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Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Halli XI Fl 4II

Russell Poole (ed.) 2009, ‘Halli stirði, Flokkr 4’ 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. 341-2.

Halli stirðiFlokkr
345

Telja hátt, es hittask,
hvartveggja mjǫk, seggir,
orð, þaus angra fyrða
allmjǫk, búendr snjallir.
Láta þeir, es þræta,
þegnar, allt í gegnum,
— svellr ofrhugi jǫfrum —
eigi brátt við sôttum.

Snjallir búendr hvartveggja telja mjǫk hátt orð, þaus angra fyrða allmjǫk, es seggir hittask. Þeir þegnar, es þræta allt í gegnum, láta eigi brátt við sôttum; ofrhugi svellr jǫfrum.

The brave farmers of both parties, when the men meet, speak very loudly words that offend peoplevery greatly. Those people who wrangle the whole way through accede not at all quickly to terms of settlement; rashness builds up in the kings.

Mss: (567v), 39(28va), F(50rb), E(23r), J2ˣ(287v) (Hkr); H(59r), Hr(43rb-va) (H-Hr)

Readings: [1] hátt: ‘hátr’ E, hitt H, Hr;    es (‘er’): ok E    [3] angra: angrar H, Hr;    fyrða: fyrðar 39    [4] allmjǫk: all mǫrg E, H, Hr    [5] Láta: jata Hr;    es (‘er’): ef E;    þræta: þetta F, þreyta H, þrænda Hr    [7] ofr‑: of F;    ‑hugi: huginn Hr;    jǫfrum: ǫllu H, Hr

Editions: Skj AI, 402, Skj BI, 371, Skald I, 185; ÍF 28, 160-1 (HSig ch. 71), F 1871, 235, E 1916, 81-2; Fms 6, 332 (HSig ch. 88).

Context: Hkr prefaces sts 4-5 as follows (ÍF 28, 160): En er konungarnir fundusk, tóku menn at rœða um sættir konunganna, en þegar þat var í munni haft, þá kærðu margir skaða sinn, er fengit hǫfðu af hernaði, rán ok mannalát. Var þat langa hríð, svá sem hér segir ‘And when the kings met, men commenced discussing terms of reconciliation between the kings. But as soon as the topic was broached many complained about the harm they had incurred from raiding, plundering and killing. That continued for a long time, as is stated here’. H-Hr has essentially the same account (Fms 6, 332).

Notes: [4] hvartveggja ‘of both parties’: This is an adv. here (see LP: hvartveggja). — [5] þræta ‘wrangle’: The alternative reading, þreyta ‘pursue, persist, persevere’ (so H), with connotations of strenuousness (cf. CVC: þreyta), also makes sense but has only isolated ms. support. But since þræta seems marginally the more obvious of the two words, there is an outside chance that here H has preserved a lectio difficilior that has been smoothed out in the rest of the paradosis. — [7] ofrhugi svellr jǫfrum ‘rashness builds up in the kings’: This criticism is reminiscent of Byrhtnoð’s ofermōd ‘pride, insolence’ in The Battle of Maldon (ll. 89-90) and may represent an instance of late Viking Age skaldic poets emulating annalists of the period (Jesch 2005, 198-9). See also Note to Arn Hardr 12/1.

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. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
  4. 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.
  5. CVC = Cleasby, Richard, Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and W. A. Craigie. 1957. An Icelandic-English Dictionary. 2nd edn. Oxford: Clarendon.
  6. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
  7. F 1871 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1871. Fríssbók: Codex Frisianus. En samling af norske konge-sagaer. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
  8. E 1916 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1916. Eirspennill: AM 47 fol. Nóregs konunga sǫgur: Magnús góði – Hákon gamli. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske historiske kildeskriftskommission.
  9. Jesch, Judith. 2005. ‘Geography and Travel’. In McTurk 2005, 119-35.
  10. Internal references
  11. (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 28 March 2024)
  12. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Hulda-Hrokkinskinna’ 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=84> (accessed 28 March 2024)
  13. (forthcoming), ‘ Heimskringla, Haralds saga Sigurðssonar’ 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=142> (accessed 28 March 2024)
  14. Not published: do not cite (RunVI)
  15. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Arnórr jarlaskáld Þórðarson, Haraldsdrápa 12’ 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. 273-4.
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