Þham Magndr 4^II

Hraustr lét Elfi austarr
allvaldr saman gjalla
— vitr stillir rauð vǫllu —
valskan brand ok randir.
Varð á víg, þars ferðir,
vellmildr konungr, fellu,
— bolr lá gauzkr und gulri
grás arnar kló — þrási.

Hraustr allvaldr lét valskan brand ok randir gjalla saman austarr Elfi; vitr stillir rauð vǫllu. Vellmildr konungr varð þrási á víg, þars ferðir fellu; gauzkr bolr lá und gulri kló grás arnar.

The brave mighty ruler let the Frankish sword and shields crash together east of the Götaälv; the wise leader reddened the fields. The gold-generous king persisted in battle where troops fell; the Gautish torso lay beneath the yellow claw of the grey eagle.

Mss: Mork(24r) (Mork); H(90r), Hr(62rb) (H-Hr); F(59rb)

Readings: [1] austarr: ‘aulfar’ Hr    [2] gjalla: gjalda Hr    [5] Varð á: so F, varða Mork, H, Hr;    ferðir: so F, herðir Mork, H, ‘giordi’ Hr    [6] vell‑: vel‑ H    [7] bolr: ‘bolar’ H

Editions: Skj AI, 438-9, Skj BI, 408, Skald I, 201, NN §2533; Mork 1867, 149, Mork 1928-32, 327, Andersson and Gade 2000, 305, 486 (Mberf); Fms 7, 53 (Mberf ch. 26); F 1871, 274 (Mberf).

Context: Magnús campaigned in Sweden againt King Ingi Steinkelsson (c. 1100-2).

Notes: [All]: For Magnús’s Swed. campaigns, see also Mberf Lv 2, Eldj Lv 1-2, Gísl Magnkv 17-20 and Anon (Mberf) 4-5. — [1] Elfi ‘the Götaälv’: River in south-western Sweden. — [1] austarr ‘east of’: Lit. ‘further east of’. A comp. adv. taking the dat. (Elfi m. dat. sg. ‘the Götaälv’). — [4] valskan brand ‘the Frankish sword’: See Falk 1914, 40. — [5] ferðir (f. nom. pl.) ‘troops’: The Mork and H variant herðir (m. nom. sg.) ‘strengthener’ is syntactically impossible because the verb (fellu ‘fell’ (l. 6)) is in the pl. Skj B emends to herjar (m. nom. pl.) ‘warriors’ and Skald to herðar (f. nom. pl.) ‘shoulders’ (see NN §2533). Because Skj A did not use F, neither Finnur nor Kock was aware of the above variants. — [8] grás ‘of the grey’: This adj. could also be taken in the sense ‘old’, but that is less likely in view of the contrasting adjectives gulri ‘yellow’ (l. 7) and grás.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj A = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15a. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. A: Tekst efter håndskrifterne. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1967. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
4. Fms = Sveinbjörn Egilsson et al., eds. 1825-37. Fornmanna sögur eptir gömlum handritum útgefnar að tilhlutun hins norræna fornfræða fèlags. 12 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
5. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
6. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
7. 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.
8. Falk, Hjalmar, ed. 1914a. Sólarljóð. Videnskapsselskapets skrifter II. Hist.-filos. kl. 7. 2 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Dybwad.
9. Mork 1928-32 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1928-32. Morkinskinna. SUGNL 53. Copenhagen: Jørgensen.
10. F 1871 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1871. Fríssbók: Codex Frisianus. En samling af norske konge-sagaer. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
11. 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.
12. Internal references
13. (forthcoming), ‘ Heimskringla, Magnúss saga berfœtts’ 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=144> (accessed 19 April 2024)
14. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Anonymous Lausavísur, Lausavísur from Magnúss saga berfœtts 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, pp. 831-2.
15. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Eldjárn, Lausavísur 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. 406-7.
16. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Gísl Illugason, Erfikvæði about Magnús berfœttr 17’ 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. 428.
17. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Magnús berfœttr Óláfsson, Lausavísur 2’ 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. 386.