Steinn Óldr 2^II

Ungr vísi, lézt Úsu
allnær búendr falla;
sótti herr, þars hætti
hlíftrauðr konungr lífi.
Þess mun þangatkváma
þengils vesa Englum,
enn sem eptir renni,
iflaust, es þá lifðu.

Ungr vísi, lézt búendr falla allnær Úsu; herr sótti, þars hlíftrauðr konungr hætti lífi. Þangatkváma þess þengils mun iflaust vesa Englum, es þá lifðu, sem enn renni eptir.

Young ruler, you caused farmers to fall very close to the River Ouse; the army attacked where the protection-shy king risked his life. The arrival of that lord must undoubtedly appear to the English, who were then left alive, as if they are still being pursued.

Mss: Mork(18v) (Mork); Flat(203va) (Flat); H(74r), Hr(52vb) (H-Hr)

Readings: [1] vísi: vísir Hr;    lézt: lét Flat, Hr    [3] sótti: sóttisk Flat    [5] Þess: þeim Flat;    ‑kváma: ‑kvmu Hr    [6] Englum: lengi Flat

Editions: Skj AI, 409-10, Skj BI, 379, Skald I, 188; Mork 1867, 113, Mork 1928-32, 269, Andersson and Gade 2000, 266, 481 (MH); Flat 1860-8, III, 390 (MH); Fms 6, 407 (HSig ch. 115).

Context: As st. 1 above.

Notes: [1, 2] allnær Úsu ‘very close to the River Ouse’: Arn Hardr 7/3 also mentions the proximity to the River Ouse (vel nær Úsu ‘hard by the Ouse’). This river flows around 400 metres away from the battlefield (see Jones 2007, 178). — [5-8]: The Flat version (so also Skj B; Skald) can be rendered as follows: þangatkváma þengils mun iflaust vesa lengi þeim, es þá lifðu, sem enn renni eptir ‘the arrival of the lord must undoubtedly long appear to those, who were then left alive, as if they are still being pursued’. This version is lower on the stemma and must be secondary (see also the Note to l. 5 below). — [5] þess (m. gen. sg.) ‘of that’: Þeim (dat. pl.; so Flat) preserves the internal rhyme (-eim : -ám-) and has been adopted in Skj B and Skald. However, the other ms. witnesses show that this variant is a Flat innovation (see Note to ll. 5-8 above).

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. Fms = Sveinbjörn Egilsson et al., eds. 1825-37. Fornmanna sögur eptir gömlum handritum útgefnar að tilhlutun hins norræna fornfræða fèlags. 12 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
4. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. Andersson, Theodore M. and Kari Ellen Gade, trans. 2000. Morkinskinna: The Earliest Icelandic Chronicle of the Norwegian Kings (1030-1157). Islandica 51. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.
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. Mork 1928-32 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1928-32. Morkinskinna. SUGNL 53. Copenhagen: Jørgensen.
8. Jones, Charles. 2007. The Forgotten Battle of 1066: Fulford. 2nd edn. Stroud: Tempus.
9. Mork 1867 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1867. Morkinskinna: Pergamentsbog fra første halvdel af det trettende aarhundrede. Indeholdende en af de ældste optegnelser af norske kongesagaer. Oslo: Bentzen.
10. Internal references
11. (forthcoming), ‘ Heimskringla, Haralds saga Sigurðssonar’ 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=142> (accessed 8 May 2024)
12. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Magnúss saga góða ok Haralds harðráða’ 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=147> (accessed 8 May 2024)
13. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Arnórr jarlaskáld Þórðarson, Haraldsdrápa 7’ 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. 268.