Gísl Magnkv 11^II

Hôðum hildi        með Haralds frænda
Ǫnguls við ey        innanverða,
þars af reiði        ríkisvendir
konungr ok jarlar        kapp sitt brutu.

Hôðum hildi með {frænda Haralds} við Ǫngulsey innanverða, þars ríkisvendir, konungr ok jarlar, brutu kapp sitt af reiði.

We waged war with {Haraldr’s kinsman} [= Magnús] on the inner side of Anglesey, where the royal sceptres, the king and the earls, tested their courage with rage.

Mss: Mork(23r) (Mork); H(89r), Hr(61va) (H-Hr); F(58va-b)

Readings: [1] Hôðum: Hðu F    [2] með: við F    [4] innanverða: sunnan H    [6] ríkisvendir: ríklundaðir F    [8] kapp sitt brutu: kappi deilðu F

Editions: Skj AI, 442, Skj BI, 411, Skald I, 203, NN §87; Mork 1867, 145, Mork 1928-32, 320, Andersson and Gade 2000, 301, 486 (Mberf); Fms 7, 44-5 (Mberf ch. 22); F 1871, 271 (Mberf).

Context: As st. 10 above.

Notes: [1] hôðum hildi ‘we waged war’: This seems to imply that Gísl had accompanied Magnús on this expedition, and that he had been an eyewitness to the events he is composing about. — [2] frænda Haralds ‘Haraldr’s kinsman [= Magnús]’: The reference must be to Haraldr harðráði Sigurðarson, Magnús’s grandfather. — [3-4] við Ǫngulsey innanverða ‘on the inner side of Anglesey’: Island off the north-western coast of Wales, separated from Wales by the Menai Strait. — [6] ríkisvendir ‘royal sceptres’: Otherwise unattested in a figurative meaning. Ríklundaðir ‘great-minded’ (so F) is metrically and syntactically possible (qualifying jarlar ‘earls’) and has been adopted by Skj B and Skald, but that adj. appears to be a lectio facilior. — [8] brutu kapp sitt ‘tested their courage’: Synonymous with the F variant deilðu kappi ‘tested [their] courage’.

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. Mork 1928-32 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1928-32. Morkinskinna. SUGNL 53. Copenhagen: Jørgensen.
8. F 1871 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1871. Fríssbók: Codex Frisianus. En samling af norske konge-sagaer. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
9. 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.
10. Internal references
11. Kari Ellen Gade 2009, ‘(Biography of) Haraldr harðráði Sigurðarson’ 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. 35-56.
12. (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 26 April 2024)