Bǫlv Hardr 8^II

Leiðangr bjótt af láði
— lǫgr gekk of skip — fǫgru
— gjalfrstóðum reist grœði
glæstum — ár it næsta.
Skokkr lá dýrr á døkkri
(Danir vôru þá) bôru
— skeiðr sá herr fyr hauðri
hlaðnar — (illa staðnir).

Bjótt leiðangr af fǫgru láði it næsta ár; lǫgr gekk of skip; reist grœði {glæstum gjalfrstóðum}. Dýrr skokkr lá á døkkri bôru; herr sá hlaðnar skeiðr fyr hauðri; þá vôru Danir illa staðnir.

You fitted out a fleet from the fair land the next year; the sea went over the ships; you carved the ocean {with the splendid surge-steeds} [SHIPS]. The precious bottom-board rested on the dark wave; people saw loaded warships off the shore; then the Danes were in a bad situation.

Mss: Kˣ(541r), 39(23rb), F(45va), E(15v), J2ˣ(269v) (Hkr); FskAˣ(261-262) (Fsk); Mork(8v) (Mork); Flat(197va) (Flat); H(44r), Hr(31vb) (H-Hr); R(38r), Tˣ(40r), A(13r), C(7v) (SnE, ll. 1-4)

Readings: [3] gjalfr‑: ‘gialf‑’ Mork, gjalfrs H;    ‑stóðum: so 39, F, E, Mork, Flat, Hr, R, Tˣ, A, ‑stǫðum Kˣ, J2ˣ, H, ‘stoð er’ FskAˣ, stórum C;    reist (‘reistu’): ‘reztu’ R, C, ‘reuto’ Tˣ    [4] glæstum ár: glæstu mar FskAˣ;    glæstum: glæst um J2ˣ, glæstr um Hr, flestum Tˣ    [6] þá: om. Hr;    bôru: bára F    [8] staðnir: staðnar Hr

Editions: Skj AI, 386-7, Skj BI, 356-7, Skald I, 179, NN §§1793, 1793C, 3396Q; ÍF 28, 109-10 (HSig ch. 32), F 1871, 211, E 1916, 54; ÍF 29, 251 (ch. 55); Mork 1867, 51, Mork 1928-32, 156, Andersson and Gade 2000, 195, 475 (MH); Flat 1860-8, III, 335 (MH); Fms 6, 252 (HSig ch. 47); SnE 1848-87, I, 498-9, II, 450, 599, SnE 1931, 175, SnE 1998, I, 94.

Context: The summer after the death of Magnús Óláfsson, Haraldr set out for Denmark with his fleet (1048). In SnE, grœði is given as a heiti for ‘sea’.

Notes: [All]: For this campaign, see also Hharð Lv 4, ÞjóðA Lv 2, Grani Har 1-2 and Anon (HSig) 1. — [1] leiðangr ‘a fleet’: In the later Norw. laws, there are detailed provisions for the equipment and maintenance of the standing fleet or levy (see NGL I, 96-104, 197-204). See also Falk 1912, 98-9, Jesch 2001a, 195-8, and Note to ÞjóðA Har 5/3, 5. — [5] skokkr ‘bottom-board’: For this translation, see NN §§1793, 1793C and Note to st. 4/8 above. Lindquist (1928, 392) suggests the emendation dýr skokks ‘the animal of the bottom board’, i.e. ‘ship’. — [7] skeiðr ‘warships’: See Note to Valg Har 1/2. — [7] herr ‘people’: Herr can mean ‘army’ or ‘people, inhabitants’ (LP: herr 2). The latter meaning is adopted here because the word refers to the inhabitants of Denmark and not to the Dan. army.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Fms = Sveinbjörn Egilsson et al., eds. 1825-37. Fornmanna sögur eptir gömlum handritum útgefnar að tilhlutun hins norræna fornfræða fèlags. 12 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
3. SnE 1848-87 = Snorri Sturluson. 1848-87. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar: Edda Snorronis Sturlaei. Ed. Jón Sigurðsson et al. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Legatum Arnamagnaeanum. Rpt. Osnabrück: Zeller, 1966.
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. Jesch, Judith. 2001a. Ships and Men in the Late Viking Age: The Vocabulary of Runic Inscriptions and Skaldic Verse. Woodbridge: Boydell.
9. Falk, Hjalmar. 1912. Altnordisches Seewesen. Wörter und Sachen 4. Heidelberg: Winter.
10. 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.
11. NGL = Keyser, R. et al., eds. 1846-95. Norges gamle love indtil 1387. 5 vols. Christiania (Oslo): Gröndahl.
12. Lindquist, Ivar. 1928. ‘En fornisländsk sjöterm skokkr’. In Brøndum-Nielsen et al. 1928, 385-94.
13. Mork 1928-32 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1928-32. Morkinskinna. SUGNL 53. Copenhagen: Jørgensen.
14. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
15. F 1871 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1871. Fríssbók: Codex Frisianus. En samling af norske konge-sagaer. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
16. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
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. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
19. ÍF 29 = Ágrip af Nóregskonunga sǫgum; Fagrskinna—Nóregs konungatal. Ed. Bjarni Einarsson. 1985.
20. 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.
21. Internal references
22. Edith Marold 2017, ‘Snorra Edda (Prologue, Gylfaginning, Skáldskaparmál)’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols [check printed volume for citation].
23. (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 26 April 2024)
24. (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 26 April 2024)
25. Kari Ellen Gade and Diana Whaley (eds) 2009, ‘Anonymous Lausavísur, Lausavísur from Haralds saga Sigurðarsonar 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. 815-16.
26. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Grani skáld, 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. 296-7.
27. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Haraldr harðráði Sigurðarson, Lausavísur 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, pp. 46-7.
28. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Þjóðólfr Arnórsson, Lausavísur 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. 165-6.
29. 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.
30. 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.