StarkSt Vík 1VIII (Gautr 9)
Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Gautreks saga 9 (Starkaðr gamli Stórvirksson, Víkarsbálkr 1)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 255.
introduction
As has already been mentioned in the general Introduction to Gautr stanzas, the title Víkarsbálkr ‘Víkarr’s Section’ is only applied in mss of the prose saga to the group of stanzas (Vík 26-33) that deal with the latter part of the hero’s life and the death of Víkarr (Gautr 1900, 31-3). However, it is possible that the title was applied in the Middle Ages to all the stanzas that appear piecemeal in Víkars þáttr and present a poetic autobiography of the hero Starkaðr. It is a reasonable but unprovable assumption that these lausavísur formed part of a long ævikviða that was broken up and distributed throughout the prose account of Starkaðr’s life to provide poetic evidence for his achievements. This assumption presupposes the existence of a version or versions of the poem prior to that of the earliest ms. that contains the prosimetrum of Víkars þáttr. An alternative hypothesis is that stanzas of disparate origin were assembled to form Starkaðr’s ævikviða at a time when the prose text began to take shape in the fourteenth century or gradually thereafter. The stanzas, many of which are presented in small groups of two or three, are introduced by formulae such as we also find in historical sagas, in this case most commonly svá segir Starkaðr ‘thus Starkaðr says’. The stanzas are mostly narrated in the first person, as the words of Starkaðr himself, while the prose narrative in which they are embedded is in the third person. Many of the stanzas of Vík are in a mixture of fornyrðislag with kviðuháttr, both in odd and even lines, when the latter are rendered as catalectic lines.
Vík is absent from mss of the shorter version of Gautr because the whole of Víkars þáttr is absent from it. Thus only mss of the longer version of the saga are witnesses to the text of Vík, and they differ considerably in the number of stanzas they contain. The witness that contains the most stanzas (all thirty-three) is 590b-cˣ, a seventeenth-century ms. probably copied from a medieval exemplar. Ms. papp11ˣ, of c. 1640, omits all but six stanzas of Vík, but, as Ranisch observed (Gautr 1900, ii), usually retains in the prose text the introductory formula svá segir Gautrekr where the stanzas would be expected to appear, thus revealing that many, perhaps most, of these stanzas were likely to have been present in its exemplar. The oldest ms. of the longer Gautr, 152 of c. 1500-25, omits fourteen stanzas, all of which are also omitted in papp11ˣ. A good proportion of the stanzas omitted by both papp11ˣ and 152 (Vík 17-25) were regarded by Ranisch as late interpolations (Gautr 1900, lxxxv-lxxxviii; Edd. Min. xxx-xxxi), and both Finnur Jónsson and Kock followed him in relegating these stanzas to an addendum to the text of Vík with discontinuous numbering of the component stanzas. This policy has not been followed in the present edition out of respect for the integrity of the ms. witnesses.
The following list indicates the distribution of the stanzas of Vík across the ms. witnesses.
| Vík 1 (Gautr 9) — 152, 590b-cˣ, papp11ˣ | | Þá var ek ungr | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vík 2 (Gautr 10) — 152, 590b-cˣ, papp11ˣ | Herr tapaðiz | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vík 3 (Gautr 11) — 152, 590b-cˣ, papp11ˣ | Þá er Herþjófr | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vík 4 (Gautr 12) — 152, 590b-cˣ, papp11ˣ | Þrévetran mik | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vík 5 (Gautr 13) — 152, 590b-cˣ | Afl gat ek ærit | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vík 6 (Gautr 14) — 152, 590b-cˣ | Unz Víkarr kom | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vík 7 (Gautr 15) — 152, 590b-cˣ | Hann mældi mik | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vík 8 (Gautr 16) — 152, 590b-cˣ, papp11ˣ | Þá safnaði | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vík 9 (Gautr 17) — 152, 590b-cˣ, papp11ˣ | Styr ok Steinþóri | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vík 10 (Gautr 18) — 152, 590b-cˣ | Svá komu vér | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vík 11 (Gautr 19) — 152, 590b-cˣ | Var Víkari | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vík 12 (Gautr 20) — 152, 590b-cˣ | Var Víkari | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vík 13 (Gautr 21) — 590b-cˣ | Vart þú eigi | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vík 14 (Gautr 22) — 590b-cˣ | Mik lét sverði | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vík 15 (Gautr 23) — 152, 590b-cˣ | Ok á síðu | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vík 16 (Gautr 24) — 152, 590b-cˣ | Sneidda ek honum | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vík 17 (Gautr 25) — 590b-cˣ | Lét þreksamr | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vík 18 (Gautr 26) — 590b-cˣ | Átti sér | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vík 19 (Gautr 27) — 590b-cˣ | Var sínkgjarn | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vík 20 (Gautr 28) — 590b-cˣ | Réð Friðþjófr | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vík 21 (Gautr 29) — 590b-cˣ | Réðum um | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vík 22 (Gautr 30) — 590b-cˣ | Réð Óláfr | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vík 23 (Gautr 31) — 590b-cˣ | Gengum fram | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vík 24 (Gautr 32) — 590b-cˣ | Réð Friðþjófr | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vík 25 (Gautr 33) — 590b-cˣ | Mér gaf Víkarr | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vík 26 (Gautr 34) — 152, 590b-cˣ | Fylgða ek fylki | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vík 27 (Gautr 35) — 152, 590b-cˣ | Þess erendis | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vík 28 (Gautr 36) — 152, 590b-cˣ | Skylda ek Víkar | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vík 29 (Gautr 37) — 152, 590b-cˣ | Þaðan vappaða ek | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vík 30 (Gautr 38) — 152, 590b-cˣ | Nú sótta ek | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vík 31 (Gautr 39) — 590b-cˣ | Hér settu mik | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vík 32 (Gautr 40) — 590b-cˣ | Sjá þykkjaz þeir | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vík 33 (Gautr 41) — 590b-cˣ | Hlæja rekkar |
text and translation
Þá var ek ungr, er inni brann
frækna fjölð með feðr …
þjóðnær vági fyr Þrumu innan.
Ek var ungr þá, er fjölð frækna brann inni með feðr … þjóðnær vági fyr innan Þrumu.
‘I was young then, when a crowd of bold men burnt inside with … father very near the bay inside of Tromøy. ’
notes and context
This stanza, immediately followed by Vík 2 (Gautr 10), comes at the end of the first chapter of Víkars þáttr, which gives an account of Starkaðr’s family and of his father, Stórvirkr’s, relationship with King Haraldr of Agder in southern Norway. It mentions that King Haraldr had given Stórvirkr the island of Þruma (Tromøy) in Agder, where the latter established a farm. It then tells how Stórvirkr abducted a woman named Unnr, the mother of Starkaðr and the daughter of Jarl Freki of Hålogaland, and how Jarl Freki’s sons Fjǫri and Fýri burnt Stórvirkr and Unnr and their household inside their farmhouse. Starkaðr himself was fostered by King Haraldr. The stanza is introduced with the words Svá segir Starkaðr frá ‘Starkaðr tells thus about [the events]’.
This stanza and Vík 2 (Gautr 10) are presented as a single stanza of fourteen lines by Gautr 1900 and Edd. Min., but divided at the end of l. 6 of this stanza by Skj and Skald. That division has been followed here. Some text appears to be missing from ll. 4-5 of st. 1, where þjóð (l. 5) follows immediately after feðr (l. 4) in the mss, yet seems to belong alliteratively with ll. 5-6. An additional couplet may also be lacking to bring the stanza up to the conventional eight lines; alternatively, the combination of what is here given as two separate stanzas may be better regarded as one long stanza of irregular length. The metre is a mixture of fornyrðislag and kviðuháttr (ll. 1, 3).
readings
- [2] er: at 152
- [2] inni: inni er papp11ˣ
- [3] frækna: flokna 152, papp11ˣ
- [3] fjölð: ferð 152
- [5] ‑nær vági: so 152, ‘nerunge’ 590b‑cˣ, papp11ˣ
- [6] innan: ‘menn annj’ 152
sources
Text is based on reconstruction from the base text and variant apparatus and may contain alternative spellings and other normalisations not visible in the manuscript text. Transcriptions may not have been checked and should not be cited.
-
AM 590 b-c 4°x (590b-cx) — 3v/10 - 3v/11
imagesÞá var ek ungr,
er inni brann
frækna fjölð
með feðr …
þjóð†nerunge†
fyr Þrumu innan.þa var ec ungr er inne brann frekna fiold | med fedr þiöd nerunge fyrir þrumv innan StarkSt Vík 2 (Gautr 10)
(HA)
-
AM 152 fol (152) — 198rb/30 - 198rb/32
Þá var ek ungr,
images
at inni brann
flokna ferð
með feðr …
þjóðnær vági
fyr Þrumu †menn annj†. -
Holm papp 11 8°x (papp11x) — 5r - 5r
Þá var ek ungr,
images
er inni er brann
flokna fjölð
með feðr …
þjóð†nerunge†
fyr Þrumu innan.
editions and texts
Skj: Anonyme digte og vers [XIII], E. 13. Vers af Fornaldarsagaer: Af Gautrekssaga II 1: AII, 324, BII, 343-4, Skald II, 185; FSN 3, 16, Gautr 1664, 20 (ll. 1-4), Gautr 1900, 13, FSGJ 4, 13; Edd. Min. 38.
Stanza/chapter/text segment
Use the buttons at the top of the page to navigate between stanzas in a poem.
Information tab
- text: if the stanza has been published, the edited text of the stanza and translation are here; if it hasn't been published an old edition (usually Skj) is given for reference
- sources: a list of the manuscripts or inscriptions containing this stanza, with page and line references and links (eye button) to images where available, and transcription where available
- readings: a list of variant manuscript readings of words in the main text
- editions and texts: a list of editions of the stanza with links to the bibliography; and a list of prose works in which the stanza occurs, allowing you to navigate within the prose context
- notes and context: notes not linked to individual words are given here, along with the account of the prose context for the stanza, where relevant
Interactive tab
The text and translation are given here, with buttons to toggle whether the text is shown in the verse order or prose word order. Clicking on indiviudal words gives dictionary links, variant readings, kennings and notes, where relevant.
Full text tab
This is the text of the edition in a similar format to how the edition appears in the printed volumes.
Chapter/text segment
This view is also used for chapters and other text segments. Not all the headings shown are relevant to such sections.