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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Hallv Knútdr 8III

Matthew Townend (ed.) 2017, ‘Hallvarðr háreksblesi, Knútsdrápa 8’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 239.

Hallvarðr háreksblesiKnútsdrápa
78

text and translation

Knútr verr jǫrð sem ítran
alls dróttinn sal fjalla.

Knútr verr jǫrð sem {dróttinn alls} {ítran sal fjalla}.
 
‘Knútr defends the earth as the lord of all [= God] [defends] the splendid hall of the mountains [HEAVEN].

notes and context

This stanza is quoted in Skm to illustrate the heaven-kenning salr fjalla ‘hall of the mountains’.

These lines, which are likely to be the stef ‘refrain’ in Hallvarðr’s poem, bear an obvious resemblance to the refrains of other poems honouring Knútr. The refrain of Sigv KnútdrI (sts 3/1, 7/1) views Knútr’s position und himnum ‘under the heavens’, while that of Þloft’s TøgdrI (st. 1/1), though incomplete, is similar (und sólar … ‘under the sun’s …’). By far the closest resemblance is with the stef of Þloft HflI: Knútr verr grund sem gætir | Gríklands himinríki ‘Knútr defends the land as the guardian of Greece [= God] [defends] the heavenly kingdom’. Since the likely date for Hfl is c.1027-8, it appears to be Hallvarðr who is the borrower here. As Frank (1994b, 116-17) notes, these four refrains depict Knútr ‘in cosmic high relief’, and in their association of God and king may show influence from Anglo-Saxon royal ideology (see also Fidjestøl 1993b, 106, 118-19).

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: Hallvarðr háreksblesi, Knútsdrápa 8: AI, 318, BI, 294, Skald I, 150; SnE 1848-87, I, 320-1, II, 314, 527, III, 49, SnE 1931, 114, SnE 1998, I, 35; Frank 1994b, 121, Jesch 2000, 248.

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