Þhorn Harkv 7^I

‘Heyrðir þú, í Hafrsfirði         hvé hizug barðisk
konungr inn kynstóri         við Kjǫtva inn auðlagða?
Knerrir kvômu austan         kapps of lystir
með gínǫndum hǫfðum         ok grǫfnum tinglum.

‘Heyrðir þú, hvé inn kynstóri konungr barðisk við Kjǫtva inn auðlagða hizug í Hafrsfirði? Knerrir kvômu austan, of lystir kapps, með gínǫndum hǫfðum ok grǫfnum tinglum.

‘Have you heard how the high-born king fought with Kjǫtvi inn auðlagði (‘the Wealthy’) there in Hafrsfjorden? Ships came from the east, eager for battle, with gaping figure-heads and graven prow-boards.

Mss: Kˣ(62r), F(10vb), J1ˣ(34v-35r), J2ˣ(35v) (Hkr); 51ˣ(4r-v), FskBˣ(5r-v), 302ˣ(7v), FskAˣ(7), 52ˣ(6v-7r), 301ˣ(5v) (Fsk); Flat(76vb) (Flat)

Readings: [1] Heyrðir þú: Heyrðu 51ˣ, FskBˣ, 302ˣ, FskAˣ, 52ˣ, 301ˣ, Heyrði Flat    [2] hizug: hiz 301ˣ, hraustliga Flat    [3] inn: om. 51ˣ, FskBˣ, 302ˣ, ‘en’ 52ˣ;    kynstóri: kostsami J1ˣ, J2ˣ, kynstórr 51ˣ, FskBˣ, 302ˣ    [4] Kjǫtva inn: ‘Kiotvan’ 51ˣ, FskBˣ, 302ˣ, FskAˣ, 52ˣ, Kjǫtvann 301ˣ;    auðlagða: augða F, ‘æðlagða’ corrected from ‘æglagða’ J1ˣ    [6] kapps: ‘haps’ J1ˣ, J2ˣ;    lystir: fylldi J1ˣ, fylldir J2ˣ    [7] gínǫndum: ‘ginenðum’ J1ˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 25, Skj BI, 23, Skald I, 14; Hkr 1777-1826, I, 95, VI, 17, Hkr 1868, 62, Hkr 1893-1901, I, 124, IV, 34, ÍF 26, 115-16, Hkr 1991, I, 71 (HHárf ch. 18/19), F 1871, 48; Fsk 1902-3, 16 (ch. 2), ÍF 29, 67 (ch. 3); Fms 10, 190, Fms 12, 225, Flat 1860-8, I, 574 (HarHárf); Möbius 1860, 229, Jón Helgason 1946, 142-3, Jón Helgason 1968, 17.

Context: Stanzas 7-11 are cited to describe the battle of Hafrsfjǫrðr (Hafrsfjorden), the climax of Haraldr’s quest to impose control and taxation on the whole of Norway. The enemy fleet is under two kings, Kjǫtvi and Haklangr (and others are named in Hkr and Flat). The stanzas follow the description of the preparations for the battle in Fsk and Flat, and of its outcome in Hkr.

Notes: [All]: For the battle of Hafrsfjǫrðr, see also Þjóð Har 4, and possibly Þhorn Gldr 3-5. In addition to the account in Hkr, which derives chiefly from the present poem, there is one in Egils saga (ÍF 2 , 22-7). See also ‘Ruler biographies’ in Introduction to this volume, and Note to l. 4 below. — [All]: Stanzas 7-11 are attributed to Þjóðólfr ór Hvini in Fsk and Flat but to Þorbjǫrn hornklofi in Hkr.  — [1] heyrðir þú ‘have you heard?’: (a) The person addressed is presumed to be the valkyrie, and the direct address here supports the assumption that this and the next four stanzas are indeed part of this poem. The utterance could alternatively be a statement rather than a question (so, e.g., Sueti 1884, 33). In both Hkr and Fsk these five stanzas concerning the battle follow not long after other stanzas from the poem, with some intervening material. (b) It is easier to treat the Flat and Fsk readings as corruptions of the Hkr reading than to treat either as original: Flat has Heyrði ‘(One) heard’ (so Fsk 1902-3 and Skj B) and Fsk has Heyrðu ‘They (impersonal) have heard’, or possibly ‘Listen’ (so Kershaw 1922, 90; Lindquist 1929, 4). — [1] Hafrsfirði ‘Hafrsfjorden’: A few kilometres to the west of Stavanger, this is the site of Haraldr’s great battle; see Notes to [All] and l. 4. — [4] Kjǫtva ‘Kjǫtvi’: Probably a nickname meaning ‘Fleshy’. According to Hkr, he was king of Agðir (Agder); in Vatnsdœla saga (ÍF 8, 23-4) he is called Ásbjǫrn kjǫtvi, though nowhere else. According to Snorri (ÍF 26, 114), Haraldr faced a formidable confederation of kings of the south-west, from Hordaland, Rogaland, Agder and Telemark. However, Harkv names only Kjǫtvi and his son Þórir haklangr (st. 9/8, also RvHbreið Hl 60/6^III), and von See (1961b, 105-111), relying in part on the earlier arguments of Schreiner (1933 and 1936), argues that Haraldr faced only these two, and that he was already king not of Vestfold but of Rogaland and Hordaland. — [5] knerrir ‘ships’: The word has often been thought chiefly to denote merchants’ ships, but there is ample evidence that ships of this type were used in battle: see Falk (1912, 107-10), Kuhn (1951), and Jesch (2001a, 128-32). — [5] austan ‘from the east’: I.e. to the north and west, up the coast from the direction of Lindesnes, an important landmark in Vest-Agder. — [7] gínǫndum hǫfðum ‘gaping figure-heads’: Prow-ornaments in the shape of dragon- or other animal-heads; see Jesch (2001a, 145-6). — [8] tinglum ‘prow-boards’: These are carved boards, or possibly engraved sheets of metal, forming part of the prow: see Eggert Ó. Brím (1895, 20-3); Shetelig and Falk (1937, 358); Jesch (2001a, 148-9).

References

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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.
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6. Falk, Hjalmar. 1912. Altnordisches Seewesen. Wörter und Sachen 4. Heidelberg: Winter.
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. ÍF 2 = Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar. Ed. Sigurður Nordal. 1933.
9. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
10. Hkr 1893-1901 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1893-1901. Heimskringla: Nóregs konunga sǫgur af Snorri Sturluson. 4 vols. SUGNL 23. Copenhagen: Møller.
11. Hkr 1991 = Bergljót S. Kristjánsdóttir et al., eds. 1991. Heimskringla. 3 vols. Reykjavík: Mál og menning.
12. F 1871 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1871. Fríssbók: Codex Frisianus. En samling af norske konge-sagaer. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
13. Fsk 1902-3 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1902-3. Fagrskinna: Nóregs kononga tal. SUGNL 30. Copenhagen: Møller.
14. ÍF 29 = Ágrip af Nóregskonunga sǫgum; Fagrskinna—Nóregs konungatal. Ed. Bjarni Einarsson. 1985.
15. Shetelig, Haakon and Hjalmar Falk. 1937. Scandinavian Archaeology. Trans. E. V. Gordon. Oxford: Clarendon.
16. Möbius, Theodor. 1860. Edda Sæmundar hins fróða. Mit einem Anhang bisher ungedruckter Gedichte. Leipzig: Hinrichs.
17. Kershaw, Nora, ed. and trans. 1922. Anglo-Saxon and Norse Poems. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
18. Lindquist, Ivar. 1929. Norröna lovkväden från 800 och 900 talen. I: Förslag till restituerad täxt jämte översättning. Lund: Gleerup.
19. ÍF 8 = Vatnsdœla saga. Ed. Einar Ólafur Sveinsson. 1939.
20. See, Klaus von. 1961b. ‘Studien zum Haraldskvæði’. ANF 76, 96-111. Rpt. in von See 1981a, 295-310.
21. Eggert Ó. Brím. 1895. ‘Bemærkninger angående en del vers i “Noregs konungasögur” (Reykjavík 1892)’. ANF 11, 1-32.
22. Jón Helgason, ed. 1968. Skjaldevers. 3rd edn. Copenhagen: Munksgaard.
23. Jón Helgason. 1946. ‘Haraldskvæði’. Tímarit Máls og menningar, 131-46.
24. Kuhn, Hans (1899). 1951. ‘Knörrinn’. Samtíð og saga 5, 78-92.
25. Schreiner, Johan. 1933. ‘Slaget i Havsfjord’. In Festskrift til Halvdan Koht på sekstiårs dagen 7de juli 1933. Oslo: Aschehoug, 103-11.
26. Sueti, Friedrich. 1884. Ueber die auf den König Haraldr Hárfagri bezüglichen Gedichtfragmente in der norwegischen Königschronik Fagrskinna. Leipzig: August Press.
27. Hkr 1777-1826 = Schöning, Gerhard et al., eds. 1777-1826. Heimskringla edr Noregs konunga-sögor. 6 vols. Copenhagen: Stein.
28. Hkr 1868 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1868. Heimskringla eller Norges kongesagaer af Snorre Sturlassøn. Christiania (Oslo): Brøgger & Christie.
29. Internal references
30. (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 25 April 2024)
31. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Flateyjarbók’ 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=44> (accessed 25 April 2024)
32. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Fagrskinna’ 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=56> (accessed 25 April 2024)
33. (forthcoming), ‘ Anonymous, Vatnsdœla saga’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=128> (accessed 25 April 2024)
34. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Haralds þáttr hárfagra’ 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=137> (accessed 25 April 2024)
35. (forthcoming), ‘ Heimskringla, Haralds saga hárfagra’ 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=140> (accessed 25 April 2024)
36. R. D. Fulk 2012, ‘(Biography of) Þorbjǫrn hornklofi’ 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. 73.
37. Edith Marold 2017, ‘(Biography of) Þjóðólfr ór Hvini’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 431.
38. R. D. Fulk 2012, ‘ Þorbjǫrn hornklofi, Haraldskvæði (Hrafnsmál)’ 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. 91. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1436> (accessed 25 April 2024)
39. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Rǫgnvaldr jarl and Hallr Þórarinsson, Háttalykill 60’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1069.
40. Edith Marold (ed.) 2012, ‘Þorbjǫrn hornklofi, Glymdrápa 3’ 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. 81.
41. R. D. Fulk (ed.) 2012, ‘Þjóðólfr ór Hvini, Poem about Haraldr hárfagri 4’ 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. 62.