Sigv Víkv 9^I

Vann ungr konungr Englum
ótrauðr skarar rauðar;
endr kom brúnt á branda
blóð í Nýjamóðu.
Nú hefk orrostur, austan
ógnvaldr, níu talðar;
herr fell danskr, þars dǫrrum
dreif mest at Ôleifi.

Ungr, ótrauðr konungr vann Englum rauðar skarar; brúnt blóð kom endr á branda í Nýjamóðu. Nú hefk talðar níu orrostur, {ógnvaldr} austan; danskr herr fell, þars dǫrrum dreif mest at Ôleifi.

The young, not unwilling king made the hair of the English red; dark red blood again came onto swords in Nýjamóða. Now I have enumerated nine battles, {battle-causer} [WARRIOR] from the east; the Danish army fell, where spears drove most against Óláfr.

Mss: Kˣ(227v) (Hkr); Holm2(7r), R686ˣ(12va-b), J2ˣ(123r), 325VI(6va), 73aˣ(20v-21r), 78aˣ(20r), 68(6r), 61(80ra-b), 75c(3v), 325V(9ra), 325VII(2r), Bb(127ra), Flat(80va), Tóm(96v) (ÓH); FskBˣ(40v), FskAˣ(154) (Fsk, ll. 5-8); DG8(73v) (ÓHLeg, ll. 5-8)

Readings: [1] konungr: om. 325V    [2] ótrauðr: ‘otruþr’ R686ˣ;    skarar: skarr R686ˣ, skarir 73aˣ, Tóm    [3] brúnt: brant R686ˣ, ‘brundt’ J2ˣ, brýnt Tóm    [5] hefk (‘hefi ec’): hefði ek R686ˣ, hefir FskBˣ;    orrostur: orrostu R686ˣ, orrostan Flat, ‘orrostr’ FskBˣ, FskAˣ;    austan: om. Flat    [6] ‑valdr: so R686ˣ, 325VI, 325V, 325VII, Bb, Flat, Tóm, FskBˣ, FskAˣ, DG8, ‘dvalþ̄’ Kˣ, ‑djarfr Holm2, 68, ‑djarfs J2ˣ, ‑valds 73aˣ, 78aˣ, 75c, ‘dualdr’ 61    [7] þars (‘þar er’): fyrir 73aˣ, er 61, þá er Bb, með Flat, Tóm

Editions: Skj AI, 225-6, Skj BI, 215, Skald I, 112, NN §614; Hkr 1893-1901, II, 22, IV, 111-12, ÍF 27, 21, Hkr 1991, I, 264 (ÓHHkr ch. 15); ÓH 1941, I, 47 (ch. 24), Flat 1860-8, II, 21; Fsk 1902-3, 142 (ch. 25), ÍF 29, 169 (ch. 27); ÓHLeg 1922, 13, ÓHLeg 1982, 56-7; Fell 1981b, 117-18, Jón Skaptason 1983, 61, 224.

Context: In ÓH-Hkr, it is said that Óláfr had responsibility for defending England and won a battle against the þingmannalið ‘troop of assembly members’ in Nýjamóða. Both Fsk and ÓHLeg note that Óláfr’s ninth battle was at Nýjamóða and that Sigvatr says that he ‘again fought against the Danes’.

Notes: [4] Nýjamóðu ‘Nýjamóða’: It is likely that this represents the now obsolete p. n. Newemouth (recorded in 1286), ‘on the Suffolk coast between Orford and Aldeburgh’ (Townend 1998, 61). ON ný- is cognate with ME newe ‘new’, while ON móða normally means ‘river’ (LP: móða) but provides a useful approximation to OE mūða ‘mouth, estuary’.  — [5] austan ‘from the east’: In the absence of a better solution, this is taken here as qualifying the noun ógnvaldr ‘battle-causer [WARRIOR]’ (so also NN §614, ÍF 27 and LP: austan, with emendation of ógnvaldr to allvaldr). In addressing Óláfr as ‘from the east’, Sigvatr may simply mean ‘from Norway’, from an Icelandic point of view (cf. austmaðr ‘Norwegian’), or else may refer specifically to Óláfr’s early campaigns in the Baltic. The usage is unusual, since austan most often qualifies verbs or full sentences, as in Sigv Knútdr 7/2 frá austan ‘learned [news] from the east’. Finnur Jónsson (see Note to l. 7 below) originally took austan with danskr herr ‘Danish army’, which gives good sense but awkward word order. — [6] ógnvaldr ‘battle-causer [WARRIOR]’: The rhyming of -ld- : -lð- (here vald- : talð-) is allowed in dróttkvætt (Kuhn 1983, 79). The Kˣ reading ‘dvalþ̄’ does not make sense but may have arisen as a hypercorrect attempt to produce a rhyme of -lð- : -lð-. The reading ógnvaldr is chosen here since it has the widest support in the paradosis, and the second person address to Óláfr is paralleled in sts 2/8 (which has allvaldr ‘mighty ruler’), 5/1 and 11/1. The main alternatives ógnvalds ‘of the warrior’ and ógndjarfr ‘battle-brave’ are possible but poorly represented. — [7] danskr herr ‘the Danish army’: Finnur Jónsson (Hkr 1893-1901; Skj B), construing this with austan ‘from the east’ (l. 5), takes it strictly to mean Danes, though in LP he revised his view of austan (see Note above). Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson (ÍF 27) suggests a broader reference to the company of Nordic vikings (cf. Note to st. 15/8).

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. Fell, Christine E. 1981b. ‘Víkingarvísur’. In Dronke et al. 1981, 106-22.
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. 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 4^to med varianter fra andre håndskrifter. 2 vols. Det norske historiske kildeskriftfond skrifter 53. Oslo: Dybwad.
9. ÓHLeg 1982 = Heinrichs, Anne et al., eds and trans. 1982. Olafs saga hins helga: Die ‘Legendarische Saga’ über Olaf den Heiligen (Hs. Delagard. saml. nr. 8^II). Heidelberg: Winter.
10. Kuhn, Hans (1899). 1983. Das Dróttkvætt. Heidelberg: Winter.
11. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
12. Hkr 1893-1901 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1893-1901. Heimskringla: Nóregs konunga sǫgur af Snorri Sturluson. 4 vols. SUGNL 23. Copenhagen: Møller.
13. Hkr 1991 = Bergljót S. Kristjánsdóttir et al., eds. 1991. Heimskringla. 3 vols. Reykjavík: Mál og menning.
14. Fsk 1902-3 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1902-3. Fagrskinna: Nóregs kononga tal. SUGNL 30. Copenhagen: Møller.
15. ÍF 29 = Ágrip af Nóregskonunga sǫgum; Fagrskinna—Nóregs konungatal. Ed. Bjarni Einarsson. 1985.
16. 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.
17. ÓHLeg 1922 = Johnsen, Oscar Albert, ed. 1922. Olafs saga hins helga efter pergamenthåndskrift i Uppsala Universitetsbibliotek, Delagardieske samling nr. 8^II. Det norske historiske kildeskriftfond skrifter 47. Kristiania (Oslo): Dybwad.
18. Townend, Matthew. 1998. English Place-Names in Skaldic Verse. English Place-Name Society extra ser. 1. Nottingham: English Place-Name Society.
19. Internal references
20. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Óláfs saga helga (Legendary)’ 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=31> (accessed 20 April 2024)
21. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Fagrskinna’ 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=56> (accessed 20 April 2024)
22. (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 20 April 2024)
23. Matthew Townend (ed.) 2012, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Knútsdrápa 7’ 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. 658.