Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Arnórr jarlaskáld Þórðarson, Magnússdrápa 14’ 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. 223-4.
Skeiðr tók Bjarnar bróður
ballr Skônungum allar
— þjóð røri þeirar tíðar
þingat — gramr með hringum.
Gramr, ballr Skônungum, tók allar skeiðr {bróður Bjarnar} með hringum; þjóð røri þingat þeirar tíðar.
The monarch, baleful to the Skánungar, seized all the warships {of Bjǫrn’s brother} [= Sveinn], every one; men rowed up at the right moment.
Mss: Kˣ(517r), 39(17vb), E(9r), J2ˣ(254v) (Hkr); FskBˣ(59r); H(12r), Hr(11ra) (H-Hr); Flat(191vb) (Flat)
Readings: [1] tók: tókt FskBˣ; bróður: bróðir FskBˣ, Flat [2] ballr: baldr 39, FskBˣ, hallr Flat; Skônungum: ‘skæningum’ FskBˣ, kann ungum Flat [3] røri: reyri J2ˣ, H; þeirar: þeirra Flat
Editions: Skj AI, 341-2, Skj BI, 314, Skald I, 159; Hkr 1893-1901, III, 64, ÍF 28, 58, Hkr 1991, 594 (Mgóð ch. 33), E 1916, 30; Fsk 1902-3, 214 (ch. 42), ÍF 29, 224-5 (ch. 50); Fms 6, 85 (Mgóð ch. 40), Fms 12, 138; Flat 1860-8, III, 284, Andersson and Gade 2000, 126, 470 (MH); Whaley 1998, 209-11.
Context: In Hkr, Fsk and H-Hr, the st. appears in the account of the battle at Helgenæs (Helganes). Flat by contrast attaches the st. to the battle south of Århus (Áróss), citing it immediately after st. 15.
Notes: [1] bróður Bjarnar ‘of Bjǫrn’s brother’: This is Sveinn Úlfsson. Bjǫrn is mentioned together with Sveinn in Knýtl (ÍF 35, 97, 141) and Mork (1928-32, 223). An English earl, he was treacherously killed by Swegn Godwineson (ASC ‘C’ s. a. 1049, ‘D’ s. a. 1050, ‘E’ s. a. 1046). — [2] ballr Skônungum ‘baleful to the Skánungar’: (a) The idiom ballr e-m ‘baleful, harsh, fearsome to sby’ may be paralleled in Bdr 5/7-8 réðo ... hví væri Baldri ballir draumar ‘discussed … why his dreams were baleful to Baldr’ (NK 277), if dat. sg. Baldri ‘to Baldr’ is construed, as here, with ballir ‘baleful’, hence ‘discussed … why Baldr’s dreams were baleful’ (réðo … hví draumar væri ballir Baldri). There does not appear to be a more secure example of ballr e-m (e.g. ONP has none), but such a construction might have been encouraged by the phonetically and semantically similar bella e-m ‘harm sby’ (strong verb), or by adj. phrases such as reiðr e-m ‘angry with sby’ or hættr e-m as in hættr Serkjum ‘dangerous to Saracens’ (ÞjóðA Sex 2). The postulated phrase ballr Sknungum is also compatible with the tradition that the people of Skåne (Skáney, now southern Sweden but then Dan. territory) earned Magnús’s hostility by supporting his enemy Sveinn. This interpretation is adopted by Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson (ÍF 28, 58 n.). (b) Finnur Jónsson in Skj B and Kock in Skald, on the other hand, emend to gen. pl. Sknunga, which they take with gramr, hence ‘monarch of Skánungar’. — [3] þeirar tíðar ‘at the right moment’: So Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson, who renders tíð as heillastund (?) ‘fortunate time (?)’ (ÍF 28, 58 n.). Although tíð f. normally has a neutral sense which can be qualified by góð ‘good’ or ill ‘bad, evil’, the possibility that it can have a favourable sense is suggested by its antonym ótíð ‘bad season, bad weather, inappropriate time’ and by the adj. tíðr ‘accustomed, popular, beloved’.
Use the buttons at the top of the page to navigate between stanzas in a poem.
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.
This is the text of the edition in a similar format to how the edition appears in the printed volumes.
This view is also used for chapters and other text segments. Not all the headings shown are relevant to such sections.