Ólhv Hryn 8^II

Hilmir fór með herskap stóran
hildar borðs á Upplǫnd norðan;
merki skókusk ljós á Láku;
lá ferð vegin skǫrpum sverðum.
Þunnum reið til Þrándheims sunnan
þingfrœkn jǫfurr Vǫlum stinga;
herskip brendi hilmir grundar
hyggjugegn, en líf gaf þegnum.

{Hilmir {borðs hildar}} fór norðan á Upplǫnd með stóran herskap; ljós merki skókusk á Láku; ferð lá vegin skǫrpum sverðum. Þingfrœkn jǫfurr reið {þunnum Vǫlum stinga} sunnan til Þrándheims; {hyggjugegn hilmir grundar} brendi herskip, en gaf þegnum líf.

{The ruler {of the board of battle}} [SHIELD > WARRIOR = Skúli] went from the north to Opplandene with a large retinue; bright standards shook at Låke; the host lay slain by sharp swords. The battle-daring prince rode {the slender Valir <horses> of rods} [SHIPS] from the south to Trøndelag; {the clever-minded ruler of the land} [= Hákon] burned warships but spared the lives of men.

Mss: E(173v), F(109rb), 42ˣ(156v-157r), 81a(105vb), 8(52v-53r), Flat(177va) (Hák)

Readings: [2] borðs: barðs 81a;    ‑lǫnd: om. 81a    [3] skókusk: skárusk all    [5] Þunnum: þannig Flat;    Þránd‑: so all others, Þrónd‑ E    [6] Vǫlum: ‘valum’ or ‘volum’ corrected from ‘velum’ F;    stinga: so all others, ‘stindga’ E    [8] hyggju: hjoggu 42ˣ, hygginn 8;    gaf: fekk Flat

Editions: Skj AII, 95, Skj BII, 107, Skald II, 57, NN §1346; E 1916, 593, F 1871, 507, Hák 1910-86, 536-7, Hák 1977-82, 116, Flat 1860-8, III, 140.

Context: The first helmingr refers to the battle of Låke (9 March 1240), fought between Skúli and his men and the Birkibeinar, led by Jarl Knútr Hákonarson. The Birkibeinar were routed in the battle and Knútr fled to Tønsberg. The second helmingr describes Hákon’s journey by ship to Trøndelag (February 1240) to confront Skúli there and check his growing power. Once Hákon arrived, he found that Skúli had fled south with 500 men, leaving behind many of his adherents, to whom Hákon granted clemency.

Notes: [All]: For the battle of Låke, see also Sturl Hákkv 10. — [2] Upplǫnd ‘Opplandene’: Includes the present-day districts of Hadeland, Romerike, Gudbrandsdalen and Østerdalen in south-eastern Norway. — [3] skókusk ‘shook’: Following Kock (NN §1346), skárusk ‘were cut’ (so all mss) has been emended to skókusk ‘shook’ to supply the missing internal rhyme in l. 3 (skókusk : Láku). Merki skókusk ‘standards shook’ is preferable to merki skárusk ‘standards were cut’, since the motif of standards shaking or waving is attested in battle contexts elsewhere in skaldic poetry (cf. merki hristisk ‘the banner waved’, Arn Þorfdr 18/3, 4; gullmerkð vé skolla ‘gold-embroidered banners flutter’, Þfagr Sveinn 5/5, 8). — [3] á Láku ‘at Låke’: Farmstead in Nannestad, located in the district of Romerike, south-eastern Norway. — [5] til Þrándheims ‘to Trøndelag’: So F, 42ˣ, 81a, 8, Flat. Þróndheims (so E) is an ONorw. form (see CVC: Þróndheimr). Þrándheimr refers to the geographic region of Trøndelag, located in central Norway, rather than to the city of Trondheim proper, which is called Niðaróss in the prose text and elsewhere (for the history of the names of Trondheim, see Gade 1998 and the literature cited there). — [6] Vǫlum ‘Valir <horses>’: For Valr in ship-kennings, see Note to Arn Hryn 19/4. — [6] stinga ‘of rods’: Lit. ‘of that which stabs, sticks’. The word stingar (m. nom. pl.) is attested twice (see also SnSt Ht 73/7^III) and possibly refers to a set of parallel rods on a ship’s prow that were designed to keep warriors from boarding (see Falk 1912, 37, and LP: stingr = brandr).

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
3. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 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. Falk, Hjalmar. 1912. Altnordisches Seewesen. Wörter und Sachen 4. Heidelberg: Winter.
7. Flat 1860-8 = Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and C. R. Unger, eds. 1860-8. Flateyjarbók. En samling af norske konge-sagaer med indskudte mindre fortællinger om begivenheder i og udenfor Norge samt annaler. 3 vols. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
8. F 1871 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1871. Fríssbók: Codex Frisianus. En samling af norske konge-sagaer. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
9. E 1916 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1916. Eirspennill: AM 47 fol. Nóregs konunga sǫgur: Magnús góði – Hákon gamli. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske historiske kildeskriftskommission.
10. Gade, Kari Ellen. 1998. ‘Kaupangr – Þrándheimr – Niðaróss: On the Dating of the Old Norse Kings’ Sagas’. MM, 41-60.
11. Hák 1977-82 = Mundt, Marina, ed. 1977. Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar etter Sth. 8 fol., AM 325VIII, 4° og AM 304, 4°. Oslo: Forlagsentralen. Suppl. by James E. Knirk, Rettelser til Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar etter Sth. 8 fol., AM 325VIII, 4° og AM 304, 4°. Norrøne tekster 2. Oslo: Norsk historisk kjeldeskrift-institutt, 1982.
12. Hák 1910-86 = Kjær, Albert and Ludvig Holm-Olsen, eds. 1910-86. Det Arnamagnæanske haandskrift 81a fol. (Skálholtsbók yngsta) indeholdende Sverris saga, Bǫglungasǫgur, Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar. Oslo: Den norske historiske kildeskriftkommission and Kjeldeskriftfondet.
13. Internal references
14. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Arnórr jarlaskáld Þórðarson, Hrynhenda, Magnússdrápa 19’ 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. 205.
15. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Arnórr jarlaskáld Þórðarson, Þorfinnsdrápa 18’ 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. 250.
16. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Snorri Sturluson, Háttatal 73’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1184.
17. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Sturla Þórðarson, Hákonarkviða 10’ 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. 707.
18. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Þorleikr fagri, Flokkr about Sveinn Úlfsson 5’ 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. 317.