poetry on Icelandic History. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 4. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=25> (accessed 19 April 2024)
11. Katrina Attwood (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Máríudrápa 1’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 478-9.
12. Katrina Attwood (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Máríudrápa 14’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 490.
13. Katrina Attwood 2007, ‘ Anonymous, Máríudrápa’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 476-514. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1025> (accessed 19 April 2024)