Sigv Ást 2^I

Máttit hón við hættna
heilrôð Svía deila
meir, þótt Magnús væri
margnenninn sonr hennar.
Olli hón, þvít allri
áttleifð Haralds knátti
mest með môttkum Kristi
Magnús konungr fagna.

Hón máttit, heilrôð, deila meir við hættna Svía, þótt margnenninn Magnús væri sonr hennar. Hón olli mest, með môttkum Kristi, þvít Magnús konungr knátti fagna allri áttleifð Haralds.

She could not have dealt, fully decisive, better with the daring Swedes even if the very energetic Magnús had been her son. She was the main reason, with the mighty Christ, that King Magnús could gladly take up all the inheritance of Haraldr.

Mss: Kˣ(495r), 39(12rb), F(37rb), J2ˣ(239v) (ll. 1-4), E(3r) (Hkr)

Readings: [1] Máttit: ‘Mattið’ 39, F, J2ˣ, E    [2] deila: deili F    [4] sonr: so J2ˣ, E, son Kˣ, 39, F    [6] átt‑: so 39, F, ‘át‑’ Kˣ, ‘æt‑’ E

Editions: Skj AI, 248, Skj BI, 231-2, Skald I, 120; Hkr 1893-1901, III, 6, IV, 179, ÍF 28, 6, Hkr 1991, II, 559 (MGóð ch. 1), F 1871, 169, E 1916, 8; Jón Skaptason 1983, 125, 276.

Context: As for st. 1.

Notes: [2] heilrôð ‘fully decisive’: LP: heilráðr gives two translations for the cpd: som giver oprigtige, gode, råd ‘who gives honest, good advice’ and som tager gode, hele, fuldstændige, råd, bestemmelser, som tænker og handler derefter fuldtud ‘who makes good, whole, complete plans, decisions, who thinks and acts accordingly in full’, assigning this example to the first meaning. While the giving of advice (both good and bad) is a proper female activity in Old Norse literature, Ástríðr’s persuasion of the Swedes seems more forceful. Elsewhere, Sigvatr uses the verb ráða in a more active sense (Sigv ErfÓl 20/3, Sigv Berv 12/2^II, and arguably Sigv Lv 3/6, 5/7), and this stronger meaning of the adj. is also chosen here. — [6] áttleifð Haralds ‘the inheritance of Haraldr’: Despite the unanimous agreement of previous eds and translators that this refers to Haraldr hárfagri ‘Fair-hair’, it is more likely that it refers to Magnús’s paternal grandfather Haraldr grenski ‘from Grenland’. Sigvatr regularly referred to Magnús’s father Óláfr as the ‘heir of Haraldr’, presumably meaning the father rather than the remote ancestor, while the concept of Norway as the inheritance of Haraldr hárfagri was not fully established until the time of Haraldr harðráði ‘Hard-rule’ (Krag 1989).

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
3. 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.
4. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
5. Hkr 1893-1901 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1893-1901. Heimskringla: Nóregs konunga sǫgur af Snorri Sturluson. 4 vols. SUGNL 23. Copenhagen: Møller.
6. Hkr 1991 = Bergljót S. Kristjánsdóttir et al., eds. 1991. Heimskringla. 3 vols. Reykjavík: Mál og menning.
7. F 1871 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1871. Fríssbók: Codex Frisianus. En samling af norske konge-sagaer. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
8. E 1916 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1916. Eirspennill: AM 47 fol. Nóregs konunga sǫgur: Magnús góði – Hákon gamli. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske historiske kildeskriftskommission.
9. Jón Skaptason. 1983. ‘Material for an Edition and Translation of the Poems of Sigvat Þórðarson, skáld’. Ph.D. thesis. State University of New York at Stony Brook. DAI 44: 3681A.
10. Krag, Claus. 1989. ‘Norge som odel i Harald hårfagres ætt’. HT(N) 68, 288-302.
11. Internal references
12. (forthcoming), ‘ Heimskringla, Magnúss saga ins góða’ 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=116> (accessed 26 April 2024)
13. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Bersǫglisvísur 12’ 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. 23-4.
14. Judith Jesch (ed.) 2012, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Erfidrápa Óláfs helga 20’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 689.
15. R. D. Fulk (ed.) 2012, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Lausavísur 3’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 702.