Mberf Lv 3^II

Mberf Lv 3-5, which are all attributed to Magnús, are interspersed with the prose of Mberf in Mork (Mork), H, Hr (H-Hr) and in the interpolated Hkr mss F, E, J2ˣ and 42ˣ. Poole (1985) has argued convincingly that these lvv., as well as a lv. attributed to Magnús inn góði Óláfsson (Mgóði Lv 2), originally belonged to one poem. See also Note to Mgóð Lv 2 [All]. Mork is the main ms.

Sús ein, es mér meinar,
Maktildr, ok vekr hildi
— már drekkr suðr ór sôrum
sveita — leik ok teiti.
Sá kennir mér svanni,
sín lǫnd es verr rǫndu,
— sverð bitu Hǫgna hurðir —
hvítjarpr sofa lítit.

Sús ein, Maktildr, es meinar mér leik ok teiti ok vekr hildi; suðr drekkr {már sveita} ór sôrum. Sá hvítjarpr svanni, es verr lǫnd sín rǫndu, kennir mér sofa lítit; sverð bitu {hurðir Hǫgna}.

There is one, Maktildr, who denies me fun and pleasure and stirs up strife; in the south {the seagull of gore} [RAVEN/EAGLE] drinks from wounds. That lady with the light-brown hair, who defends her lands with the shield, teaches me to sleep but little; swords bit {the doors of Hǫgni <legendary hero>} [SHIELDS].

Mss: Mork(24r) (Mork); H(91v), Hr(63ra) (H-Hr); F(59va), E(35v), J2ˣ(314r), 42ˣ(14r)

Readings: [1] Sús ein (‘Sv er ein’): Ein er sú all others    [2] Maktildr: makthildr H, matthildr Hr, F, E;    ok: er E    [4] leik ok teiti: teit ok leiki J2ˣ;    leik: ‘læk’ H    [6] es (‘er’): ok F    [7] Hǫgna: ‘ꜹgnu’ 42ˣ    [8] sofa: ‘sopa’ J2ˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 432, Skj BI, 402, Skald I, 199; Mork 1867, 151, Mork 1928-32, 330, Andersson and Gade 2000, 307-8, 487 (Mberf); Fms 7, 61 (Mberf ch. 30); F 1871, 276, E 1916, 124 (Mberf).

Context: Magnús is said to have composed this and the following two sts to Maktildr, ‘daughter of the emperor’.

Notes: [1] sús ein ‘there is one’: Although the reading eins sú lit. ‘one is that’ (so all others) is syntactically possible, the Mork version is preferable from a metrical point of view (internal rhyme directly preceding the sentence boundary in Type XE 4; see Gade 1995a, 97-9). — [2] Maktildr: Maktildr may have been Matilda, the daughter of Malcolm III of Scotland (d. 13 November 1093) and Margaret, the great-grand-daughter of Edmund Ironside (see Poole 1985, 116-17). Matilda (d. 1 May 1118) was brought up in the care of her aunt Christina, abbess of Wilton, and she married King Henry I of England in 1100 (see Anderson 1922, II, 120-4; Chibnall 1991, 7-11). — [5, 8] kennir mér sofa lítit ‘teaches me to sleep but little’: Echoes Hróksv Lv 19/1-2^VIII. For the motif of love causing sleeplessness, see also Mgóð Lv 2 and Run B255^VI, a rune stick from Bergen, Norway (c. 1300). — [6] es verr lǫnd sín rǫndu ‘who defends her lands with the shield’: If Matilda was indeed the object of Magnús’s affections, the warlike activities attributed to her in this st. are somewhat peculiar (see Note to l. 2 above). For a similar mixture of admiration for a highborn woman and battle-imagery, see Rv Lv 15, 17, 19-22. — [8] hvítjarpr ‘with the light-brown hair’: Lit. ‘light-brown’.

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. Gade, Kari Ellen. 1995a. The Structure of Old Norse dróttkvætt Poetry. Islandica 49. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
6. Mork 1928-32 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1928-32. Morkinskinna. SUGNL 53. Copenhagen: Jørgensen.
7. F 1871 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1871. Fríssbók: Codex Frisianus. En samling af norske konge-sagaer. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
8. Anderson, Alan Orr. 1922. Early Sources of Scottish History A.D. 500 to 1286. 2 vols. Edinburgh and London: Oliver and Boyd.
9. Chibnall, Marjorie. 1991. The Empress Matilda: Queen Consort, Queen Mother and Lady of the English. Oxford, UK and Cambridge, USA: Blackwell. Rpt. 1994.
10. E 1916 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1916. Eirspennill: AM 47 fol. Nóregs konunga sǫgur: Magnús góði – Hákon gamli. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske historiske kildeskriftskommission.
11. 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.
12. Poole, Russell. 1985a. ‘Some Royal Love-Verses’. MM, 115-31.
13. Internal references
14. (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 25 April 2024)
15. (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 25 April 2024)
16. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Morkinskinna’ 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=87> (accessed 25 April 2024)
17. Kari Ellen Gade 2009, ‘(Biography of) Magnús inn góði Óláfsson’ 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. 5-7.
18. (forthcoming), ‘ Heimskringla, Magnúss saga berfœtts’ 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=144> (accessed 25 April 2024)
19. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Magnús berfœttr Óláfsson, Lausavísur 3’ 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. 387.
20. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Magnús inn góði Óláfsson, Lausavísur 2’ 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. 6-7.
21. Judith Jesch (ed.) 2009, ‘Rǫgnvaldr jarl Kali Kolsson, Lausavísur 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, pp. 592-3.
22. Hubert Seelow (ed.) 2017, ‘Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka 69 (Hrókr inn svarti, Hrókskviða 19)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 358.