ÞGísl Búdr 12^I

Felldi Vagn virða;
valði of nái stirða
hrafn inn hvassleiti;
hrundi á borð sveiti.
Þess réð þó dála
— þrymr vas hôr stála —
eyðis undglóða
Eirekr skip hrjóða.

Vagn felldi virða; inn hvassleiti hrafn valði of stirða nái; sveiti hrundi á borð. Eirekr réð þó hrjóða dála skip {þess eyðis {undglóða}}; {þrymr stála} vas hôr.

Vagn felled warriors; the sharp-eyed raven chose between stiff corpses; blood flowed onto the gunwale. Eiríkr managed nevertheless to clear completely the ship {of that destroyer {of wound-embers}} [SWORDS > WARRIOR = Vagn]; {the din of steel weapons} [BATTLE] was loud.

Mss: 61(20rb), 53(16vb), 54(16vb), Bb(27rb) (ÓT)

Readings: [2] stirða: ‘styrda’ 54, Bb    [5] Þess réð þó: so 54, Bb, þá réð þess 61, þat réð þó 53    [7] eyðis: eyðir Bb;    und‑: so 53, 54, Bb, unn 61    [8] Eirekr: ‘eir’ 53, Bb, Eiríks 54

Editions: Skj AI, 555, Skj BI, 538, Skald I, 261; Fms 1, 179, Fms 12, 45, ÓT 1958-2000, I, 196 (ch. 90); Ólafur Halldórsson 2000, 31, 82-3.

Context: After he has dealt with Búi Vésetason’s ship, Eiríkr jarl lays his ship alongside Vagn Ákason’s. Vagn counters Eiríkr’s attack with supreme valour and kills many men but is eventually overcome. The ship is cleared and Vagn is captured and taken ashore with thirty others.

Notes: [5, 8] réð þó hrjóða ‘managed nevertheless to clear’: The full sense ‘managed’ for réð is appropriate in context here, but the verb could alternatively be taken as a pleonastic auxiliary, as in st. 10/1. — [5] þó ‘nevertheless’: The mss differ over the order of the first three words in l. 5, and over the precise adv. used. Þó is preferred here as the reading of 54, Bb and 53, as against þá ‘then’ in 61 alone, and it is contextually more meaningful: despite the damage done by Vagn and the Jómsvíkingar, Eiríkr prevails. — [7] eyðis undglóða ‘destroyer of the wound-embers [SWORDS > WARRIOR]’: (a) The reading und ‘wound’ is preferred here, as in Skj B. It is preserved in 53, 54 and Bb, representing two classes within the ÓT stemma, and produces an acceptable sword-kenning (cf. Meissner 159-60 for parallels) which forms the determinant of a tvíkent warrior-kenning and reinforces the theme of battle. (b) The 61 reading unn ‘wave’ is also possible. It produces eyðis unnglóða ‘destroyer of wave-embers [GOLD > GENEROUS MAN]’ and is well paralleled (Meissner 229-37); it is adopted in Skald and Ólafur Halldórsson (2000).

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. 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. ÓT 1958-2000 = Ólafur Halldórsson, ed. 1958-2000. Saga Óláfs Tryggvasonar en mesta. 3 vols. EA A 1-3. Copenhagen: Munksgaard (Reitzel).
7. Ólafur Halldórsson. 2000a. Danish Kings and the Jomsvikings in the Greatest Saga of Óláfr Tryggvason. London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
8. Internal references
9. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta’ 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=60> (accessed 23 April 2024)
10. Matthew Townend 2012, ‘(Biography of) Vagn Ákason’ 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. 365.