Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Valgarðr á Velli, Poem about Haraldr harðráði 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, p. 303.
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helmingr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -i; -ar): unit, troop
[1] helmingi (m. dat. sg.) ‘unit’: Lit. ‘half’. Used in poetry to refer to a military unit (see ÍF 29, 236 n.; Jesch 2001a, 202-3).
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bjóða (verb; °býðr; bauð, buðu; boðinn (buð- Thom¹ 5²n.)): offer, order, invite
[1] bautt hanga ‘ordered to be hanged’: For the construction bjóða plus inf., see LP: bjóða 3.
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1. hanga (verb): hang
[1] bautt hanga ‘ordered to be hanged’: For the construction bjóða plus inf., see LP: bjóða 3.
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hilmir (noun m.): prince, protector
[2] kundr hilmis ‘descendant of a ruler [RULER = Haraldr]’: The identity of this ruler is unclear, but it could be Haraldr hárfagri. Kundr ‘descendant’ can also mean ‘son’ (see LP: kundr 1), but ‘the ruler’ can hardly refer to Sigurðr sýr, Haraldr’s father, who was a petty king of the district Opplandene (Upplǫnd) in Norway.
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kundr (noun m.): descendant
[2] kundr hilmis ‘descendant of a ruler [RULER = Haraldr]’: The identity of this ruler is unclear, but it could be Haraldr hárfagri. Kundr ‘descendant’ can also mean ‘son’ (see LP: kundr 1), but ‘the ruler’ can hardly refer to Sigurðr sýr, Haraldr’s father, who was a petty king of the district Opplandene (Upplǫnd) in Norway.
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af (prep.): from
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stund (noun f.; °-ar, dat. -u/-; -ir): time, hour
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1. skipa (verb): change, place
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hafa (verb): have
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ér (pron.; °gen. yðvar/yðar, dat./acc. yðr): you
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svát (conj.): so that, so as
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eptir (prep.): after, behind
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2. vera (verb): be, is, was, were, are, am
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væringi (noun m.): Varangian
[4] Væringjar ‘Varangians’: Norsemen in the service of the Byzantine emperor. See Sigfús Blöndal 1978, 4-7.
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3. fár (adj.; °compar. fǽrri/fárri(Mág² 11), superl. fǽstr): few
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
After escaping from his incarceration in Constantinople, Haraldr joined the uprising against the Byzantine emperor Michael V Kalaphates (on 20-1 April 1042). Accompanied by his men, he broke into the emperor’s palace and ordered some of the Varangians guarding the emperor to be killed.
For these events, see also ÞjóðA Sex 7-8, ÞSkegg Hardr and Sigfús Blöndal 1978, 94-5. Sigfús Blöndal (1978, 94) believes that the hanging took place after the blinding of Emperor Michael on 21 April, and that Haraldr had been ordered to punish those Varangians who had remained loyal to the emperor.
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