Hfr Óldr 1^I

Svá frák hitt, at hôva
hǫrgbrjótr í stað mǫrgum
(opt kom hrafn at heipta)
hlóð valkǫstu (blóði).
Endr lét Jamta kindir
allvaldr í styr falla
(vanðisk hann) ok Vinða
végrimmr (á þat snimma).

Svá frák hitt, at hǫrgbrjótr hlóð hôva valkǫstu í mǫrgum stað; hrafn kom opt at blóði heipta. Allvaldr, végrimmr, lét endr kindir Jamta ok Vinða falla í styr; hann vanðisk á þat snimma.

Thus I have learned this, that {the shrine-destroyer piled up high corpse-heaps in many a place; the raven often came to the blood of strife. The mighty ruler, fierce against heathen temples, formerly caused the kin of the Jamtr and Wends to fall in the mêlée; he became accustomed to that early.

Mss: FskBˣ(32v), 51ˣ(29r-v), FskAˣ(119-120) (Fsk); 310(98) (ÓTOdd); Kˣ(146v), F(24rb), J1ˣ(86r) (Hkr, ll. 5-8); 61(14vb), 53(13ra), 54(9va), Bb(19vb), 62(7rb), Flat(14vb) (ÓT, ll. 5-8)

Readings: [1] hôva: so 310, hôvan FskBˣ, 51ˣ, FskAˣ    [3] at: þars 310;    heipta: ‘hamna’ FskBˣ, 51ˣ, ‘hæfta’ FskAˣ, heiptum 310    [5] Endr: enn F;    lét: létsk F;    kindir: kindar FskBˣ, 51ˣ, kindr FskAˣ, kindum 53, 54, Bb    [6] ‑valdr í styr: ‑valdastr Bb, ‑vandliga Flat;    ‑valdr: ‘[…]’ FskBˣ, ‑valdr or valda 62;    í: om. FskBˣ    [7] vanðisk: ‘[…]’ FskBˣ;    hann: ‘[…]t’ FskBˣ, opt 51ˣ;    ok: æ J1ˣ, at Flat;    Vinða: víða 51ˣ    [8] végrimmr: so F, 61, 53, 54, Bb, 62, ‘[…]’ FskBˣ, ‘vegrunr’ 51ˣ, veggrimmr Kˣ, FskAˣ, J1ˣ, Flat, víggrimmr 310;    á þat: ‘[…]’ FskBˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 157, Skj BI, 149, Skald I, 81, NN §473; Fsk 1902-3, 108-9 (ch. 21), ÍF 29, 141-2 (ch. 23); ÓTOdd 1932, 247; Hkr 1893-1901, I, 298, IV, 80, ÍF 26, 255, Hkr 1991, 171 (ÓTHkr ch. 25), F 1871, 111; ÓT 1958-2000, I, 138 (ch. 70), Flat 1860-8, I, 110.

Context: See Introduction.

Notes: [All]: FskBˣ is used as main ms. for ll. 1-4, which are lacking in Hkr and ÓT, while Kˣ is used as main ms. for ll. 5-8 since FskBˣ has several small lacunae there, resulting from a large tear at the foot of fol. 32v. The arrangement of helmingar in Fsk and 310 is followed here, as throughout this edn, since that arrangement seems likely to be closer to the original; see Introduction. In Hkr and ÓT, ll. 5-8 form a stanza with st. 2/1-4. — [2] hǫrgbrjótr ‘the shrine-destroyer’: An unusual expression depicting Óláfr specifically as a Christian ruler, a purger of heathendom; cf. végrimmr ‘temple-fierce, fierce against heathen temples’ in l. 8. Hǫrgbrjótr could be regarded, as here, as a kenning-like cpd, or as an actual kenning (so Meissner 363), albeit an unusual one. — [3, 4] kom at heipta blóði ‘came to the blood of strife’: Although heipta occurs in no ms., it could have been the starting point for the existing readings: ‘hamna’ (normalised hafna) in FskBˣ, for which a possible meaning is suggested below; the uninterpretable ‘hæfta’ in FskAˣ; and dat. pl. heiptum ‘strife’ in 310, which makes good sense but leaves blóði ‘blood’ (l. 4) stranded and sits uncomfortably with its preceding þars. (a) The construal adopted here is favoured by Finnur Jónsson in Fsk 1902-3 and in LP: heipt 1; also by Bjarni Einarsson in ÍF 29. (b) In Skj B Finnur takes at with blóði, hence opt kom hrafn at blóði ‘the raven often got blood’, while translating heiptum as med fjendtligt sind ‘with hostile mind’ and taking it with hlóð ‘heaped’ (l. 4) and the clause built around it. However, if the dat. reading heiptum were correct the immediately preceding prep. at would govern it rather than the more distant blóði (cf. Kuhn 1983, 120-2 on proclitic prepositions). (c) Kock (Skald and NN §473) reads hafna ... blóði ‘crews’ blood’. — [8] végrimmr ‘fierce against heathen temples’: Although Kˣ and other mss read veg-, perhaps ‘path’ or ‘honour’, this makes little sense compounded with grimmr ‘fierce’, and vé- ‘heathen temple’ is to be preferred. This reading is found in F and supported by ‘vegrimr’ in papp18ˣ and J2ˣ, both of which are transcripts of the vellum K at this point; it may also find some support in the 51ˣ reading ‘vegrunr’. Significant in its rarity, végrimmr matches hǫrgbrjótr ‘shrine-destroyer’ in l. 2 (which falls in a different stanza in the Hkr-ÓT arrangement of the poem), fleetingly portraying Óláfr in his role as militant missionary. Syntactically, the adj. could conceivably be taken to qualify hann ‘he’ in l. 7, but the present arrangement, which leaves the intercalated clause in ll. 7, 8 more terse, seems stylistically preferable and is favoured by earlier eds.

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. Meissner = Meissner, Rudolf. 1921. Die Kenningar der Skalden: Ein Beitrag zur skaldischen Poetik. Rheinische Beiträge und Hülfsbücher zur germanischen Philologie und Volkskunde 1. Bonn and Leipzig: Schroeder. Rpt. 1984. Hildesheim etc.: Olms.
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. Flat 1860-8 = Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and C. R. Unger, eds. 1860-8. Flateyjarbók. En samling af norske konge-sagaer med indskudte mindre fortællinger om begivenheder i og udenfor Norge samt annaler. 3 vols. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
8. Kuhn, Hans (1899). 1983. Das Dróttkvætt. Heidelberg: Winter.
9. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
10. Hkr 1893-1901 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1893-1901. Heimskringla: Nóregs konunga sǫgur af Snorri Sturluson. 4 vols. SUGNL 23. Copenhagen: Møller.
11. Hkr 1991 = Bergljót S. Kristjánsdóttir et al., eds. 1991. Heimskringla. 3 vols. Reykjavík: Mál og menning.
12. F 1871 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1871. Fríssbók: Codex Frisianus. En samling af norske konge-sagaer. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
13. Fsk 1902-3 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1902-3. Fagrskinna: Nóregs kononga tal. SUGNL 30. Copenhagen: Møller.
14. ÍF 29 = Ágrip af Nóregskonunga sǫgum; Fagrskinna—Nóregs konungatal. Ed. Bjarni Einarsson. 1985.
15. ÓT 1958-2000 = Ólafur Halldórsson, ed. 1958-2000. Saga Óláfs Tryggvasonar en mesta. 3 vols. EA A 1-3. Copenhagen: Munksgaard (Reitzel).
16. Internal references
17. (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 19 April 2024)
18. (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 19 April 2024)
19. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta’ 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. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=60> (accessed 19 April 2024)
20. (forthcoming), ‘ Oddr Snorrason, Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar by Oddr Snorrason’ 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. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=66> (accessed 19 April 2024)