Anon Vitn 13VII
Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Vitnisvísur af Máríu 13’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 749.
Brátt nam byskup hitta
brúðr, er sorgin knúði,
satt og segir til vátta,
sár, og flóar í tárum:
‘Mettu, hvie mikil er hætta,
mann, ef eg fæ* annan,
en fastúðigr festi
formaðr konu aðra.’
Brúðr, er sár sorgin knúði, nam brátt hitta byskup og segir satt til vátta og flóar í tárum: ‘Mettu, hvie mikil hætta er, ef eg fæ* annan mann, en fastúðigr formaðr festi aðra konu.’
The woman, whom the bitter sorrow oppressed, at once sought a bishop and tells the truth about the witnesses and is flowing with tears: ‘Assess how great the danger is if I should take another husband, and the firm-minded previous man should be engaged to another woman.’
Mss: 713(84), 721(12r)
Readings: [4] flóar: flóir 721 [5] hvie: hvað 721 [6] fæ*: fær 713, 721 [8] ‑maðr: ‑mann 721
Editions: Skj AII, 485, Skj BII, 522-3, Skald II, 286, NN §2668; Kahle 1898, 52, Sperber 1911, 26, 71, Wrightson 2001, 33.
Notes: [5-8]: The admonition to the bishop could refer to the C13-14th debate about the status of a betrothal (see Brundage 1987, 435-6; Wrightson 1997, 128 and n. 24). Cf. Mar (1871, 301): þviat hon serr, hverr haski þar ma af standa, ef minn eiginbonde fęrr ser aþra konv, enn ek hans eiginkona fęrr mer annan mann til bonda ‘because she [Mary] sees, what danger can result from it, if my husband takes another wife, and I, his wife, take another man for a husband’. — [6] fæ* (3rd pers. sg. pres. subj.) ‘should take’: The subj. form of the verb (rather than the indic. fær) is warranted by the syntax; see festi (3rd pers. sg. pres. subj.) ‘should marry’, l. 7.
References
- Bibliography
- Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
- NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
- Brundage, James A. 1987. Law, Sex, and Christian Society in Medieval Europe. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.
- Sperber, Hans, ed. 1911. Sechs isländische Gedichte legendarischen Inhalts. Uppsala Universitets årsskrift, filosofi, språkvetenskap och historiska vetenskaper 2. Uppsala: Akademische Buchdruckerei Edv. Berling.
- Wrightson, Kellinde, ed. 2001. Fourteenth-Century Icelandic Verse on the Virgin Mary: Drápa af Maríugrát, Vitnisvísur af Maríu, Maríuvísur I-III. Viking Society for Northern Research Text Series 14. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
- Kahle, Bernhard, ed. 1898. Isländische geistliche Dichtungen des ausgehenden Mittelalters. Heidelberg: Winter.
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.