Sturl Hákkv 1^II

Þá hefr í ætt
öðlingr drepit
Tryggva niðs
tírarhöfði,
er framráðs
flýja þurfti
ynglings barn
fyr ófriði.

Þá hefr öðlingr drepit tírarhöfði í ætt {niðs Tryggva}, er barn framráðs ynglings þurfti flýja fyr ófriði.

Then the prince [Hákon] pushed his famous head into the family {of the kinsman of Tryggvi} [= Óláfr Tryggvason], when the child of the ambitious king [= Hákon] was forced to flee on account of unrest.

Mss: E(140r), F(84va), 42ˣ(83v), 81a(65rb), 8(34r), Flat(164rb) (Hák)

Readings: [2] öðlingr: ‘ꜹðligr’ 42ˣ    [3] Tryggva: er tryggva F;    niðs: niðr 8    [4] höfði: ‘ho᷎fla’ Flat    [5] ‑ráðs: ‘‑ras’ 42ˣ    [6] þurfti: þyrfti 42ˣ

Editions: Skj AII, 108-9, Skj BII, 118-19, Skald II, 63, NN §2578; E 1916, 473-4, F 1871, 390, Hák 1910-86, 296, Hák 1977-82, 4, Flat 1860-8, III, 6.

Context: During the winter of 1205-6, the Birkibeinar brought the two-year-old Hákon from Viken to Hamar, Lillehammer and up through Østerdalen to Trondheim (Norway). The journey was very hazardous, and Sturla likens it to the young Óláfr Tryggvason’s escape to Sweden.

Notes: [All]: After the murder of Óláfr Tryggvason’s father, Tryggvi Óláfsson (c. 986), the infant Óláfr and his mother, Ástríðr, were hunted by their enemies (specifically Gunnhildr, the widow of Eiríkr blóðøx Haraldsson) and forced to flee from Norway to Sweden (see ÓTHkr, ÍF 26, 227-9). — [1-2, 4] þá hefr öðlingr drepit tírarhöfði í ætt ‘then the prince [Hákon] pushed his famous head into the family’: I.e. ‘he proved himself to be of that ilk’. — [3] niðs Tryggva ‘of the kinsman of Tryggvi [= Óláfr Tryggvason]’: Tryggvi Óláfsson was the grandson of Haraldr hárfagri and the father of Óláfr Tryggvason. — [4] tírarhöfði ‘his famous head’: Taken as a cpd here, formed in keeping with such compounds as tírarfǫr ‘famous journey’ (see LP: tírarfǫr; tírargjarn; tírarlauss). Kock also connects tírar (m. gen. sg.) ‘of fame’ with höfði ‘head’ but takes these as two separate words (Skald; NN §2578). Skj B construes tírar with ætt ‘family’ (l. 1) (ætt tírar ‘family of fame’). — [5, 7] framráðs ynglings ‘of the ambitious king’: Hákon Sverrisson, Hákon’s father (d. 1 January 1204). — [8] fyr ófriði ‘on account of unrest’: When Hákon’s father, Hákon Sverrisson, died in 1204, the Birkibeinar elected Ingi Bárðarson king and the Baglar chose Erlingr steinveggr ‘Stonewall’, the alleged son of Magnús Erlingsson (see Note to st. 6/8 below). The leaders of the Baglar faction were Nikulás Árnason, bishop of Oslo, and his nephew, Philippús Símunarson. Hákon and his mother, Inga, had been in hiding with a priest in Viken for the first year of Hákon’s life, but a little before Christmas 1205, they began to travel north accompanied by two loyal followers. Hákon and his company reached Hamar, which was one of the strongholds of the Baglar and the seat of Ívarr, bishop of Hamar and a Baglar partisan. Because the Birkibeinar feared for Hákon’s life, they moved him and his mother north to Lillehammer. For the Baglar, see also Note to Anon (Sv) 4/7. For the Birkibeinar, see Note to Nefari Lv 1/1.

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. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
8. F 1871 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1871. Fríssbók: Codex Frisianus. En samling af norske konge-sagaer. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
9. E 1916 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1916. Eirspennill: AM 47 fol. Nóregs konunga sǫgur: Magnús góði – Hákon gamli. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske historiske kildeskriftskommission.
10. Hák 1977-82 = Mundt, Marina, ed. 1977. Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar etter Sth. 8 fol., AM 325VIII, 4° og AM 304, 4°. Oslo: Forlagsentralen. Suppl. by James E. Knirk, Rettelser til Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar etter Sth. 8 fol., AM 325VIII, 4° og AM 304, 4°. Norrøne tekster 2. Oslo: Norsk historisk kjeldeskrift-institutt, 1982.
11. Hák 1910-86 = Kjær, Albert and Ludvig Holm-Olsen, eds. 1910-86. Det Arnamagnæanske haandskrift 81a fol. (Skálholtsbók yngsta) indeholdende Sverris saga, Bǫglungasǫgur, Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar. Oslo: Den norske historiske kildeskriftkommission and Kjeldeskriftfondet.
12. Internal references
13. Diana Whaley 2012, ‘(Biography of) Óláfr Tryggvason’ 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. 383.
14. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Anonymous Lausavísur, Lausavísur from Sverris saga 4’ 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. 845.
15. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Nefari, Lausavísa 1’ 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. 645-6.