Anon Krm 7^VIII

Hjuggu vér með hjörvi.
Hátt grenjuðu rottar,
áðr en á Ullarakri
Eysteinn konungr felli.
Gengum gulli fáðir
grundar vals af bröndum
— rækyndill smaug rauðar
rítr — at hjálma móti.
Svíra virtr ór sárum
sveif of hjarna kleifar.

Hjuggu vér með hjörvi. Rottar grenjuðu hátt, áðr en Eysteinn konungr felli á Ullarakri. Gengum, fáðir gulli af {bröndum {grundar vals}}, at {móti hjálma}; {rækyndill} smaug rauðar rítr. {Virtr svíra} sveif ór sárum of {kleifar hjarna}.

We hewed with the sword. Swords roared loudly before King Eysteinn fell at Ullarakr. We proceeded to {a meeting of helmets} [BATTLE], decked with gold from {the flames {of the landing place of the falcon}} [ARM > GOLD RINGS]; {the corpse-candle} [SWORD] penetrated red shields. {The wort of the neck} [BLOOD] flowed from wounds over {the cliffs of the brain} [SHOULDERS].

Mss: 1824b(79v), 147(108r), 6ˣ(87r-v) (Ragn); R702ˣ(29v), LR(205), R693ˣ(8r)

Readings: [1] Hjuggu vér með hjörvi: abbrev. as ‘H ̇̇iu v ṁ́ h᷎.’ 1824b, abbrev. as ‘H(’) v[...]’(?) 147, Hjuggum vér með hjörvi 6ˣ, LR, R693ˣ, abbrev. as ‘H. v. med h.’ R702ˣ    [2] Hátt: ‘(ha)[…]’(?) 147, ‘hett’ LR, ‘hát’ R693ˣ;    grenjuðu: so all others, ‘greínudv’ 1824b;    rottar (‘hrottar’): ‘(h)ro[…]ar’(?) 147    [3] en: om. 6ˣ, R702ˣ, LR, R693ˣ;    Ullarakri: ‘[...]ll[…]ri’ 147    [4] Eysteinn konungr felli: ‘[…] konungur f[...]ll[...]’ 147    [5] Gengum: so 147, R702ˣ, LR, R693ˣ, gengu 1824b, 6ˣ;    gulli: ‘gull(i)’(?) 147;    fáðir: ‘faedur’ LR    [6] grundar vals: ‘grundar (uals)’(?) 147;    af: at all;    bröndum: so R702ˣ, LR, R693ˣ, ‘bryndum’ 1824b, 6ˣ, ‘(b)[…]’(?) 147    [7] rækyndill (‘rrekyndil’): ‘[…]dill’ 147, ‘Rakindil’ with ‘Rækindil’ in margin 6ˣ, ‘hrækindill’ R702ˣ, R693ˣ, ‘hraekindil’ LR;    smaug: ‘[…]’ 147, ‘smaug’ with ‘sneid’ in margin 6ˣ, sneið (‘snejd’) R702ˣ, LR, R693ˣ;    rauðar: ‘rrandar’ 1824b, ‘[…] uda’ 147, randar 6ˣ, ‘Randa’ R702ˣ, R693ˣ, randa LR    [8] rítr at hjálma: ‘[...] at hialma’ 147;    móti: so 6ˣ, R702ˣ, LR, R693ˣ, ‘[...] tí’ 1824b, ‘[…]’ 147    [9] Svíra: ‘(sui[…]a)’(?) 147;    virtr: so R702ˣ, LR, R693ˣ, vín 1824b, ‘[…]’ 147, vín with ‘virtur al. virt’ in margin 6ˣ;    ór sárum: ‘[…]um’ 147    [10] sveif: ‘sueif’ or ‘sueit’ R693ˣ;    of hjarna: ‘[…]rna’ 147;    kleifar: ‘[…](ífar)’(?) 147, kleifa R702ˣ, LR, R693ˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 643, Skj BI, 650, Skald I, 317, NN §1275; Rafn 1826, 6-7, 107-10, Pfeiffer 1860, 124, CPB II, 341, Wisén 1886-9, I, 63, Krm 1891, 226, Finnur Jónsson 1893b, 87, 165 Finnur Jónsson 1905, 153-4, Ragn 1906-8, 187.

Notes: [All]: In R702ˣ, LR and R693ˣ the present stanza and st. 8 appear in reverse order. — [1]: In most of the stanzas in which the refrain can be discerned in 147 it is clear that it is abbreviated in ways differing slightly from stanza to stanza. The state of 147’s preservation nevertheless makes it impossible to identify with precision the indication of abbreviation in each case. Each instance of abbreviation in the refrains as preserved in 147 is accordingly signalled in the Readings of the present edn by an apostrophe comma enclosed in round brackets, the latter indicating, as elsewhere in the Readings, that the ms. reading is unclear. The relevant stanzas are 7, 8, 13-15, 17, 19-27. — [2] rottar ‘swords’: The intitial <h> in hrottar ‘swords’ has been omitted here to avoid double alliteration in an even line. — [3] áðr en ‘before’: All previous eds from Wisén (1886-9) onwards omit the particle en here following áðr, presumably for metrical reasons. Cf. Note to st. 5/2, 3 above. — [3] á Ullarakri ‘at Ullarakr’: Ullarakr, lit. ‘field of wool’ seems to correspond to the campum, qui Latialiter Laneus dicitur ‘the field which in Latin is called Wool’, at which, according to Saxo (Saxo 2015, I, ix. 4. 9-11, pp. 636-9), Regnerus Lothbrog, while married to Thora, his second wife in Saxo’s account, defeated the Scanian supporters of Haraldus (Klakk-Haraldr), a rival claimant to his sovereignty, with the help of his first wife Lathgertha. This would indicate that Ullarakr was in Skåne, now the southernmost province of Sweden. For an alternative possibility, however, see the next Note. — [4] Eysteinn konungr ‘King Eysteinn’: This Eysteinn, here stated to have died at Ullarakr, may well be identical with the Eysteinn who, in RagnSon (Hb 1892-6, 459-62) and Ragn (Ragn 1906-8, 132-50), is stated to have ruled in Uppsala, Sweden, to have caused the deaths of Eiríkr and Agnarr, Ragnarr’s sons by his first wife Þóra, and to have been defeated and slain in his own kingdom by an avenging army led by the sons of Ragnarr’s second marriage and their mother Áslaug. If so, then the Ullarakr mentioned here as the scene of Eysteinn’s death is perhaps the place of that name close to Uppsala that is mentioned in ÓHHkr chs 78 and 94 (ÍF 27, 111-12, 155), rather than somewhere in Skåne, cf. the previous Note. Clearly to be identified with the Eysteinn of RagnSon and Ragn is Ostenus, upon whom, later in Saxo’s account (Saxo 2015, I, ix. 5. 6, pp. 666-7), Agnerus (= Agnarr), son of Regnerus Lothbrog by his second wife Thora, seeks to avenge the death of his half-brother Ericus (= Eiríkr), son of Regnerus by his third wife Suanlogha, in Sweden. — [5-8]: Finnur Jónsson (1905), followed here in Skj B and in Skald, is the first of previous eds to mark off rækyndill smó rauðar rítr ‘the corpse-torch [SWORD] penetrated red shields’ as an intercalary clause. The punctuation of earlier eds indicates that they take the couplets ll. 5-6 and 7-8 as each constituting a separate syntactic unit. As for ll. 7-8, all eds up to and including Finnur Jónsson (1893b), take these lines also as a separate syntactic unit, and appear to understand them as meaning: ‘the corpse-candle [SWORD] penetrated red shields at the meeting of helmets [BATTLE]’. — [6] af bröndum ‘from the flames’: Finnur Jónsson (1893b; 1905; Skj B; followed in Skald), emends the mss’ at ‘towards’ to af ‘from’. — [7] rækyndill ‘the corpse-candle [SWORD]’: On the spelling ræ- (as opposed to hræ-), see first Note to st. 2/10, above. The kenning is paralleled in RvHbreiðm Hl 68/1^III, where hjaldrkyndill ‘battle-torch [SWORD]’ occurs, cf. de Vries (1938, 722 n. 78); cf. also hrækerti ‘corpse-candle [SWORD]’ (HjǪ 7/3). — [9] virtr svíra ‘the wort of the neck [BLOOD]’: Finnur Jónsson (1893b, 87, 165; 1905; Skj B; followed by Skald) adopts the reading virtr ‘wort, new beer not fully fermented’ here in place of 1824b’s and 6ˣ’s vín ‘wine’ adopted by all previous eds. The phrase í víni oc virtri ‘in wine and wort’ occurs in Sigdr 17/3 (NK 193). — [10] kleifar hjarna ‘the cliffs of the brain [SHOULDERS]’: This kenning, which Meissner 127 classifies as a head-kenning, is paralleled in RvHbreiðm Hl 40/3^III háturnar hjarna ‘high towers of the brain [HEADS]’; cf. de Vries (1938, 722 n. 78). In the present context, the meaning ‘shoulders’ is more likely than ‘heads’, as blood is said to be flowing over the objects.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. Meissner = Meissner, Rudolf. 1921. Die Kenningar der Skalden: Ein Beitrag zur skaldischen Poetik. Rheinische Beiträge und Hülfsbücher zur germanischen Philologie und Volkskunde 1. Bonn and Leipzig: Schroeder. Rpt. 1984. Hildesheim etc.: Olms.
6. CPB = Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and F. York Powell, eds. 1883. Corpus poeticum boreale: The Poetry of the Old Northern Tongue from the Earliest Times to the Thirteenth Century. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon. Rpt. 1965, New York: Russell & Russell.
7. Wisén, Theodor, ed. 1886-9. Carmina Norrœnæ: Ex reliquiis vetustioris norrœnæ poësis selecta, recognita, commentariis et glossario instructa. 2 vols. Lund: Ohlsson.
8. Finnur Jónsson. 1893b. Carmina Norrœna: Rettet Tekst. Copenhagen: Nielsen & Lydiche.
9. NK = Neckel, Gustav and Hans Kuhn (1899), eds. 1983. Edda: Die Lieder des Codex Regius nebst verwandten Denkmälern. 2 vols. I: Text. 5th edn. Heidelberg: Winter.
10. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
11. Hb 1892-6 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1892-6. Hauksbók udgiven efter de Arnamagnæanske håndskrifter no. 371, 544 og 675, 4° samt forskellige papirshåndskrifter. Copenhagen: Det kongelige nordiske oldskrift-selskab.
12. Pfeiffer, Friedrich. 1860. Altnordisches Lesebuch. Leipzig: T. O. Weigel.
13. Ragn 1906-8 = Olsen 1906-8, 111-222.
14. Vries, Jan de. 1938. Een skald onder de troubadours. Ledeburg, Gent: N. V. Drukkerij Erasmus.
15. Finnur Jónsson. 1905. ‘Krákumál’. Oversigt over det Kgl. Danske videnskabernes selskabs forhandlinger 1905, 151-83.
16. Krm 1891 = 2nd edn (pp. 225-8) of Krm as ed. in Valdimar Ásmundarson 1885-9, I.
17. Saxo 2015 = Friis-Jensen, Karsten, ed. 2015. Saxo Grammaticus: Gesta Danorum: The History of the Danes. Trans. Peter Fisher. Oxford Medieval Texts. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon.
18. Rafn, Carl Christian, ed. 1826. Krakas Maal eller Kvad om Kong Ragnar Lodbroks Krigsbedrifter og Heltedød efter en gammel Skindbog og flere hidtil ubenyttede Haandskrifter med dansk, latinsk og fransk oversættelse, forskjellige Læsemaader, samt kritiske og philologiske Anmærkninger. Copenhagen: Jens Hostrup Schultz; London: John and Arthur Arch.
19. LR = Worm 1636.
20. Internal references
21. 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Ragnars saga loðbrókar’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 616. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=81> (accessed 23 April 2024)
22. 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Ragnars sona þáttr’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 777. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=85> (accessed 23 April 2024)
23. (forthcoming), ‘ Heimskringla, Óláfs saga helga (in Heimskringla)’ 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. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=152> (accessed 23 April 2024)
24. Kari Ellen Gade 2017, ‘ Rǫgnvaldr jarl and Hallr Þórarinsson, Háttalykill’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1001. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1347> (accessed 23 April 2024)
25. Richard L. Harris (ed.) 2017, ‘Hjálmþés saga ok Ǫlvis 7 (Hjálmþér Ingason, Lausavísur 4)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 499.