Anon Óldr 6^I

Rak, sás rausn vann mikla,
rjóðr með gengi þjóðar
víga borðs, ok verðar,
vestr hernað, fekk erni.
Endr frák borgir brenndar
— brandr gall — á Írlandi,
— blésu vé — þars vísi
vígmóðr of kom, glóðum.

{Rjóðr {borðs víga}}, sás vann mikla rausn, rak hernað vestr með gengi þjóðar, ok fekk erni verðar. Frák borgir brenndar glóðum endr á Írlandi, þars vígmóðr vísi of kom; brandr gall; vé blésu.

{The reddener {of the planking of battles}} [SHIELD > WARRIOR], he who achieved great magnificence, pursued a raiding campaign in the west with a company of men, and provided the eagle with food. I have heard of towns burned by fire in former times in Ireland, where the battle-furious prince came; the sword rang out; banners fluttered.

Mss: Bb(112va-b)

Readings: [3] verðar: varðar Bb

Editions: Skj AI, 574-5, Skj BI, 568-9, Skald I, 275, NN §1217 Anm.; Munch and Unger 1847, 121, 140, Gullberg 1875, 12-13, 25-6.

Notes: [3] verðar ‘food’: Ms. ‘varðar’ (gen. sg. of vǫrðr ‘guardian’), while grammatically possible as a gen. object for fekk ‘got’, does not make sense. Verðar ‘food, a meal’ (gen. sg. of verðr m.) yields the conventional topos of the king providing scavenging animals with food, in the form of enemy corpses, and LP: 2. fáa 2 cites instances of the verb with verðar. — [4]: HSt Rst 3/4 also begins vestr hernað. — [6]: Cf. the closely similar HSt Rst 4/6 and Note. — [6] á Írlandi ‘in Ireland’: Óláfr’s raids in Ireland are corroborated by Hfr Óldr 6, almost certainly the source for the brief descriptions in ÓTHkr (ÍF 26, 264-5) and Fsk (ÍF 29, 141-4; cf. Fidjestøl 1982, 107-9; Krag 2003a, 64); cf. also HSt Rst 6. — [8] glóðum ‘by fire’: The word refers in prose usage to glowing embers. It could alternatively be taken here with kom, hence ‘came with fire, brought fire’.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
3. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. 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.
5. Fidjestøl, Bjarne. 1982. Det norrøne fyrstediktet. Universitet i Bergen Nordisk institutts skriftserie 11. Øvre Ervik: Alvheim & Eide.
6. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
7. ÍF 29 = Ágrip af Nóregskonunga sǫgum; Fagrskinna—Nóregs konungatal. Ed. Bjarni Einarsson. 1985.
8. Munch, P. A. and C. R. Unger, eds. 1847. Oldnorsk læsebog med tilhörende glossarium. Christiania (Oslo): Dahl.
9. Gullberg, H., ed. 1875. Óláfs drápa Tryggvasonar: fragment ur “Bergsboken”. Lund: Berling.
10. Krag, Claus. 2003a. ‘Óláfr Tryggvason’. In RGA, 22, 63-4.
11. Internal references
12. (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 2 May 2024)
13. Rolf Stavnem (ed.) 2012, ‘Hallar-Steinn, Rekstefja 3’ 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. 900.
14. Rolf Stavnem (ed.) 2012, ‘Hallar-Steinn, Rekstefja 4’ 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. 901.
15. Rolf Stavnem (ed.) 2012, ‘Hallar-Steinn, Rekstefja 6’ 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. 903.
16. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2012, ‘Hallfreðr vandræðaskáld Óttarsson, Óláfsdrápa 6’ 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. 398.