ÞKolb Eirdr 14^I

Gollkennir lét gunni
(grœðis hests) fyr vestan
(Þundr vá leyfðr til landa)
Lundún saman bundit.
Fekk, — regn Þorins rekka
rann — of þingamǫnnum,
ýglig hǫgg, þars eggjar,
Ulfkell, bláar skulfu.

{Gollkennir} lét bundit saman gunni fyr vestan Lundún; {leyfðr Þundr {hests grœðis}} vá til landa. Ulfkell fekk ýglig hǫgg, þars bláar eggjar skulfu of þingamǫnnum; {regn {rekka Þorins}} rann.

{The gold-master} [GENEROUS MAN = Eiríkr] joined battle west of London; {the celebrated Þundr <= Óðinn> {of the horse of the sea}} [SHIP > SEAFARER = Eiríkr] won lands by fighting. Ulfcytel received terrible blows, where dark blades shook over the þingamenn; {the rain {of the men of Þorinn <dwarf>}} [DWARFS > POETRY] streamed.

Mss: Kˣ(232v) (Hkr); Holm2(8r), R686ˣ(14v), 972ˣ(52va), J1ˣ(144r), J2ˣ(125r), 73aˣ(23r), 78aˣ(23r), 68(7r), 61(81ra), 75c(4v), 325V(10rb), Bb(128ra), Tóm(97v) (ÓH); 61(71vb), 53(68vb), 54(70va), Bb(106rb), Flat(75ra) (ÓT); JÓ(26), 20dˣ(10r), 873ˣ(11v-12r), 20i 23ˣ(14v-15v), 41ˣ(9v) (Knýtl)

Readings: [1] Gollkennir: ‘Gullkennr’ J1ˣ, golls kennir 325V, Tóm;    lét: lézk R686ˣ, lézk þú 61(81ra);    gunni: ‘gúni’ R686ˣ, golli 61(81ra)    [2] grœðis: ‘grvdiz’ J1ˣ;    hests: hest Holm2, R686ˣ, 972ˣ, J1ˣ, J2ˣ, 73aˣ, 78aˣ, 75c, Bb(128ra), Tóm, 54, Bb(106rb), Flat, 41ˣ    [3] Þundr: þýðr J1ˣ, J2ˣ, 73aˣ, 78aˣ, om. Flat;    vá: ‘va(nn)’(?) R686ˣ, var 78aˣ, vá apparently corrected from ‘na’ 41ˣ;    leyfðr: lýðr R686ˣ, ‘ly[…]’ R686ˣ, lýðs J1ˣ, J2ˣ, 73aˣ, 78aˣ, ‘leyfr’ JÓ, 20dˣ, 873ˣ, 20i 23ˣ, ‘leyfur’ 41ˣ;    landa: láða J1ˣ, J2ˣ, 73aˣ, 78aˣ    [4] Lundún: ‘lundv’ Holm2    [5] Fekk: gekk 68;    regn‑: ‘reg‑’ Bb(128ra), hregg Tóm;    ‑Þorins: ‑þorin 972ˣ, 61(81ra), 61(71vb), 53, 41ˣ, ‘‑þoris’ J1ˣ, J2ˣ, ‑þorinn 73aˣ, 78aˣ, 54, Bb(106rb), JÓ, 20dˣ, 873ˣ, 20i 23ˣ, ‘þornis’ Tóm;    rekka: rekja R686ˣ, reka J1ˣ, rekkum 325V    [6] rann: so J1ˣ, J2ˣ, rǫnn Kˣ, Holm2, R686ˣ, 972ˣ, 73aˣ, 78aˣ, 68, 61(81ra), 75c, Bb(128ra), Tóm, 61(71vb), 53, 54, Bb(106rb), Flat, JÓ, 20dˣ, 873ˣ, 20i 23ˣ, 41ˣ, runn 325V;    of: af R686ˣ, 73aˣ, 78aˣ, 61(81ra), Bb(128ra), Tóm, 61(71vb), 54, Bb(106rb), Flat, JÓ, 20dˣ, 873ˣ, 20i 23ˣ, 41ˣ;    ‑mǫnnum: ‘‑monno’ Holm2, ‘mennum’ R686ˣ    [7] ýglig: œgligt R686ˣ, 78aˣ, ‘Ogligt’ 972ˣ, ‘æygligt’ J1ˣ, ‘œygligt’ J2ˣ, œglig 73aˣ, JÓ, 20dˣ, 873ˣ, 20i 23ˣ, ‘yglis’ 68, ‘o᷎glis’ 61(81ra), ‘vgligt’ 325V, ‘yggug’ Bb(128ra), ok 41ˣ;    hǫgg: ‘hog’ J1ˣ, Bb(128ra), hǫggs 61(81ra);    eggjar: eggja Holm2, J1ˣ, J2ˣ, Bb(128ra), ‘eggar’ R686ˣ    [8] Ulfkell: Ulfkels 78aˣ, 325V, Tóm, 54, Bb(106rb), Flat, JÓ, 20dˣ, 873ˣ, 20i 23ˣ, Ulfkel Bb(128ra);    bláar: blá Holm2, J1ˣ, J2ˣ, Bb(128ra), JÓ, 20dˣ, 873ˣ, 20i 23ˣ, ‘vid lar’ Tóm

Editions: Skj AI, 216, Skj BI, 206, Skald I, 107-8, NN §§585, 964, 2466A; Hkr 1893-1901, II, 33, IV, 115-16, ÍF 27, 31-2, Hkr 1991, I, 271 (ÓHHkr ch. 25); ÓH 1941, I, 55 (ch. 28); ÓT 1958-2000, II, 316 (ch. 266), Flat 1860-8, I, 561; JÓ 1741, 26-7, Knýtl 1919-25, 47, ÍF 35, 117-18 (ch. 15).

Context: In Hkr, ÓH, and ÓT, Eiríkr joins Knútr in England and is with him at the conquest of London. Eiríkr slays Úlfkell snillingr in battle, west of London. In Knýtl’s account (the more historically accurate), Eiríkr leaves his ships, engages Úlfkell in battle, and puts him to flight.

Notes: [1-4]: That the two warrior-kennings in this helmingr refer to Eiríkr is suggested by the context of a poem about Eiríkr and by the prose Context (above), but historically the reference could be to Knútr. — [4] Lundún ‘London’: Out of five instances of the p. n. in skaldic poetry, this is the only one in the sg. form as opposed to f. pl. Lundúnir. This supports the argument that Þórðr’s poem is not derivative of Sigv Víkv and Ótt Hfl, and therefore constitutes valid evidence for Eiríkr’s actions in England (see Note to st. 15/7). See further Townend (1998, 52-7). The Encomium Emmae (Campbell 1998, 22-3) also places Eiríkr at the siege of London.  — [5] regn rekka Þorins ‘the rain of the men of Þorinn <dwarf> [DWARFS > POETRY]’: (a) Þorinn is a dwarf-name meaning ‘bold’ (see Note to Þul Dverga 4/6^III), and this phrase appears to be a straightforward poetry-kenning alluding to the myth of the mead of poetry (cf. Meissner 428 and Note to Eskál Vell 1 [All]), though its pret. tense predicate rann ‘streamed, ran’ is curious. (b) Finnur Jónsson (Hkr 1893-1901; Skj B) emends rekka ‘men’ to Rǫkkva (gen. sg. of Rǫkkvi, a sea-king), combining this with rann ‘house’ to give ‘house of Rǫkkvi [SHIELD]’, and then with regn- ‘rain’ to give ‘shield-rain [BATTLE]’. Finnur combines this with the adj. þorinn ‘brave’, the reading of the Knýtl mss, 73aˣ, 78aˣ, 54 and Bb(106rb), to produce a phrasal adj. Rǫkkva rann-regnþorinn ‘battle-brave’, which qualifies Ulfkell (l. 8). Such a reading involves emendation, tmesis, and awkward word order. (c) Skald further emends rann to gen. sg. ranns, thus avoiding tmesis, but essentially retains Skj B’s adjectival interpretation. — [6] of þingamǫnnum ‘over the þingamenn’: (a) This phrase is taken here with skulfu ‘shook’ (so Skj B; ÍF 27; ÍF 35). Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson (ÍF 27) notes that this most likely refers to Knútr’s men, and medieval Icelandic prose writers use this term for the band of Scandinavian retainers established by Knútr in England c. 1018 (see Note to Úlfr Lv 1/8^II; ÍF 35, 100 n. 1). Such a sense is not certain here or in other C11th sources (Jesch 2001a, 192): Þórðr could be referring to the Scandinavian or English warriors, or both. (b) Poole (1987, 269-71), understanding þingamenn to refer to Knútr’s ‘elite corps’, construes the phrase with regn Þorins rekka rann, producing the reading, ‘the rain of Þorinn’s men ran over the þingamenn’, i.e. poetry was recited to them. Poole takes this as evidence of the poem’s delivery in England (see also Frank 1994b, 108). (c) Further possibilities are offered by af þingamǫnnum ‘from the þingamenn’, the reading of the Knýtl mss and several of the ÓH and ÓT mss. This phrase could be construed with Ulfkell fekk ýglig hǫgg, giving ‘Ulfkell received terrible blows from the þingamenn’ (so Skald). (d) Af þingamǫnnum could alternatively be construed with regn Þorins rekka rann, giving ‘the rain of Þorinn’s men ran from the þingamenn’, i.e. the þingamenn themselves recited poetry, for which see Anon Liðs. — [7] ýglig hǫgg ‘terrible blows’: The variant œglig ‘terrible’ is an acceptable alternative. In a number of mss, the n. acc. sg. forms ýgligt/œgligt indicate that hǫgg is interpreted as sg. ‘blow’. — [8] Ulfkell ‘Ulfcytel’: Ealdorman of East Anglia, nicknamed snillingr ‘man of valour/eloquence’ in ON prose sources. He features in Anon Liðs 6/2 and Sigv Víkv 7/3: see Notes to these. Kock (NN §585), as part of his move towards simplified word order (see Note to ll. 5-6, interpretation (c) above), adopts the gen. form Ulfkels which is found in several mss, and reads þars bláar eggjar Ulfkels skulfu ‘where Ulfcytel’s dark edges shook’.

References

1. Bibliography
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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. 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. Jesch, Judith. 2001a. Ships and Men in the Late Viking Age: The Vocabulary of Runic Inscriptions and Skaldic Verse. Woodbridge: Boydell.
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. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
10. ÍF 35 = Danakonunga sǫgur. Ed. Bjarni Guðnason. 1982.
11. Hkr 1893-1901 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1893-1901. Heimskringla: Nóregs konunga sǫgur af Snorri Sturluson. 4 vols. SUGNL 23. Copenhagen: Møller.
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14. Poole, Russell. 1987. ‘Skaldic Verse and Anglo-Saxon History: Some Aspects of the Period 1009-1016’. Speculum 62, 265-98.
15. JÓ 1741 = Jón Ólafsson, ed. 1741. Æfi dana-konunga eda Knytlinga saga: Historia Cnutidarum regum Daniæ. Copenhagen: [n. p.].
16. ÓT 1958-2000 = Ólafur Halldórsson, ed. 1958-2000. Saga Óláfs Tryggvasonar en mesta. 3 vols. EA A 1-3. Copenhagen: Munksgaard (Reitzel).
17. Townend, Matthew. 1998. English Place-Names in Skaldic Verse. English Place-Name Society extra ser. 1. Nottingham: English Place-Name Society.
18. Knýtl 1919-25 = Petersens, Carl af and Emil Olsen, eds. 1919-25. Sǫgur danakonunga. 1: Sǫgubrot af fornkonungum. 2: Knýtlinga saga. SUGNL 66. Copenhagen: SUGNL.
19. Frank, Roberta. 1994b. ‘King Cnut in the Verse of his Skalds’. In Rumble 1994, 106-24.
20. Internal references
21. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Heimskringla’ 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=4> (accessed 16 April 2024)
22. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Knýtlinga saga’ 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=19> (accessed 16 April 2024)
23. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Óláfs saga helga’ 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=53> (accessed 16 April 2024)
24. (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 16 April 2024)
25. (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 16 April 2024)
26. Russell Poole 2012, ‘ Anonymous, Liðsmannaflokkr’ 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. 1014. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1023> (accessed 16 April 2024)
27. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Dverga heiti 4’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 699.
28. Matthew Townend 2012, ‘ Óttarr svarti, Hǫfuðlausn’ 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. 739. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1340> (accessed 16 April 2024)
29. Judith Jesch 2012, ‘ Sigvatr Þórðarson, Víkingarvísur’ 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. 532. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1360> (accessed 16 April 2024)
30. Edith Marold (ed.) 2012, ‘Einarr skálaglamm Helgason, Vellekla 1’ 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. 283.
31. Russell Poole (ed.) 2012, ‘Anonymous Poems, Liðsmannaflokkr 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. 1023.
32. Judith Jesch (ed.) 2012, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Víkingarvísur 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. 544.
33. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Úlfr stallari Óspaksson, 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. 348-9.