Anon Heil 10^VII

Dýrðar læt* eg dásemd verðan
Díonísíum guðs vin prísað;
heilagan gerði hinn hæsti Paulus
hann af einum villumanni.
Clémens páfi guðspjalls geymi
Gallíam bauð að kristna alla;
fekk hann það með frægð og lukku,
að Frakkar sneruz til drottins þakka.

Eg læt* prísað Díonísíum, guðs vin, verðan dásemd dýrðar; hinn hæsti Paulus gerði hann heilagan af einum villumanni. Clémens páfi bauð {geymi guðspjalls} að kristna alla Gallíam; með frægð og lukku fekk hann það, að Frakkar sneruz til þakka drottins.

I praise Dionysius, God’s friend, to be [who is] a marvel of glory; the highest Paul turned him into a holy man from a heretic. Pope Clement asked {the guardian of the Gospel} [HOLY MAN] to convert all of Gaul to Christianity; with fame and luck he brought it about that the Franks turned to thanks to [lit. of] the Lord.

Mss: 720a VI(1v), 399a-bˣ

Readings: [1] læt* eg: lætr 720a VI    [5] geymi: so 399a‑bˣ, geymir 720a VI    [6] Gallíam: so 399a‑bˣ, Gallam 720a VI    [8] þakka: ‘[...] kka’ 720a VI, (þa)kka 399a‑bˣ

Editions: Skj AII, 513, Skj BII, 565, Skald II, 309, NN §§1767, 1770, 2889; Kahle 1898, 92, 112.

Notes: [All]: Sts 10-13 celebrate S. Dionysius (Denis or Denys), bishop of Paris, d. c. 250, for a long time regarded as the patron saint of France. According to Gregory of Tours (Krusch 1937, 23) he is supposed to have been sent into Gaul as a missionary by Pope Clement I (active c. 96 AD; on his cult in Scandinavia see Hofmann 1997 and Carron 2005) and to have been beheaded a few years later at Montmartre, along with a priest named Rusticus and a deacon, Eleutherius. Two fragments of a Dionysius saga are preserved in late ON mss (Unger 1877, I, 312-22, Widding, Bekker-Nielsen and Shook 1963, 307; Foote 1962, 22). S. Dionysius was co-patron of churches at Engey (C14th) and Reykholt, and co-patron of the altar at Viðey monastery (Cormack 1994, 93). — [1] Eg læt* ‘I praise’: Lætr (so 720a VI) is 3rd pers. sg. and a 1st pers. verb (as also in sts 4, 5 and 25) is required here. The emendation proposed by Skj B is followed here. Verðan in l. 1 qualifies Díonísíum (l. 2) and dásemd agrees with them in case (acc.) and gender. — [3-4] hinn hæsti Paulus gerði hann heilagan af einum villumanni ‘the highest Paul turned him into a holy man from a heretic’: Cf. Acts XVII.34, where there is a reference to S. Paul converting various sceptics, including Dionysius the Areopagite, who was confused in medieval hagiography with Dionysius of Paris. — [8] að (inf. marker) ‘to’: See Note to st. 6/6.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Unger, C. R., ed. 1877. Heilagra manna søgur. Fortællinger og legender om hellige mænd og kvinder. 2 vols. Christiania (Oslo): Bentzen.
3. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
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. Carron, Helen, ed. and trans. 2005. Clemens saga: The Life of St Clement of Rome. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
7. Cormack, Margaret. 1994a. The Saints in Iceland: Their Veneration from the Conversion to 1400. Studia Hagiographica 78. Brussels: Société des Bollandistes.
8. Foote, Peter G., ed. 1962. Lives of Saints. Perg. fol. nr. 2 in the Royal Library, Stockholm. EIM 4.
9. Kahle, Bernhard, ed. 1898. Isländische geistliche Dichtungen des ausgehenden Mittelalters. Heidelberg: Winter.
10. Krusch, Bruno, ed. 1937. Gregorii Episcopi Turonensis Historiarum Libri X. Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores Rerum Merovingicarum Vol. I. Part I, Fasc. 1. Hannover: Hahn.