Anon Líkn 12^VII

Sá * baztr frá mey mæztri
mildingr beraz vildi
heiða tjalds ok holdi
hjálmprýddan sik skrýddi;
en nauð á sik síðan
sjálfráði tók dáða
víst fyr vára löstu
vísi sjálfr með píslum.

{Sá * baztr mildingr {heiða tjalds}} vildi beraz frá mæztri mey ok skrýddi sik hjálmprýddan holdi; en síðan tók vísi sjálfr, sjálfráði dáða, nauð á sik með píslum, víst fyr vára löstu.

{The best prince {of heaths’ tent}} [SKY/HEAVEN > = God] willed to be born from a most precious maiden and clothed himself, helmet-adorned, with flesh; and later the prince himself, independently with regard to his deeds, took distress upon himself with torments, certainly for our errors.

Mss: B(11v), 399a-bˣ

Readings: [1] Sá * baztr: Sá er baztr B, 399a‑bˣ;    mæztri: ‘mez[...]’ B, ‘ṃe᷎ztri’ 399a‑bˣ    [2] mildingr: ‘[...]lldin[...]’ B, ‘ṃilldingr’ 399a‑bˣ    [5] sik síðan: ‘si[...]’ B, ‘ṣịḳ s[...]’ 399a‑bˣ

Editions: Skj AII, 152, Skj BII, 163, Skald II, 86; Sveinbjörn Egilsson 1844, 38-9, Rydberg 1907, 13, 49, Tate 1974, 57.

Notes: [1-2]: The first couplet echoes descriptions of the Nativity in the poet’s two chief C12th models: Leið 23/3-4 and Has 19/1-4. — [1] sá: Ms. ‘Sá er’; the relative particle er as pron. is problematic, and this ed. follows Skj B and Skald in omitting it. A scribal error seems possible both because of the infrequency of sá + strong adj. + noun constructions and because of recent occurrences of sá er (1/7) and sú er (10/6). Sveinbjörn Egilsson and Rydberg retain er, but this is problematic since it requires deferring the relative particle syntactically (‘The best prince ... who willed to be born’) rather than keeping it contiguous with sá (i.e. ‘That one who’). Such postponement would not allow Sá er to be cliticised and would thus produce a seventh syllable. Then, too, it would seem odd, construing ok as ‘also’ (or ‘in addition’), to say ‘The best prince ... who willed to be born ... also took on flesh’. — [2] mildingr ‘prince, generous ruler’: Restoration based upon 399a-bˣ, confirmed in part by alliteration and aðalhending. — [3] heiða tjalds ‘of heaths’ tent [SKY/HEAVEN]’: This is the poem’s first use of tjald ‘tent’ in a heaven-kenning extended as a tvíkennt kenning for God or Christ; cf. 24/5-7 fróns tjald ‘earth’s tent’, 25/4 heiðtjald ‘heath-tent’, 50/8 veðra tjald ‘winds’ canopy’. The greatest concentration of this kenning type occurs in Christian poetry and especially in Líkn’s model Has 1/2, 10/4, 14/6-8, 20/2, 28/2, 31/3, 41/4, 44/5-6, and 65/6. Such kennings may be informed by the biblical idea of the heavens as a tabernacle; see Isa. XL.22 qui extendit velut nihilum caelos et expandit eos sicut tabernaculum ad inhabitandum ‘he that stretcheth out the heavens as nothing and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in’. (With respect to God’s ‘stretching out the heavens’ see -spennandi ‘who spans [the heavens]’ 9/2.) See Eisler 1910, II for comparative discussion of the Himmelszelt ‘tent of heaven’ in ancient cultures. — [4] hjálmprýddan ‘helmet-adorned’: Skj B (cf. LP), followed by Skald, apparently concerned about the seeming incongruity between God’s being ‘helmet-adorned’ yet clothing himself with flesh, emends to hjálpprýddan ‘equipped with help, salvation’. But hjalmprýddr suggests metaphorically that the second person of the Trinity enters the world as a warrior prepared for battle, a metaphor that also occurs in OE Christian poetry and in the OS Heliand. The helmet was a royal as much as a warrior adornment in the Middle Ages. — [5] sik síðan ‘himself ... later’: Restoration based upon 399a-bˣ (including conjecture ‘síðan?’ in Jón Sigurðsson’s note), supported in part by the needs of alliteration and skothending; a trace of possible <k> followed by descender of possible <s> remain. A six-syllable l. requires that the final word be disyllabic, but the lacuna has space for only three letters, with possible abbreviation (‘-an’, ‘-ar’). — [6] sjálfráði ‘by his own will, choice, independently [lit. self-counsel]’: Cf. Kálf Kátr 9/5-6 Sjalfráður á sik tók dauða | sára písl fyr glæpi vára ‘at his own choice he took upon himself death, a painful torment for our misdeeds’.

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. 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.
5. Eisler, Robert. 1910. Weltenmantel und Himmelszelt: Religionsgeschichtliche Untersuchungen zur Uhrgeschichte des antiken Weltbildes. 2 vols. Munich: Beck.
6. Rydberg, Hugo, ed. 1907. ‘Die geistlichen Drápur und Dróttkvættfragmente des Cod. AM 757 4to.’. Ph.D. thesis. University of Lund. Copenhagen: Møller.
7. Tate, George S. 1974. ‘Líknarbraut: A Skaldic Drápa on the Cross’. Ph.D. thesis. Cornell University. DAI 35:6112A.
8. ÍM = Jón Helgason, ed. 1936-8. Íslenzk miðaldarkvæði: Islandske digte fra senmiddelalderen. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Munksgaard.
9. Sveinbjörn Egilsson, ed. 1844. Fjøgur gømul kvæði. Boðsrit til að hlusta á þá opinberu yfirheyrslu í Bessastaða Skóla þann 22-29 mai 1844. Viðeyar Klaustri: prentuð af Helga Helgasyni, á kostnað Bessastaða Skóla. Bessastaðir: Helgi Helgason.
10. Internal references
11. Kirsten Wolf (ed.) 2007, ‘Kálfr Hallsson, Kátrínardrápa 9’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 937-8.
12. Katrina Attwood (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Leiðarvísan 23’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 161-2.
13. Not published: do not cite (Run^VI)
14. George S. Tate 2007, ‘ Anonymous, Líknarbraut’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 228-86. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1024> (accessed 19 April 2024)
15. Martin Chase (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Lilja 24’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 590-1.
16. Katrina Attwood (ed.) 2007, ‘Gamli kanóki, Harmsól 1’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 73-4.
17. Katrina Attwood (ed.) 2007, ‘Gamli kanóki, Harmsól 19’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 90.