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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Anon (FoGT) 25III

Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Lausavísur, Stanzas from the Fourth Grammatical Treatise 25’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 602.

Anonymous LausavísurStanzas from the Fourth Grammatical Treatise
242526

text and translation

Mætr Hákon vann
en Magnús fann
hjörr Eiríks hiekk
hans bróðir giekk
langfeðra láð,
lögvizku ráð;
á rítar slóð;
að refsa þjóð.

Mætr Hákon vann láð langfeðra, en Magnús fann ráð lögvizku; hjörr Eiríks hiekk á {slóð rítar}; bróðir hans giekk að refsa þjóð.
 
‘Excellent Hákon won his paternal ancestors’ land, but Magnús gained counsel of legal learning; Eiríkr’s sword hung upon the shield’s track [ARM]; his brother was busied with punishing people.

notes and context

This stanza follows shortly after st. 24 as the fifth example of antitheton. The prose text explains that this variation comprises four clauses, each of which begins in the first helmingr and finishes in the second, in the order abcd: abcd. Stanza 26 is, as the prose also explains, a rearrangement of this sequence using almost the same wording, in the order abcd: dcba.

ÞSjár Frag 3, transmitted in mss R, and W of SnE (Skm), provides an earlier example of exactly the same rhetorical practice as is illustrated here, with each line of the first helmingr forming an independent clause with the corresponding line of the second helmingr. It is interesting that in Þórðr Sjáreksson’s stanza the subject-matter of the clauses is taken from Old Norse myth and legend, while here it comes from Norwegian history. This may suggest that there was a requirement in all forms of what FoGT terms antitheton that the subject-matter comprise condensed references to myth, legend or, in this case, historical figures. In the Latin treatises, examples given are of Old Testament characters. Like ÞSjár Frag 3, this stanza and st. 26 are in runhent metre (here, fornyrðislag, Types E and B).  — [2] Magnús: Magnús lagabœtir ‘Law-mender’ Hákonarson (r. 1263-80), son of the king mentioned in l. 1. As his nickname and l. 6 of this stanza indicate, Magnús was celebrated for having modified and unified the laws of Norway. He also promulgated a new law code for Iceland, Jónsbók ‘Jón’s book’ (see NGL IV, 183-340), which was sent to the island in 1280 and ratified by the alþingi (the general legal assembly) in 1281.

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.

editions and texts

Skj: Anonyme digte og vers [XIII], D. 3. Vers af den 4. grt. afhandling 19: AII, 217, BII, 235, Skald II, 122; SnE 1848-87, II, 224-5, III, 159-60, FoGT 1884, 138, 276-7, FoGT 2004, 46-7, 72, 133-4, FoGT 2014, 28-31, 113-14.

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