Hharð Gamv 1^II

Fundr vas þess, at Þrœndir
þeir hǫfðu lið meira;
varð, sús vér of gerðum,
víst errilig snerra.
Skilðumk ungr við ungan
allvald í styr fallinn;
þó lætr Gerðr í Gǫrðum
gollhrings við mér skolla.

Fundr vas þess, at þeir Þrœndir hǫfðu meira lið; snerra, sús vér of gerðum, varð víst errilig. Skilðumk ungr við ungan allvald fallinn í styr; þó lætr {Gerðr gollhrings} í Gǫrðum skolla við mér.

The encounter was such that the Þrœndir had more troops; the fight which we had was truly fierce. I parted, young, from the young overlord, fallen in battle; yet {the Gerðr <goddess> of the gold ring} [WOMAN] in Russia ridicules me.

Mss: Mork(3r) (Mork); H(28v), Hr(21ra) (H-Hr)

Readings: [4] víst: so H, Hr, ‘vitz’ Mork    [7] þó lætr: þá lét H;    Gerðr í Gǫrðum: so H, Hr, om. Mork    [8] gollhrings: so Hr, om. Mork, goll H;    við mér skolla: so H, Hr, om. Mork

Editions: Skj AI, 356-7, Skj BI, 328-9, Skald I, 166; Mork 1867, 15, Mork 1928-32, 85, Andersson and Gade 2000, 148, 472 (MH); Fms 6, 169-70 (HSig ch. 15).

Notes: [All]: The st. (ll. 1-6) alludes to the battle of Stiklestad (29 July 1030), in which Haraldr’s half-brother, Óláfr Haraldsson (S. Óláfr), was killed by the army of the farmers of Trøndelag. The fifteen-year-old Haraldr escaped wounded from the battle and sought refuge in Sweden. See also Hharð Lv 1-2a, 2b, ÞjóðA Sex 1 and Bǫlv Hardr 1/1-4. — [5] ungr við ungan ‘young, from the young’: Whereas Haraldr was fifteen years old at the time of this battle, Óláfr was around thirty-five years old (see ÍF 27, lxxxviii) and could hardly be called ‘young’. — [7-8]: The abbreviated variants here and elsewhere in the mss indicate that the scribes regarded the last cl. as a full-blown stef ‘refrain’. — [7] í Gǫrðum ‘in Russia’: Garðar technically comprised Novgorod (Hólmgarðr) and the surrounding territory including Kiev (Garðaríki), i.e. the whole area between Ladoga and Ilmen (see Melnikova 1996, 15 and Map 2; Sverrir Jakobsson 2006, 938). — [8] skolla ‘ridicules’: Lit. ‘ridicule’ (inf. with lætr 3rd pers. sg. pres. indic. ‘lets’ (l. 7)). The verb skolla can mean ‘dangle, swing, rock’. For the meaning ‘ridicule sby’, see Heggstad, Hødnebø and Simensen 1997: skolla 2; skolla við e-m.

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. Andersson, Theodore M. and Kari Ellen Gade, trans. 2000. Morkinskinna: The Earliest Icelandic Chronicle of the Norwegian Kings (1030-1157). Islandica 51. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.
5. Mork 1928-32 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1928-32. Morkinskinna. SUGNL 53. Copenhagen: Jørgensen.
6. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
7. Melnikova, Elena A. 1996. The Eastern World of the Vikings: Eight Essays about Scandinavia and Eastern Europe in the Early Middle Ages. Gothenburg Old Norse Studies 1. Gothenburg: Litteraturvetenskapliga institutionen, Göteborgs universitet.
8. Mork 1867 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1867. Morkinskinna: Pergamentsbog fra første halvdel af det trettende aarhundrede. Indeholdende en af de ældste optegnelser af norske kongesagaer. Oslo: Bentzen.
9. Sverrir Jakobsson. 2006. ‘On the Road to Paradise: ‘Austrvegr’ in the Icelandic Imagination’. In McKinnell et al. 2006, II, 935-43.
10. Internal references
11. (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 19 April 2024)
12. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Magnúss saga góða ok Haralds harðráða’ 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=147> (accessed 19 April 2024)
13. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Bǫlverkr Arnórsson, Drápa about Haraldr harðráði 1’ 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. 286-8.
14. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Haraldr harðráði Sigurðarson, Lausavísur 1’ 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. 42-3.
15. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Þjóðólfr Arnórsson, Sexstefja 1’ 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. 112-13.