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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Mark Eirdr 20II

Jayne Carroll (ed.) 2009, ‘Markús Skeggjason, Eiríksdrápa 20’ 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. 449.

Markús SkeggjasonEiríksdrápa
192021

Heiðin vôru hjǫrtu lýða
hryggðarfull í Vinða byggðum;
eldi sveif of ótal haulda;
Eirekr brenndi sali þeira.
Eisur kyndusk hôtt í húsum;
hallir nôðu vítt at falla;
óttu leið, en uppi þótti
elris grand í himni standa.

Heiðin hjǫrtu lýða vôru hryggðarfull í byggðum Vinða; eldi sveif of ótal haulda; Eirekr brenndi sali þeira. Eisur kyndusk hôtt í húsum; hallir nôðu at falla vítt; óttu leið, en {grand elris} þótti standa uppi í himni.

The heathen hearts of people were sorrowful in the settlements of the Wends; fire swept around an untold number of freeholders; Eiríkr burned their halls. Flames were kindled high in the houses; halls fell far and wide; night passed, and {the harmer of the alder-tree} [FIRE] seemed to stretch up into heaven.

Mss: (156), 873ˣ(52r), 180b(30r) (Knýtl)

Readings: [2] hryggðar‑: hryggða‑ 180b    [3] eldi: eldrinn 180b    [5] hôtt: ‘katt’ 873ˣ    [7] þótti: þóttu 180b    [8] grand: grǫnd 180b;    himni: himin 180b

Editions: Skj AI, 448-9, Skj BI, 417-18, Skald I, 206; 1741, 156-7, ÍF 35, 225-6 (ch. 76).

Context: As sts 14-19. After the victory described in st. 19, Eiríkr set out with his army to punish the insubordinate Wends, burning districts far and wide.

Notes: [3] eldi (dat. sg.) ‘fire’: Skald adopts the reading of 180b, eldrinn (nom. sg. with def. art) ‘the fire’, but impersonal svífa ‘sweep’ with dat. is an acceptable construction, and cf. st. 18/1, where the scribe of 180b similarly converts impersonal drífa ‘splatter’ with dat. to a personal construction. — [3] haulda (gen. pl.) ‘of freeholders’: For this form, see Note to Anon Nkt 15/2. — [7-8] grand elris þótti ‘the harmer of the alder-tree [FIRE] seemed’: 180b offers a grammatically and metrically acceptable, but unlikely, alternative with the verb and the subject in the pl.: grǫnd elris þóttu ‘the harmers of the alder-tree seemed’.

References

  1. Bibliography
  2. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
  3. ÍF 35 = Danakonunga sǫgur. Ed. Bjarni Guðnason. 1982.
  4. 1741 = Jón Ólafsson, ed. 1741. Æfi dana-konunga eda Knytlinga saga: Historia Cnutidarum regum Daniæ. Copenhagen: [n. p.].
  5. Internal references
  6. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Anonymous Poems, Nóregs konungatal 15’ 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. 771.
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