Anon Vitn 14^VII

Spurði hringa hirði
herra ríkr að slíku;
sætu sögn í móti
sór hann eiða stóra.
Guðs fyrir nýtar náðir
nefndur byskup stefndi
vænn til vátta sinna
virkr í Máríukirkju.

Ríkr herra spurði {hirði hringa} að slíku; hann sór stóra eiða í móti sögn sætu. Fyrir nýtar náðir guðs stefndi nefndur, vænn, virkr byskup til vátta sinna í Máríukirkju.

The powerful lord asked {the keeper of rings} [MAN] about this; he swore great oaths against the assertions of the woman. Because of the beneficial grace [lit. graces] of God, the afore-mentioned good, considerate bishop summoned [him] to his witnesses in the Church of Mary.

Mss: 713(84), 721(12r)

Readings: [4] sór: svór 721    [5] Guðs: guði 713, 721    [8] í: om. 721

Editions: Skj AII, 485, Skj BII, 523, Skald II, 287, NN §1677A; Kahle 1898, 52, Sperber 1911, 26, 71, Wrightson 2001, 33.

Notes: [5] guðs (m. gen. sg.) ‘of God’: Guði (m. dat. sg.) ‘for God’ is ungrammatical. — [7] til vátta sinna ‘to his witnesses’: This interpretation is conjectural. The refl. pron. ought to refer back to the subject (the bishop), in which case the phrase should translate ‘to his (own) witnesses’, which makes little sense. However, the refl. pron. can also refer back to the object of the cl. (see NS §330), but the object of the verb stefndi ‘summoned’ (l. 6) is suppressed, and we do not know whether the bishop summoned the woman or the man or both. Skj B has ‘summoned them’ and ‘her witnesses’ (so also apparently Skald; see NN §1677a), which is ungrammatical, and Wrightson has ‘summoned him’ and ‘his witnesses’. The latter interpretation is supported by the corresponding passage in Mar (1871, 301): Ok þvi biðr ek yðr í gvðs nafni, at þer stefnit honvm þingdag til þeirar sømu kirkjv ‘And therefore I ask you in the name of God that you stipulate a court-date for him to the same church’.

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. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. Sperber, Hans, ed. 1911. Sechs isländische Gedichte legendarischen Inhalts. Uppsala Universitets årsskrift, filosofi, språkvetenskap och historiska vetenskaper 2. Uppsala: Akademische Buchdruckerei Edv. Berling.
6. 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.
7. NS = Nygaard, Marius. 1906. Norrøn syntax. Kristiania (Oslo): Aschehoug. Rpt. 1966.
8. Kahle, Bernhard, ed. 1898. Isländische geistliche Dichtungen des ausgehenden Mittelalters. Heidelberg: Winter.