StarkSt Vík 3^VIII (Gautr 11)

Þá * Herþjófr         Harald um vélti;
sér ójafnan         sveik í trygðum,
Egða dróttin         öndu rænti,
en hans sonum         haptbönd sneri.

Þá * um vélti Herþjófr Harald; sveik ójafnan sér í trygðum, rænti {dróttin Egða} öndu, en sneri sonum hans haptbönd.

Then Herþjófr tricked Haraldr; he betrayed [a man] unequal to himself in his plighted oath, robbed {the lord of the Egðir} [= Haraldr] of life and twisted captive shackles for his sons.

Mss: 590b-cˣ(3v), 152(198va), papp11ˣ(5r) (Gautr)

Readings: [1] Þá *: þá er all;    Herþjófr (‘Herþ.̂’): Herþjófi 152    [2] Harald: Haraldi 152    [5] dróttin: dróttni papp11ˣ    [6] öndu: auðnu 152    [8] haptbönd: haptland or hæptland with t added above the line papp11ˣ

Editions: Skj AII, 324, Skj BII, 344, Skald II, 185; FSN 3, 17, Gautr 1664, 21, Gautr 1900, 14, FSGJ 4, 14; Edd. Min. 38.

Context: This stanza and the immediately following Vík 4 (Gautr 12) follow a prose passage that tells that Herþjófr, king of Hordaland (ON Hǫrðaland), made a surprise night attack on King Haraldr of Agder and killed him in spite of his plighted oath (drap hann í trygðum), taking his son Víkarr as a hostage, as well as many other sons of powerful men.

Notes: [1] þá * ‘then’: This edn follows Skj B and Skald in deleting all mss’ er and understanding ll. 1-2 as a main clause. This line is in kviðuháttr. — [1] Herþjófr: According to an earlier passage of Gautr (Gautr 1900, 11), Herþjófr was the son of a certain Húnþjófr, King of Hordaland, who was in turn the son of Friðþjófr the Bold and Ingibjǫrg the Fair, who are the protagonists of another fornaldarsaga, Friðþjófs saga ins frœkna ‘The Saga of Friðþjófr the Bold’ (Frið). For a discussion of the possible relations between these two sagas and their genealogical information, see Gautr 1900, lxxxix-xcii. — [8] haptbönd ‘captive shackles’: There is one other instance of this cpd in Old Norse poetry, Hálf 5/6, where snúa ‘twist’ co-occurs. The first element is hapt ‘fetter, shackle’, metaphorically ‘restraint, curb’; cf. OE hæft ‘bond, fetter’, OHG haft ‘fetter, captivity’.

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. FSN = Rafn, Carl Christian, ed. 1829-30. Fornaldar sögur nordrlanda. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
4. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. FSGJ = Guðni Jónsson, ed. 1954. Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. 4 vols. [Reykjavík]: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan.
6. Edd. Min. = Heusler, Andreas and Wilhelm Ranisch, eds. 1903. Eddica Minora: Dichtungen eddischer Art aus den Fornaldarsögur und anderen Prosawerken. Dortmund: Ruhfus. Rpt. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.
7. Gautr 1900 = Ranisch, Wilhelm, ed. 1900. Die Gautrekssaga in zwei Fassungen. Palaestra 11. Berlin: Mayer & Müller.
8. Gautr 1664 = Verelius, Olaus, ed. 1664. Gothrici & Rolfi Westrogothiæ Regum Historia. Lingua antiqua Gothica conscripta. Uppsala: Curio.
9. Internal references
10. 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Friðþjófs saga ins frœkna’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 190. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=8> (accessed 24 April 2024)
11. 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Gautreks saga’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 241. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=9> (accessed 24 April 2024)
12. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Gautreks saga 12 (Starkaðr gamli Stórvirksson, Víkarsbálkr 4)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 258.
13. Hubert Seelow (ed.) 2017, ‘Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka 5 (Anonymous Lausavísur, Lausavísur from Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka 2)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 308.