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Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Sigv Erlfl 6I

Judith Jesch (ed.) 2012, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Flokkr about Erlingr Skjálgsson 6’ 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. 637.

Sigvatr ÞórðarsonFlokkr about Erlingr Skjálgsson
567

Erlingr fell, en olli
allríkr skapat slíku
— bíðrat betri dauða —
bragna konr með gagni.
Mann veitk engi annan,
allbrátt þótt fjǫr láti,
enn sás allan kunni
aldr fullara at halda.

Erlingr fell, en {allríkr konr bragna} olli slíku skapat með gagni; betri bíðrat dauða. Veitk engi annan mann, sás kunni at halda enn fullara allan aldr, þótt láti fjǫr allbrátt.

Erlingr fell, and {the most powerful son of kings} [RULER = Óláfr] caused such a thing to be brought about by [his] victory; no better man will experience death. I know of no other man who could maintain his standing all his life, even though he lost his life very early.

Mss: (432v-433r) (Hkr); Holm2(58r), J2ˣ(208v-209r), 321ˣ(218), 73aˣ(179r), 68(57v), Holm4(55vb), 61(116vb), 325V(69ra), 325VII(32r), Bb(189rb), Flat(119ra-b), Tóm(146v), 325XI 2 b(1ra) (ÓH)

Readings: [1] Erlingr fell en olli: ‘[…]’ 325XI 2 b;    en: ok 68;    olli: so all others, ‘ǫlli’ Kˣ    [2] allríkr: Áslákr 321ˣ, ‘vllrik‑’ Bb;    skapat: skipat Holm2, skipan J2ˣ, 321ˣ, 73aˣ, tapaðr 61, Bb, Flat, Tóm, 325XI 2 b, skapaðr 325V, 325VII;    slíku: slíkri J2ˣ, 321ˣ, 73aˣ, slíkum Flat    [3] bíðrat: biðjat 61, bíðra at Flat, ‘b[…]’ 325XI 2 b;    betri: betra J2ˣ, 321ˣ, 73aˣ, 68, 325VII, Tóm, ‘[…]’ 325XI 2 b    [4] bragna: bragninga 61, Bb, Flat, ‘bragningra’ Tóm, ‘[…]gning[…]’ 325XI 2 b;    konr með: konungr Bb;    konr: kon or kom Flat, ‘[…]’ 325XI 2 b;    með: af J2ˣ, om. 61, Flat, Tóm, at 325V, 325VII, ‘[…]’ 325XI 2 b;    gagni: magni Holm2, J2ˣ, 321ˣ    [5] engi: eigi 73aˣ, 61, engan 68;    annan: anna Tóm    [6] þótt (‘þo at’): at Holm2, 68, Holm4, 325V, 325VII, Bb, Flat, Tóm, 325XI 2 b, þann er J2ˣ, 321ˣ, 73aˣ, af 61;    láti: latti J2ˣ, Tóm, láta 61, látit Flat    [7] enn: einn 61, Flat, 325XI 2 b, ein Tóm;    sás (‘sa er’): þann er 61, er sá Flat;    allan: allir 61;    kunni: kunnu 61    [8] aldr: aldr kunnara Bb;    fullara: prúðliga J2ˣ;    halda: gjalda 68, Flat

Editions: Skj AI, 245-6, Skj BI, 230, Skald I, 119, NN §§641, 642Hkr 1893-1901, II, 407-8, IV, 156-7, ÍF 27, 318, Hkr 1991, II, 485 (ÓHHkr ch. 176); ÓH 1941, I, 486 (ch. 172), Flat 1860-8, II, 311; Jón Skaptason 1983, 118, 265.

Context: The defeated Erlingr is killed by Áslákr Fitjaskalli ‘Fitjar-Baldhead’, apparently against the wishes of King Óláfr. His death is greatly mourned by the inhabitants of the region.

Notes: [1-4]: Sigvatr here portrays the king as causing (olli) Erlingr’s death through his victory (með gagni), but the extent to which blame is apportioned is unclear. Kock (NN §641) suggests taking með gagni to mean ‘to his advantage’ and construing it with Erlingr fell ‘Erlingr fell’, the advantage to Erlingr in his death being the glory he had won. This would have the effect of deflecting the focus from the king, but seems less plausible in the context. In Snorri’s prose account (ÍF 27, 317-18) Óláfr gives Erlingr a token wound for his treason, but when Áslákr Fitjaskalli intervenes to deal Erlingr his death-blow Óláfr cries out that he has struck Norway out of his hands (see also Note to st. 7/7-8). — [3] betri bíðrat ‘no better man will experience’: Lit. ‘a better man will not experience’. — [4] með gagni ‘by [his] victory’: Skj B translates með as tilligemed ‘along with’ (LP: með B. 3), paralleling the two events, Erlingr’s fall and Óláfr’s victory, but the meaning ‘by means of’ (LP: með B. 7) seems preferable. — [6] láti ‘lost’: Finnur Jónsson (Hkr 1893-1901, II; Skj B) selects the negative form látit ‘did not lose’ from Flat, arguing (Hkr 1893-1901, IV) that the meaning of l. 6 is selv om han lever aldrig så længe, og meget længere end Erling ‘even if he lives ever so long, and much longer than Erlingr’. Apart from the problematic choice of a unique reading from an inferior ms., it is relevant to the interpretation of this that Erlingr was quite old when he died. The implication is surely that even those who die young could not manage to maintain their standing as well as Erlingr managed to do over a much longer period of time (similarly Kock, NN §642). — [7] sás ‘who’: The nom. case of the pron. (forming sás with enclitic rel. (e)s) is determined by the following rel. clause, a construction that is possible, though rare (NS §260). The acc. case þann er (normalised þanns) agreeing with annan mann ‘another man’ in the preceding clause would be more usual, and is the reading of 61. — [7, 8] halda enn fullara ‘maintain his standing’: Lit. ‘assert [himself] more fully’; the interpretation follows LP: halda A. 11. Jón Skaptason (1983) construes allan aldr ‘all his life’ as the object of the verb.

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. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. NS = Nygaard, Marius. 1906. Norrøn syntax. Kristiania (Oslo): Aschehoug. Rpt. 1966.
  8. ÓH 1941 = Johnsen, Oscar Albert and Jón Helgason, eds. 1941. Saga Óláfs konungs hins helga: Den store saga om Olav den hellige efter pergamenthåndskrift i Kungliga biblioteket i Stockholm nr. 2 4to med varianter fra andre håndskrifter. 2 vols. Det norske historiske kildeskriftfond skrifter 53. Oslo: Dybwad.
  9. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
  10. Hkr 1893-1901 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1893-1901. Heimskringla: Nóregs konunga sǫgur af Snorri Sturluson. 4 vols. SUGNL 23. Copenhagen: Møller.
  11. Hkr 1991 = Bergljót S. Kristjánsdóttir et al., eds. 1991. Heimskringla. 3 vols. Reykjavík: Mál og menning.
  12. 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.
  13. Internal references
  14. (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 29 March 2024)
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