Anon Óldr 9^I

Austr þingat kom yngvi;
áðr frák jarl af hjarli
— kœnn með krapti hreinum
Kristr tœði gram — flœðu.
Ógnmildr lét þá ǫldum
ǫðlingr, sás gaf hringa,
— þjóð tók glǫð við góðum
goðs ôr — trúu boðna.

Yngvi kom austr þingat; frák jarl flœðu áðr af hjarli; kœnn Kristr tœði gram með hreinum krapti. Ógnmildr ǫðlingr, sás gaf hringa, lét þá trúu boðna ǫldum; þjóð tók glǫð við {góðum ôr goðs}.

The ruler [Óláfr] came east to there; I heard the jarl [Hákon] fled from [his] territory before; wise Christ helped the prince with pure power. The battle-liberal prince, who gave rings, then had the faith proclaimed to men; glad, the people received {the good emissary of God} [MISSIONARY].

Mss: Bb(112vb)

Readings: [3] kœnn: kœn Bb    [5] lét: ‘lęt’ Bb    [8] trúu: ‘trv’ Bb

Editions: Skj AI, 575, Skj BI, 569, Skald I, 276, NN §§1218, 2991A; Munch and Unger 1847, 121, 141, Gullberg 1875, 13-14, 27-8.

Notes: [All]: Óláfr’s return to Norway and promulgation of Christianity there is also the subject of HSt Rst 7-9. — [1] yngvi ‘the ruler’: This is a common ruler-heiti (LP : Yngvi 2), though in some contexts it may also refer specifically to Yngvi, the eponymous ancestor of the Yngling royal line. See further Note to Eyv Hák 1/3 and Introduction to Þjóð Yt. — [2] jarl ... af hjarli ‘the jarl ... from [his] territory’: Hákon jarl Sigurðarson, the last fully pagan ruler of Norway, was according to Hkr (ÍF 26, 293-7) driven from his jarldom c. 995, fled to Gaulardalr (Gauldalen), and was murdered while hiding in a pigsty, just as Óláfr was sailing in along Trondheimsfjorden. Hjarl therefore appears to refer to Hákon’s territory rather than the land of Norway; cf. the closely similar HSt Rst 7/5-8 and Note. — [3] kœnn ‘wise’: Ms. kœn is f. nom. sg. or n. nom./acc. pl., but as no noun in the helmingr agrees with either form, emendation is necessary (cf. Note to st. 5/3 ár* on single/double consonant spellings in Bb). Some eds (Skj B, Skald) apply the epithet to Óláfr, rather than Christ, but the syntax is awkward. God is called kœnn several times in later Christian poetry (e.g. Gamlkan Jóndr 1/7^VII, ÁmÁrn Lv 1/3^IV). — [4] tœði ‘helped’: On the placing of the verb, see Introduction. — [5, 8] lét trúu boðna ǫldum ‘had the faith proclaimed to men’: Óláfr Christianized the coastal area of Norway between 996 and 999 as well as Iceland and Greenland (Jón Viðar Sigurðsson 1993, 446). Bb’s ‘lęt’ seems to be a slip for lét ‘let, caused’ (so Skj B; Skald), other instances of which in Óldr are spelt ‘lét’ (sts 12/5, 13/5, 21/5) or ‘let’ (16/1, 16/5). Since ‘ę’ in Bb normally represents normalised <æ> or <œ>, ‘lęt’ could be read as læt and emended to pres. tense lætr ‘lets, causes’. A pres. historic here would be supported by pres.-tense references to Óláfr’s missionary efforts in st. 14/5, 8, which presumably suggest their lasting benefit. However, the clear uses of pret. lét in sts 12/5 and 13/5 also relate to the Conversion, and pret. is the prevailing narrative tense of the poem. — [8] ôr goðs ‘emissary of God [MISSIONARY]’: This could be regarded as a simple noun phrase, but the possibility of a missionary-kenning is suggested by siðreynir ‘faith-tester’ in Anon (Kristni) 2/6^IV. — [8] trúu ‘faith’: The disyllabic (pre-hiatus) acc. sg. form of trúa f., rather than the contracted form trú, is used here as in st. 12/8 for metrical reasons (see ANG §130; Nj 1875-8, II, 261-3).

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. Nj 1875-89 = Konráð Gíslason and Eiríkur Jónsson. 1875-89. Njála: Udgivet efter gamle håndskrifter. Íslendingasögur udgivne efter gamle haandskrifter af Det Kongelige Nordiske Oldskrift-selskab 4. Copenhagen: Thiele.
4. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
6. 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.
7. ANG = Noreen, Adolf. 1923. Altnordische Grammatik I: Altisländische und altnorwegische Grammatik (Laut- und Flexionslehre) unter Berücksichtigung des Urnordischen. 4th edn. Halle: Niemeyer. 1st edn. 1884. 5th unrev. edn. 1970. Tübingen: Niemeyer.
8. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
9. Munch, P. A. and C. R. Unger, eds. 1847. Oldnorsk læsebog med tilhörende glossarium. Christiania (Oslo): Dahl.
10. Gullberg, H., ed. 1875. Óláfs drápa Tryggvasonar: fragment ur “Bergsboken”. Lund: Berling.
11. Jón Viðar Sigurðsson. 1993. ‘Óláfr Tryggvason’. In MedS, 446-7.
12. Internal references
13. Not published: do not cite (ÁmÁrn Lv 1^IV)
14. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Heimskringla’ 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=4> (accessed 18 April 2024)
15. Not published: do not cite (Anon (Kristni) 2^IV)
16. Edith Marold with the assistance of Vivian Busch, Jana Krüger, Ann-Dörte Kyas and Katharina Seidel, translated from German by John Foulks 2012, ‘ Þjóðólfr ór Hvini, Ynglingatal’ 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. 3. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1440> (accessed 18 April 2024)
17. R. D. Fulk (ed.) 2012, ‘Eyvindr skáldaspillir Finnsson, Hákonarmál 1’ 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. 174.
18. Beatrice La Farge (ed.) 2007, ‘Gamli kanóki, Jónsdrápa 1’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 133-4.
19. Rolf Stavnem (ed.) 2012, ‘Hallar-Steinn, Rekstefja 7’ 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. 904.