ÞjóðA Lv 11^II

Ǫld hefr afráð goldit
illt; nú kveðk her stilltan;
bauð þessa fǫr þjóðum
þarflaust Haraldr austan.
Svá lauk siklings ævi
snjalls, at vér ’róm allir
— lofðungr beið inn leyfði
lífs grand — í stað vǫndum.

Ǫld hefr goldit illt afráð; nú kveðk her stilltan; Haraldr bauð þjóðum þessa fǫr austan þarflaust. Ævi snjalls siklings lauk svá, at vér ’róm allir í vǫndum stað; inn leyfði lofðungr beið grand lífs.

People have paid a dire penalty; now I declare the host is quelled; Haraldr commanded troops onto this expedition westwards needlessly. The life of the bold prince ended in such a way that we are all in a difficult position; the praised sovereign endured destruction of life.

Mss: Kˣ(582v), F(53rb), E(27v), J2ˣ(297v) (Hkr); FskAˣ(308-309) (Fsk); Mork(19v) (Mork); Flat(204ra-b) (Flat); H(76r), Hr(54ra) (H-Hr); Hb(71r) (Hb); R(40r) (ll. 5-8), Tˣ(41v) (ll. 5-8), U(37v) (ll. 5-6), A(15r-v) (ll. 5-8), B(6v) (ll. 5-8), 744ˣ(43r) (ll. 5-8), C(9v) (ll. 5-8) (SnE)

Readings: [1] hefr: om. Flat;    afráð: so F, E, J2ˣ, Mork, Hb, ‘afroð’ Kˣ, H, Hr, ‘afhrod’ Flat    [2] kveðk her (‘qveð ec her’): ‘quad eg hann’ Flat    [3] bauð: ‘boð’ FskAˣ;    fǫr: ferð E, J2ˣ, ‘for’ FskAˣ, Mork, Hb    [4] Haraldr: konungr E, J2ˣ    [5] siklings: ‘siklingns’ FskAˣ    [6] snjalls: ‘síallz’ 744ˣ    [7] lofðungr: ‘lǫfðungr’ E, lofðung Flat;    beið: fekk FskAˣ, Mork, H, Hr, Hb, ‘b..ð’ 744ˣ;    inn leyfði: ens leyfða Mork, Hr, hins leyfða H    [8] grand: ‘gran’ Hb

Editions: Skj AI, 383, Skj BI, 353, Skald I, 177, NN §2039; Hkr 1893-1901, III, 210, IV, 239-40, ÍF 28, 190, Hkr 1991, 685 (HSig ch. 92), F 1871, 249, E 1916, 97-8; Fsk 1902-3, 293-4 (ch. 60), ÍF 29, 288 (ch. 70); Mork 1928-32, 279, Andersson and Gade 2000, 273, 482 (MH); Flat 1860-8, III, 396 (MH); Fms 6, 420 (HSig ch. 119), Fms 12, 166; Hb 1892-6, 344-5, Fellows-Jensen 1962, 53 (Hem); SnE 1848-87, I, 526-7, II, 344, 463, 542, 608, SnE 1931, 185, SnE 1998, I, 104.

Context: In Hkr and H-Hr, Haraldr Sigurðarson is slain at the battle of Stamford Bridge, upon which Tostig (Tósti) jarl takes takes up the leadership under the king’s standard for the second phase of the battle. Fsk, Mork and Flat set the st. in a pause before the battle-lines clashed. In SnE, the second helmingr is cited to illustrate the way that names of legendary dynasties are used as general honorific titles, in this case both lofðungr and siklingr, which are traced respectively to an eponymous Lofði and Sigarr.

Notes: [All]: The B text (ll. 5-8) is so damaged that to note the many illegible places would be unhelpful, and it is therefore represented instead by the transcript in 744ˣ. — [All]: Flat names ‘Þorolfr’ as the skald; U cites only ll. 5-6, which are followed immediately by Arn Hryn 20. — [All]: For other poetry on the battle of Stamford Bridge, see note to Lv 11 [All]. — [1] afráð ‘penalty’: Strictly, ‘tax, tribute, payment’, hence ‘loss, damage’. Gade suggests a possible echo of Vsp 23/5-6: hvárt scyldo æsir | afráð gialda ‘whether the gods should pay restitution’ (NK 6). — [2] stilltan ‘quelled’: I.e. ‘quietened’ or ‘controlled’. This translation is appropriate if the word refers, with ironic understatement, to the men’s death in battle. The reference could alternatively be to the ill-advised nature of Haraldr’s campaign. Stilla can mean ‘bring into a dangerous, difficult situation’ (LP: stilla 3), and this sense seems the basis for interpretations in Skj B and Ulset 1975, 109-10. The eds of ÍF 28 and 29 interpret stilltan as ‘deceived, tricked’ (vélaður/vélaðan), and Hkr 1991 similarly has hafi verið ginnt ‘has been duped’. — [7] beið ‘endured’: The variant fekk ‘received, got’ (so FskAˣ, Mork, H, Hr, Hb) is equally good. — [8] inn leyfði ‘the praised’: This qualifies lofðungr ‘prince’; and the two may be etymologically related, sharing reference to ‘praise’ (AEW: lof). The variant ins leyfða (so Mork, H, Hr) instead qualifies lífs, hence ‘(destruction) of the praised life’.

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. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
6. AEW = Vries, Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd rev. edn. Rpt. 1977. Leiden: Brill.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. NK = Neckel, Gustav and Hans Kuhn (1899), eds. 1983. Edda: Die Lieder des Codex Regius nebst verwandten Denkmälern. 2 vols. I: Text. 5th edn. Heidelberg: Winter.
11. Mork 1928-32 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1928-32. Morkinskinna. SUGNL 53. Copenhagen: Jørgensen.
12. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
13. Hkr 1893-1901 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1893-1901. Heimskringla: Nóregs konunga sǫgur af Snorri Sturluson. 4 vols. SUGNL 23. Copenhagen: Møller.
14. Hkr 1991 = Bergljót S. Kristjánsdóttir et al., eds. 1991. Heimskringla. 3 vols. Reykjavík: Mál og menning.
15. F 1871 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1871. Fríssbók: Codex Frisianus. En samling af norske konge-sagaer. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
16. Fsk 1902-3 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1902-3. Fagrskinna: Nóregs kononga tal. SUGNL 30. Copenhagen: Møller.
17. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
18. E 1916 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1916. Eirspennill: AM 47 fol. Nóregs konunga sǫgur: Magnús góði – Hákon gamli. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske historiske kildeskriftskommission.
19. Hb 1892-6 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1892-6. Hauksbók udgiven efter de Arnamagnæanske håndskrifter no. 371, 544 og 675, 4° samt forskellige papirshåndskrifter. Copenhagen: Det kongelige nordiske oldskrift-selskab.
20. ÍF 29 = Ágrip af Nóregskonunga sǫgum; Fagrskinna—Nóregs konungatal. Ed. Bjarni Einarsson. 1985.
21. Ulset, Tor. 1975. Merknader til en del skaldedikt. Oslo: Novus.
22. Internal references
23. Edith Marold 2017, ‘Snorra Edda (Prologue, Gylfaginning, Skáldskaparmál)’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols [check printed volume for citation].
24. (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 19 April 2024)
25. (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 19 April 2024)
26. (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 19 April 2024)
27. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Hulda-Hrokkinskinna’ 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=84> (accessed 19 April 2024)
28. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Morkinskinna’ 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=87> (accessed 19 April 2024)
29. (forthcoming), ‘ Heimskringla, Haralds saga Sigurðssonar’ 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=142> (accessed 19 April 2024)
30. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Magnúss saga góða ok Haralds harðráða’ 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=147> (accessed 19 April 2024)
31. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Arnórr jarlaskáld Þórðarson, Hrynhenda, Magnússdrápa 20’ 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. 206.
32. Not published: do not cite ()