Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Magnús berfœttr Óláfsson, Lausavísur 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, p. 387.
Mberf Lv 3-5, which are all attributed to Magnús, are interspersed with the prose of Mberf in Mork (Mork), H, Hr (H-Hr) and in the interpolated Hkr mss F, E, J2ˣ and 42ˣ. Poole (1985) has argued convincingly that these lvv., as well as a lv. attributed to Magnús inn góði Óláfsson (Mgóði Lv 2), originally belonged to one poem. See also Note to Mgóð Lv 2 [All]. Mork is the main ms.
Sús ein, es mér meinar,
Maktildr, ok vekr hildi
— már drekkr suðr ór sôrum
sveita — leik ok teiti.
Sá kennir mér svanni,
sín lǫnd es verr rǫndu,
— sverð bitu Hǫgna hurðir —
hvítjarpr sofa lítit.
Sús ein, Maktildr, es meinar mér leik ok teiti ok vekr hildi; suðr drekkr {már sveita} ór sôrum. Sá hvítjarpr svanni, es verr lǫnd sín rǫndu, kennir mér sofa lítit; sverð bitu {hurðir Hǫgna}.
There is one, Maktildr, who denies me fun and pleasure and stirs up strife; in the south {the seagull of gore} [RAVEN/EAGLE] drinks from wounds. That lady with the light-brown hair, who defends her lands with the shield, teaches me to sleep but little; swords bit {the doors of Hǫgni <legendary hero>} [SHIELDS].
Mss: Mork(24r) (Mork); H(91v), Hr(63ra) (H-Hr); F(59va), E(35v), J2ˣ(314r), 42ˣ(14r)
Readings: [1] Sús ein (‘Sv er ein’): Ein er sú all others [2] Maktildr: makthildr H, matthildr Hr, F, E; ok: er E [4] leik ok teiti: teit ok leiki J2ˣ; leik: ‘læk’ H [6] es (‘er’): ok F [7] Hǫgna: ‘ꜹgnu’ 42ˣ [8] sofa: ‘sopa’ J2ˣ
Editions: Skj AI, 432, Skj BI, 402, Skald I, 199; Mork 1867, 151, Mork 1928-32, 330, Andersson and Gade 2000, 307-8, 487 (Mberf); Fms 7, 61 (Mberf ch. 30); F 1871, 276, E 1916, 124 (Mberf).
Context: Magnús is said to have composed this and the following two sts to Maktildr, ‘daughter of the emperor’.
Notes: [1] sús ein ‘there is one’: Although the reading eins sú lit. ‘one is that’ (so all others) is syntactically possible, the Mork version is preferable from a metrical point of view (internal rhyme directly preceding the sentence boundary in Type XE 4; see Gade 1995a, 97-9). — [2] Maktildr: Maktildr may have been Matilda, the daughter of Malcolm III of Scotland (d. 13 November 1093) and Margaret, the great-grand-daughter of Edmund Ironside (see Poole 1985, 116-17). Matilda (d. 1 May 1118) was brought up in the care of her aunt Christina, abbess of Wilton, and she married King Henry I of England in 1100 (see Anderson 1922, II, 120-4; Chibnall 1991, 7-11). — [5, 8] kennir mér sofa lítit ‘teaches me to sleep but little’: Echoes Hróksv Lv 19/1-2VIII. For the motif of love causing sleeplessness, see also Mgóð Lv 2 and Run B255VI, a rune stick from Bergen, Norway (c. 1300). — [6] es verr lǫnd sín rǫndu ‘who defends her lands with the shield’: If Matilda was indeed the object of Magnús’s affections, the warlike activities attributed to her in this st. are somewhat peculiar (see Note to l. 2 above). For a similar mixture of admiration for a highborn woman and battle-imagery, see Rv Lv 15, 17, 19-22. — [8] hvítjarpr ‘with the light-brown hair’: Lit. ‘light-brown’.
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