Anon Krm 10^VIII

Hjuggu vér með hjörvi.
Hildr var sýnt í vexti,
áðr Freyr konungr felli
í Flæmingjaveldi.
Náði blár at bíta
blóði smeltr í gyltan
Högna kufl at hjaldri
harðr bengrefill forðum.
Mær grét morginskæru
mörg, þá er tafn fekkz vörgum.

Hjuggu vér með hjörvi. Hildr var sýnt í vexti, áðr Freyr konungr felli í Flæmingjaveldi. {Harðr, blár bengrefill}, smeltr blóði, náði forðum at bíta í {gyltan kufl Högna} at hjaldri. Mörg mær grét morginskæru, þá er tafn fekkz vörgum.

We hewed with the sword. The battle was clearly well advanced before King Freyr fell in the realm of the Flemings. {The tough, blue wound-digger} [SWORD], dripping with blood, succeeded long ago in biting into {the gilded cowl of Hǫgni <legendary hero>} [ARMOUR] in the conflict. Many a maiden wept early that morning, when prey was obtained for wolves.

Mss: 1824b(79v-80r), 6ˣ(87v-88r) (Ragn); R702ˣ(30r), LR(207), R693ˣ(9r)

Readings: [1] Hjuggu vér með hjörvi: abbrev. as ‘Hiug. uer. m. h᷎.’ 1824b, Hjuggum vér með hjörvi 6ˣ, LR, R693ˣ, abbrev. as ‘H. v med h:’ R702ˣ    [2] Hildr var sýnt í vexti: om. but written in margin in same hand R693ˣ    [3] felli: ‘filli’ LR    [4] í Flæmingjaveldi: í Flæmingja veldi with ‘ä landi. W.’ in margin 6ˣ, á Flæmingja landi R702ˣ, ‘a flemingia lande’ LR, R693ˣ    [5] blár: so all others, ‘bl[…]’ 1824b;    bíta: so 6ˣ, R702ˣ, ‘vita’ 1824b, ‘byta’ LR, ‘bÿta’ R693ˣ    [6] blóði: so R702ˣ, LR, R693ˣ, ‘blod[...]’ 1824b, ‘Blod’ 6ˣ    [7] kufl: so 6ˣ, R702ˣ, LR, ‘kylf’ 1824b, ‘kulf’ R693ˣ    [8] forðum: ‘fordum’ with r above u R702ˣ    [9] ‑skæru (‘‑skeru’): so R702ˣ, ‘skarru’ 1824b, ‘skarru’ with ‘skeru’ in margin 6ˣ, ‘skaeru’ LR, R693ˣ    [10] þá er tafn fekkz: ‘þa er tafn fekst’ with ‘en tafn gafst v. W.’ in margin 6ˣ, en tafn fekkz R702ˣ, ‘en tafn gafst’ LR, ‘enn tafn gafst’ R693ˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 644, Skj BI, 651, Skald I, 318, NN §2275; Rafn 1826, 8-11, 114-15, Pfeiffer 1860, 125, CPB II, 342, Wisén 1886-9, I, 63, Krm 1891, 226, Finnur Jónsson 1893b, 87, 165, Finnur Jónsson 1905, 154.

Notes: [All]: It has not proved possible to recover meaningful traces of this stanza from 147 in its present state of preservation. Nevertheless, it is likely that it was present there on fol. 108r. — [2] hildr ‘the battle’: While hildr is presumably to be taken here as a common noun meaning ‘battle’ (cf. LP: hildr 1), the extent to which Krm draws for its diction in contexts of battle on the legend of the Hjaðningavíg ‘the battle of Heðinn’s followers’, in which a woman named Hildr figures prominently, should be noted. — [2] var sýnt í vexti ‘was clearly well advanced’: Sýnt ‘clearly’ is n. acc. sg. of sýnn adj. ‘clear, evident’, used here adverbially, while the phrase í vexti ‘advanced’, with vexti, dat. sg. of vǫxtr ‘growth’, means lit. ‘in (a state of) growth’. — [3] Freyr: The mention of a King Freyr here recalls the Frø of Saxo (Saxo 2015, I, ix. 4. 1, pp. 632-3). This Frø is a king of Sweden (rex Suetie) upon whom Regnerus takes revenge for the slaying of his paternal grandfather Sywardus, ruler of Norway (Noruagie dux), and acquires his first wife, Lathgertha, as a result of her joining forces with him against Frø. This appears to be the only instance of the name Freyr being applied to a king rather than a god (LP: Freyr 1, 2). — [4] í Flæmingjaveldi ‘in the realm of the Flemings’: ‘The realm of the Flemings’ must be Flanders, the exact extent of which in viking times is uncertain. According to Steenstrup (1876-82, III, 105-6), its coast extended northwards from Quentowic in the mouth of the river Canche, just south of Boulogne, to the Scheldt estuary (in modern terms from north-eastern France through Belgium into the south-west Netherlands). A viking raid on Paris followed by devastation of coastal regions is reported in the contemporary Annales Bertiniani for 845 (Nelson 1991, 60-2; Rau 1969, 64-6; Skyum-Nielsen 1967, 13-14), and the leader of the Paris raid is named as Reginheri (cf. Ragnarr) in the contemporary Annales Xantenses (Rau 1969, 348; cf. Skyum-Nielsen 1967, 15) and as Raginarius in the near-contemporary Translatio Sancti Germani (de Smedt et al. 1883, 91-3; cf. Rowe 2012, 28-31). It is thus possible that the coastal regions referred to in the Annales Bertiniani were those of Flanders, and that the raiders were Reginheri and his followers. The evidence, however, is uncertain, and it is likely that the land of the Flemings is mentioned here simply as one of the many known viking targets. — [7] gyltan kufl Högna ‘the gilded cowl of Hǫgni <legendary hero> [ARMOUR]’: Many kennings for both helmets and mail-coats are formed from base-words for some sort of clothing and the names of legendary warriors as determinants (Meissner 164-5). In this case, it is difficult to decide whether the referent is ‘mail-coat’ or ‘helmet’, though Meissner 165 opts for the former. The Hǫgni in question here is probably one of the protagonists of the Hjaðningavíg ‘the battle of Heðinn’s followers’, a legend alluded to in several stanzas of Krm. — [8] bengrefill ‘the wound-digger [SWORD]’: The same kenning occurs in Egill Hfl 8/3^V (Eg 41), cf. de Vries (1964-7, II, 40 n. 68). — [8] forðum ‘long ago’: Finnur Jónsson (1893b) emends to ferðum ‘for men’ but this is unnecessary. — [9] grét morginskæru ‘wept early that morning’: It is assumed here that grét ‘wept’ is intransitive and morginskæru ‘morning’ is an acc. sg. used adverbially (so Kock NN §2275; cf. Sigv Austv 11/1^I Jór rinnr aptanskœru ‘[My] … steed runs … in the twilight’). The main alternative is to understand -skæru not as skæra f. ‘(light of) dawn (or evening)’ but as skœra f. ‘battle’ (see LP: skœra; cf. CVC: skæra, i.e. skœra, and skæra), and to take the cpd as object of grét, hence ‘wept over the morning-battle’ (so, e.g., Rafn 1826, 10, 11, 45, 115 and seemingly Wisén 1886-9, II, 102 and Finnur Jónsson 1893b). This avoids assuming an aðalhending (mær: skæru), which would be unusual in an odd line. Further options are to interpret grét as intransitive, with morginskæru as belonging adverbially with bíta ‘biting’ in l. 5 (so CPB) or to take grét as transitive, ‘bewailed, lamented’, with morginskæru as its object with the sense ‘dawn’ (so Skj B).

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. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. Meissner = Meissner, Rudolf. 1921. Die Kenningar der Skalden: Ein Beitrag zur skaldischen Poetik. Rheinische Beiträge und Hülfsbücher zur germanischen Philologie und Volkskunde 1. Bonn and Leipzig: Schroeder. Rpt. 1984. Hildesheim etc.: Olms.
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. CVC = Cleasby, Richard, Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and W. A. Craigie. 1957. An Icelandic-English Dictionary. 2nd edn. Oxford: Clarendon.
8. CPB = Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and F. York Powell, eds. 1883. Corpus poeticum boreale: The Poetry of the Old Northern Tongue from the Earliest Times to the Thirteenth Century. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon. Rpt. 1965, New York: Russell & Russell.
9. Vries, Jan de. 1964-7. Altnordische Literaturgeschichte. 2 vols. 2nd edn. Grundriss der germanischen Philologie 15-16. Berlin: de Gruyter.
10. Wisén, Theodor, ed. 1886-9. Carmina Norrœnæ: Ex reliquiis vetustioris norrœnæ poësis selecta, recognita, commentariis et glossario instructa. 2 vols. Lund: Ohlsson.
11. Finnur Jónsson. 1893b. Carmina Norrœna: Rettet Tekst. Copenhagen: Nielsen & Lydiche.
12. Pfeiffer, Friedrich. 1860. Altnordisches Lesebuch. Leipzig: T. O. Weigel.
13. Steenstrup, Johannes C. H. R. 1876-82. Normannerne. 4 vols. Copenhagen: Rudolph Klein.
14. Finnur Jónsson. 1905. ‘Krákumál’. Oversigt over det Kgl. Danske videnskabernes selskabs forhandlinger 1905, 151-83.
15. Rowe, Elizabeth Ashman. 2012. Vikings in the West: The Legend of Ragnarr Loðbrók and his Sons. Studia Medievalia Septentrionalia 18. Vienna: Fassbaender.
16. Krm 1891 = 2nd edn (pp. 225-8) of Krm as ed. in Valdimar Ásmundarson 1885-9, I.
17. Saxo 2015 = Friis-Jensen, Karsten, ed. 2015. Saxo Grammaticus: Gesta Danorum: The History of the Danes. Trans. Peter Fisher. Oxford Medieval Texts. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon.
18. Rafn, Carl Christian, ed. 1826. Krakas Maal eller Kvad om Kong Ragnar Lodbroks Krigsbedrifter og Heltedød efter en gammel Skindbog og flere hidtil ubenyttede Haandskrifter med dansk, latinsk og fransk oversættelse, forskjellige Læsemaader, samt kritiske og philologiske Anmærkninger. Copenhagen: Jens Hostrup Schultz; London: John and Arthur Arch.
19. Skyum-Nielsen, Niels, trans. 1967. Vikingerne i Paris. Beretninger fra 9. århundrede oversat og forklaret. Copenhagen: Munksgaard.
20. Nelson, Janet L., trans. 1991. The Annals of St-Bertin. Ninth-century Histories 1. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
21. Rau, Reinhold, ed. and revised. 1969. Quellen zur karolingischen Reichsgeschichte, part 2: Jahrbücher von St Bertin. Jahrbücher von St Vaast. Xantener Jahrbücher, with German translations by J. V. Jasmund and C. Rehdantz (= Ausgewählte Quellen zur deutschen Geschichte des Mittelalters. Freiherr vom Stein-Gedächtnisausgabe. Ed. Rudolf Buchner. VI). Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.
22. Internal references
23. Rory McTurk 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Krákumál’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 706. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1020> (accessed 18 April 2024)
24. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2022, ‘Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar 41 (Egill Skallagrímsson, Hǫfuðlausn 8)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 249.
25. R. D. Fulk (ed.) 2012, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Austrfararvísur 11’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 599.