Arn Hardr 13^II

Eigi varð ins œgja
auðligr konungs dauði;
hlífðut hlenna sœfi
hoddum reknir broddar.
Heldr køru meir ins milda
mildings an grið vildi
of folksnaran fylki
falla liðsmenn allir.

Dauði ins œgja konungs varð eigi auðligr; broddar reknir hoddum hlífðut {sœfi hlenna}. Allir liðsmenn ins milda mildings køru meir heldr falla of folksnaran fylki an vildi grið.

The death of the fearsome king was not unadorned; spear-points inlaid with gold did not protect {the slayer of robbers} [JUST RULER]. All the liegemen of the gracious prince chose much rather to fall beside the battle-swift commander than wishing quarter.

Mss: Kˣ(583r), F(53va), E(27v), J2ˣ(298r) (Hkr); FskAˣ(308) (Fsk); Mork(19v) (Mork); Flat(204ra) (Flat); H(76r), Hr(54ra-b) (H-Hr)

Readings: [1] œgja: so E, J2ˣ, FskAˣ, Mork, Flat, yggja Kˣ, ‘ygía’ F, H, ‘yga’ Hr    [3] hlífðut: hlíf þótt F, hlífðu H;    hlenna: ‘hlǫnna’ J2ˣ, senna H;    sœfi: svæfi F    [4] hoddum: hǫddum J2ˣ;    reknir broddar: so FskAˣ, Mork, Flat, Hr, roðnir oddar Kˣ, F, E, J2ˣ, reknir broddan H    [5] meir ins: om. Hr;    meir: menn Flat, menn meirr H;    milda: mæra E, J2ˣ, FskAˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 352, Skj BI, 325, Skald I, 164, NN §§1136, 2989A; Hkr 1893-1901, III, 210-11, ÍF 28, 191, Hkr 1991, 686 (HSig ch. 92), F 1871, 249, E 1916, 98; Fsk 1902-3, 293 (ch. 60), ÍF 29, 288 (ch. 70); Mork 1928-32, 278, Andersson and Gade 2000, 272, 482 (MH); Flat 1860-8, III, 396 (MH); Fms 6, 420 (HSig ch. 119), Fms 12, 166; Whaley 1998, 291-3.

Context: Once Haraldr Sigurðarson has fallen, the Engl. Harold Godwineson (Haraldr Guðinason) offers peace to his brother Tostig (Tósti) and the surviving Norwegians, but all declare they would rather fall one on top of another than make peace with the English, and they raise a battle-cry, which leads into the second phase of fighting.

Notes: [2] auðligr ‘unadorned’: The statement that the king’s death was not auðligr is capable of some four interpretations, of which (a) has been chosen since it rests on the only other occurrence of the word. (a) Auðligr is recorded in Sturl Hákkv 12/7-8 varat auðligr | allvalds floti ‘the prince’s fleet was not paltry/bare’ i.e. ‘not lacking in fine trappings’. The adj. here may well be a doublet of the i-mutated eyðiligr which appears in Þloft Tøgdr 4/7-8^I vasa eyðilig | ǫrbeiðis fǫr ‘not empty/fruitless was the arrow-bidder’s [WARRIOR] expedition’. Auðligr thus seems to derive from the adj. auðr ‘empty, void, desolate’, cf. auðn f. and eyði, n. ‘waste, desert’, and in st. 13 would imply that the king’s death was not without splendour, i.e. that it was dignified by the presence of gilded weapons and by the loyalty of Haraldr’s war-band, both mentioned in the st. Alternatively, the meaning could be ironic: the king’s death was not void, unproductive, for many died with him (so Flo 1902, 131). (b) An alternative interpretation of ll. 1-2, that Haraldr’s death was ‘not fated’, is adopted in Skj B. It is based on the possibility that auðligr is related to the adj. auðinn ‘determined by fate’, auðr m. and auðna f. ‘destiny, fate, fortune’ (cf. skapligr ‘suitable, fit’, related to skap ‘condition’ and skǫp ‘fate’). The skald could perhaps be hinting that the king’s death was due not to an inexorable destiny but to his own stubborn thirst for glory. Compare Note to st. 12/1 ofrausn, including the citation from Þjóðólfr. (c) Auð- could be connected with auðr m. ‘riches, prosperity’ as in auðigr ‘wealthy’ and many compounds, including Arn Þorfdr 21/4 auðgjafi ‘wealth-giver’. Eigi auðligr, hence, could mean ‘not profitable’ (so Fms 12, 166), perhaps referring to death curtailing a relationship of patronage (cf. Glúmr Gráf 11^I). (d) Auð- could mean ‘easy/easily’ as in auðkenndr ‘easily recognised’ or auðfenginn ‘easily obtained’. Eigi auðligr would mean in this case ‘not easy’, implying by understatement that Haraldr’s death came about in a bitter or painful way (so Kock, NN §1136). Compare Beowulf 2586, where the OE cognate ēaðe is used in an ironic understatement about the hero’s death, beginning, Ne wæs þæt ēðe [ēaðe] sīð ‘It was no easy journey’ (Beowulf 2008, 88). — [3] hlífðut ‘did not protect’: (a) The meaning of oddar hlífðut sœfi hlenna could be straightforwardly, ‘the [Norwegians’] spear-points did not protect the slayer of robbers [Haraldr]’, i.e. the row of spears afforded no defence. (b) On the other hand, hlífðut could well be an ironic understatement: ‘the [enemy] points did not spare him’—indeed, they were the death of him. — [4] broddar reknir ‘spear-points inlaid’: As the reading of both Fsk and the Mork tradition, it is preferred here to the equally effective Hkr reading oddar roðnir ‘spear-points reddened’. Hodd n. ‘gold, treasure’ normally occurs in the pl. (see LP: 1. hodd), here dat. pl. hoddum.

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. Fms = Sveinbjörn Egilsson et al., eds. 1825-37. Fornmanna sögur eptir gömlum handritum útgefnar að tilhlutun hins norræna fornfræða fèlags. 12 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
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. Andersson, Theodore M. and Kari Ellen Gade, trans. 2000. Morkinskinna: The Earliest Icelandic Chronicle of the Norwegian Kings (1030-1157). Islandica 51. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.
8. Whaley, Diana, ed. and trans. 1998. The Poetry of Arnórr jarlaskáld: An Edition and Study. Westfield Publications in Medieval Studies 8. Turnhout: Brepols.
9. 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.
10. Mork 1928-32 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1928-32. Morkinskinna. SUGNL 53. Copenhagen: Jørgensen.
11. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
12. Hkr 1893-1901 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1893-1901. Heimskringla: Nóregs konunga sǫgur af Snorri Sturluson. 4 vols. SUGNL 23. Copenhagen: Møller.
13. Hkr 1991 = Bergljót S. Kristjánsdóttir et al., eds. 1991. Heimskringla. 3 vols. Reykjavík: Mál og menning.
14. F 1871 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1871. Fríssbók: Codex Frisianus. En samling af norske konge-sagaer. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
15. Beowulf 2008 = Fulk, Robert D., Robert E. Bjork and John D. Niles, eds. 2008. Klaeber’s Beowulf and the Fight at Finnsburg. 4th rev. edn of Beowulf and the Fight at Finnsburg, ed. Fr. Klaeber. Toronto, Buffalo and London: University of Toronto Press.
16. Fsk 1902-3 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1902-3. Fagrskinna: Nóregs kononga tal. SUGNL 30. Copenhagen: Møller.
17. E 1916 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1916. Eirspennill: AM 47 fol. Nóregs konunga sǫgur: Magnús góði – Hákon gamli. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske historiske kildeskriftskommission.
18. Flo, Rasmus J., trans. 1902. Gamle skaldar og kvad. Oslo: [n. p.]. First printed 1901 in SoS 7, 145-69, 261-78, 309-26, 389-405, 468-82.
19. ÍF 29 = Ágrip af Nóregskonunga sǫgum; Fagrskinna—Nóregs konungatal. Ed. Bjarni Einarsson. 1985.
20. Internal references
21. (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 20 April 2024)
22. (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 20 April 2024)
23. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Morkinskinna’ 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=87> (accessed 20 April 2024)
24. (forthcoming), ‘ Heimskringla, Haralds saga Sigurðssonar’ 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=142> (accessed 20 April 2024)
25. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Magnúss saga góða ok Haralds harðráða’ 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=147> (accessed 20 April 2024)
26. Alison Finlay (ed.) 2012, ‘Glúmr Geirason, Gráfeldardrápa 11’ 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. 260.
27. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Sturla Þórðarson, Hákonarkviða 12’ 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, pp. 708-9.
28. Matthew Townend (ed.) 2012, ‘Þórarinn loftunga, Tøgdrápa 4’ 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. 857.
29. Not published: do not cite ()