Cookies on our website

We use cookies on this website, mainly to provide a secure browsing experience but also to collect statistics on how the website is used. You can find out more about the cookies we set, the information we store and how we use it on the cookies page.

Continue

skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

Menu Search

Bkrepp Magndr 1II

Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Bjǫrn krepphendi, Magnússdrápa 1’ 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. 396-7.

Bjǫrn krepphendiMagnússdrápa
12

Vítt lét Vǫrsa dróttinn
— varð skjótt rekinn flótti —
— hús sveið Hǫrða ræsir —
Halland farit brandi.
Brenndi buðlungr Þrœnda
— blés kastar hel fasta —
— vakði viskdœlsk ekkja —
víðs mǫrg herǫð síðan.

{Dróttinn Vǫrsa} lét Halland farit vítt brandi; flótti varð rekinn skjótt; {ræsir Hǫrða} sveið hús. Síðan brenndi {buðlungr Þrœnda} víðs mǫrg herǫð; {hel kastar} blés fasta; viskdœlsk ekkja vakði.

{The lord of the Vǫrsar} [NORWEGIAN KING = Magnús] advanced far and wide in Halland with the sword; the fleeing ones were pursued with haste; {the ruler of the Hǫrðar} [NORWEGIAN KING = Magnús] scorched houses. Later {the lord of the Þrœndir} [NORWEGIAN KING = Magnús] burned a great many herǫð; {the death of the wood pile} [FIRE] breathed life into the blaze; the widow from Viskedal lay awake.

Mss: (593v-594r), 39(33va), E(31r-v), J2ˣ(305v), 42ˣ(7r) (Hkr); H(81v), Hr(57rb) (H-Hr); Mork(23r) (Mork); F(58rb)

Readings: [4] Hal‑: heldr Hr;    ‑land: so all others, ‑lands Kˣ;    farit: varit Hr    [6] kastar: so E, J2ˣ, H, Hr, Mork, F, rastar Kˣ, 39, kasta 42ˣ;    hel fasta: él fasta 39, vel fasta 42ˣ, Hr, hræfasti Mork, F    [7] vakði: varði E;    viskdœlsk: ‘viskdǫsk’ E, ‘viskdolg’ 42ˣ, vígdœlsk H, víkdœlsk Hr    [8] víðs: vígs 39, við H, Hr

Editions: Skj AI, 434-5, Skj BI, 404, Skald I, 200, NN §§1148, 2785, 3217; ÍF 28, 213 (Mberf ch. 3), E 1916, 110; Fms 7, 4 (Mberf ch. 3); Mork 1867, 142, Mork 1928-32, 315, Andersson and Gade 2000, 297, 484 (Mberf); F 1871, 268 (Mberf).

Context: Magnús campaigned in Halland.

Notes: [All]: The date of this campaign is disputed. Fsk (ÍF 29, 302) gives the year 1093, whereas Hkr (ÍF 28, 212-13) and Mork (Mork 1928-32, 315) place the campaign in 1094-5. There is no other information about the expedition, and we do not know what prompted Magnús to attack this Dan. district. Saxo (2005, II, 13, 1, 2, pp. 86-7) mentions an attack by Magnús on Halland, but this seems to have taken place at a later point in his career. — [1] vítt (adv.) ‘far and wide’: Skj B takes this as an adj. ‘wide’ (n. acc. sg.) modifying Halland (l. 2). That reading is unlikely because the word is used adverbially on numerous occasions in this poem (e.g. sts 2/3, 4/3, 5/3, 8/1, 11/7; see NN §§1148, 2785). — [1, 4] lét Halland farit vítt brandi ‘advanced far and wide in Halland with the sword’: For this meaning of fara, see LP: fara 4. See also st. 11/5-6 below and Sturl Hákfl 3/5-6. — [4] Halland: The variant Hallands (n. gen. sg.) could qualify hús (n. acc. pl.) ‘houses’ (l. 3) (hús Hallands ‘the houses of Halland’), but the form is not supported by the other ms. witnesses. Halland is a district in the south-west of present-day Sweden (then a part of Denmark). — [6] hel kastar ‘the death of the wood pile [FIRE]’: Hel is a synonym for ‘death’, but it is also the name of Hel, the daughter of Loki, who in ON mythology presided over the realm of the dead. It is not clear whether the word should be taken as a pers. n. or as a common noun here. — [7] viskdœlsk ekkja ‘the widow from Viskedal’: Viskedal is located near the river Viskan in Halland. — [8] víðs mǫrg ‘a great many’: Víðs is used adverbially, serving as an intensifier to the adj. mǫrg. Kock (NN §3217) is inclined to treat it as a locative adv. (cf. vítt ‘far and wide’; l. 1), but his argument is not persuasive considering other instances in which víðs occurs as an intensifier to an adj. (see LP: víðr).

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. Mork 1928-32 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1928-32. Morkinskinna. SUGNL 53. Copenhagen: Jørgensen.
  9. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
  10. F 1871 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1871. Fríssbók: Codex Frisianus. En samling af norske konge-sagaer. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
  11. E 1916 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1916. Eirspennill: AM 47 fol. Nóregs konunga sǫgur: Magnús góði – Hákon gamli. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske historiske kildeskriftskommission.
  12. ÍF 29 = Ágrip af Nóregskonunga sǫgum; Fagrskinna—Nóregs konungatal. Ed. Bjarni Einarsson. 1985.
  13. Mork 1867 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1867. Morkinskinna: Pergamentsbog fra første halvdel af det trettende aarhundrede. Indeholdende en af de ældste optegnelser af norske kongesagaer. Oslo: Bentzen.
  14. Internal references
  15. (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 29 March 2024)
  16. (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 29 March 2024)
  17. (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 29 March 2024)
  18. (forthcoming), ‘ Heimskringla, Magnúss saga berfœtts’ 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=144> (accessed 29 March 2024)
  19. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Sturla Þórðarson, Hákonarflokkr 3’ 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. 747-8.
Close

Log in

This service is only available to members of the relevant projects, and to purchasers of the skaldic volumes published by Brepols.
This service uses cookies. By logging in you agree to the use of cookies on your browser.

Close

Stanza/chapter/text segment

Use the buttons at the top of the page to navigate between stanzas in a poem.

Information tab

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.