Bǫlv Hardr 2^II

Hart kníði svǫl svartan
snekkju brand fyr landi
skúr, en skrautla bôru
skeiðr brynjaðar reiði.
Mætr hilmir sá malma
Miklagarðs fyr barði;
mǫrg skriðu beit at borgar
barmfǫgr hôum armi.

Svǫl skúr kníði svartan brand snekkju hart fyr landi, en brynjaðar skeiðr bôru skrautla reiði. Mætr hilmir sá malma Miklagarðs fyr barði; mǫrg barmfǫgr beit skriðu at hôum armi borgar.

The cool rain-shower drove the black prow of the warship strongly forward along the coast, and the armoured warships proudly bore their tackle. The glorious monarch saw metal-roofed Constantinople before the bow; many rim-fair ships advanced toward the tall rampart of the city.

Mss: Kˣ(522r), 39(18vb), F(42ra), E(10r), J2ˣ(257v) (Hkr); H(21v), Hr(16rb) (H-Hr); Flat(192va) (Flat)

Readings: [1] kníði: knúði H, Flat, ‘hnvdi’ Hr    [3] skrautla: ‘skavtla’ H, ‘skraula’ Flat    [4] skeiðr: so 39, F, J2ˣ, H, Hr, Flat, skeiður Kˣ, skeiði E    [5] malma: mála Flat    [6] ‑garðs: so 39, F, H, Hr, Flat, ‑garð Kˣ, E, J2ˣ    [7] beit: ‘beítt’ F, breitt E, J2ˣ    [8] barm‑: ‘brann’ Flat

Editions: Skj AI, 385, Skj BI, 355, Skald I, 178, NN §§806, 1078, 2035; ÍF 28, 71 (HSig ch. 2), F 1871, 193, E 1916, 34; Fms 6, 134 (HSig ch. 3); Flat 1860-8, III, 290, Mork 1928-32, 59, Andersson and Gade 2000, 132, 472 (MH).

Context: Haraldr sailed into Constantinople.

Notes: [2] snekkju ‘of the warship’: See Falk 1912, 102-4, Jesch 2001a, 126-7 and Note to Ív Sig 12/2. — [2] brand ‘prow’: Brandr was a strip of wood running along the side of a ship’s prow (and stern). This strip could be carved or ornamented, sometimes gilded (see Falk 1912, 44-5). — [2] fyr landi ‘along the coast’: Lit. ‘before the land’. Skj B connects this prepositional phrase with the following cl. (‘and the armoured ships proudly bore their tackle along the coast’), thus creating a very awkward w. o. (see NN §806). — [4] brynjaðar skeiðr ‘armoured warships’: For skeiðr, see Jesch 2001a, 123-5 and Note to Valg Har 1/2. It is not quite clear how the adj. brynjaðar ‘armoured’ should be interpreted. Falk (1912, 38) believes that it referred to a ship equipped with protective metal covering, while Jesch (2001a, 157-9) argues that there is no evidence that Viking-Age ships were protected in this manner; rather, such adjectives denote the shields carried along the shield-rim (see also Notes to ÞjóðA Har 5/7, Þfagr Sveinn 4/4 and Steinn Óldr 13/4). — [5-6] malma Miklagarðs ‘metal-roofed Constantinople’: Lit. ‘the metals of Constantinople’. Refers to the iron-covered roofs of the houses in that city (see ÍF 28, 71 n.). Skj B reads mætr hilmir Miklagarðs ‘the glorious king of Constantinople’ and sá malma fyr barði ‘saw the metal fittings on the bow’. That interpretation is tenuous, because the other sts have Haraldr as the protagonist (see NN §2035). Kock (NN §§1078, 2035) translates malma (m. acc. pl.) as ‘beaches’ and posits a meaning ‘sand’ for malmr (cf. Goth. malma ‘sand’). That meaning is not attested in ON (see Fritzner: malmr). — [7, 8] armi borgar ‘rampart of the city’: Lit. ‘arm of the city’. See Anon (HSig) 2/8. — [8] barmfǫgr ‘rim-fair’: Translated in Skj B as brystskinnende ‘bosom-shining’, but barmr ‘bosom’ is not attested in that meaning until after the Reformation (see Jesch 2001a, 141 n. 43; Note to ESk Lv 6/7, 8).

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. 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.
7. Jesch, Judith. 2001a. Ships and Men in the Late Viking Age: The Vocabulary of Runic Inscriptions and Skaldic Verse. Woodbridge: Boydell.
8. Falk, Hjalmar. 1912. Altnordisches Seewesen. Wörter und Sachen 4. Heidelberg: Winter.
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. Fritzner = Fritzner, Johan. 1883-96. Ordbog over det gamle norske sprog. 3 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske forlagsforening. 4th edn. Rpt. 1973. Oslo etc.: Universitetsforlaget.
11. Mork 1928-32 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1928-32. Morkinskinna. SUGNL 53. Copenhagen: Jørgensen.
12. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
13. F 1871 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1871. Fríssbók: Codex Frisianus. En samling af norske konge-sagaer. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
14. E 1916 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1916. Eirspennill: AM 47 fol. Nóregs konunga sǫgur: Magnús góði – Hákon gamli. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske historiske kildeskriftskommission.
15. Internal references
16. (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)
17. (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)
18. Kari Ellen Gade and Diana Whaley (eds) 2009, ‘Anonymous Lausavísur, Lausavísur from Haralds saga Sigurðarsonar 2’ 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. 816-17.
19. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Einarr Skúlason, Lausavísur 6’ 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. 573-4.
20. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Ívarr Ingimundarson, Sigurðarbálkr 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, p. 509.
21. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Steinn Herdísarson, Óláfsdrápa 13’ 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. 378-9.
22. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Þorleikr fagri, Flokkr about Sveinn Úlfsson 4’ 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. 316.
23. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Þjóðólfr Arnórsson, Stanzas about Haraldr Sigurðarson’s leiðangr 5’ 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. 155-6.
24. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Valgarðr á Velli, Poem about Haraldr harðráði 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. 300-1.