Anon Krm 11^VIII

The speaker continues his stanza-by-stanza account of battles in which he has fought, this time (with one or two conceivable exceptions, sts 12, 20) in the British Isles.

Hjuggu vér með hjörvi.
Hundruðum frá ek liggja
á Eynæfis öndrum,
þar er Englanes heitir.
Siglðu vér til snerru
sex dægr, áðr lið felli;
áttum odda messu
við uppruna sólar.
Varð fyr várum sverðum
Valþjófr í styr hníga.

Hjuggu vér með hjörvi. Ek frá liggja hundruðum á {öndrum Eynæfis}, þar er heitir Englanes. Siglðu vér til snerru sex dægr, áðr lið felli; áttum {messu odda} við uppruna sólar. Valþjófr varð hníga í styr fyr sverðum várum.

We hewed with the sword. I heard that they lay in hundreds on {the skis of Eynæfir <sea-king>} [SHIPS] at the place named Englanes. We were sailing into battle for three days before the troop fell; we conducted {a chant of sword-points} [BATTLE] at the rising of the sun. Valþjófr had to fall in battle before our swords.

Mss: 1824b(80r), 147(108r), 6ˣ(88r) (Ragn); R702ˣ(30r), LR(208), R693ˣ(9v)

Readings: [1] Hjuggu vér með hjörvi: abbrev. as ‘Hiug. ver m. h᷎.’ 1824b, ‘[…]’ 147, Hjuggum vér með hjörvi 6ˣ, LR, R693ˣ, abbrev. as ‘H v med h:’ R702ˣ    [2] Hundruðum: ‘[…]’ 147;    frá ek: ‘[…]’ 147, sá ek LR, R693ˣ;    liggja: ‘[…]’ 147    [3] á: ‘[…]’ 147;    Eynæfis (‘eynefís’): ‘[…]’ 147, ‘eyræ fis’ R702ˣ, ‘eireis’ LR;    öndrum: ‘[…]’ 147    [4] þar: ‘[…]’ 147;    er: ‘[…]’ 147, om. R702ˣ, LR, R693ˣ;    Englanes: ‘[…]’ 147;    heitir: so with first i corrected from e R693ˣ, ‘[…]’ 147    [5] Siglðu (‘sigldv’): ‘[…]’ 147, sigldum 6ˣ, LR, R693ˣ;    vér: ‘[…]’ 147, om. R702ˣ;    til snerru: ‘[…]’ 147, til snerru with ‘snæru W.’ in margin 6ˣ, ‘til sneru’ R702ˣ, ‘til snaeru’ LR, R693ˣ    [6] sex: ‘[…]’ 147, ‘sehs’ LR, ‘Sæx’ R693ˣ;    dægr: ‘[…]’ 147, ‘dæg’ 6ˣ;    áðr lið felli: ‘[…]’ 147    [7] áttum odda messu: ‘[…] odda (m)essu’(?) 147    [8] við: ‘[…]’ 147, fyrir R702ˣ, LR, R693ˣ;    uppruna sólar: ‘[…]pp r[…]a sol[…]’ 147, ‘uprunna Sólar’ R693ˣ    [9] Varð fyr várum sverðum: ‘vard fyrir […] (s)uerd[…]’(?) 147    [10] Valþjófr í styr hníga: ‘[…]fur i st[…]’ 147

Editions: Skj AI, 644, Skj BI, 651, Skald I, 318; Rafn 1826, 10-11, 115-17, Pfeiffer 1860, 125, CPB II, 342, Wisén 1886-9, I, 63, Krm 1891, 226, Finnur Jónsson 1893b, 87-8, Finnur Jónsson 1905, 154.

Notes: [All]: Of those Krm stanzas of which traces can now be read in the fragmentary text of 147, this is the one stanza of which Olsen (Ragn 1906-8, 187-9), in his diplomatic edn, was apparently unable to read any part. His reading ‘pruna solar’ (Ragn 1906-8, 187; cf. l. 8 of the present stanza) in fact reflects l. 8 of st. 13 as preserved in 147, where ll. 7-8 of st. 8 appear to be repeated as ll. 7-8 of st. 13, in place of st. 13/7-8 as preserved in all other mss. See the Readings and Notes to st. 8/7-8 above, and st. 13/7-8 below. — [2] hundruðum (dat. pl.) ‘in hundreds’: Here adverbial, modifying the inf. liggja ‘lie’ in an acc. and inf. construction dependent on frá ek ‘I heard’, lit. ‘I heard [them] to lie’. — [3] öndrum Eynæfis ‘the skis of Eynæfir <sea-king> [SHIPS]’: The name Eynæfir, meaning apparently ‘the fortunate, clever one’ and here functioning in the gen. as the determinant in a ship-kenning, is a conventional sea-king name (Björn Sigfússon 1934, 129). The same ship-kenning occurs in Bragi Þórr 2/3^III (which according to de Vries 1964-7, II, 40 n. 68 may well have influenced its adoption here), and Eynæfir is listed as a sea-king name in Þul Sækonunga 2/1^III. — [4] Englanes: The tentative suggestion of Langenfelt (1920, 84 n. 1), that this refers to Caithness in north-eastern Scotland cannot be corroborated, nor is the name included in Townend’s (1998, 19 n. 30) list of names in Scotland mentioned in skaldic verse. The first element Engla- gen. pl. could mean either ‘of the Angles’ (i.e. the English) or ‘of angels’, though the latter is unlikely. The second element is nes ‘ness, headland’. Preference is given here to the old suggestion, adopted by Rafn (1826, 116) from Suhm et al. 1782-1828, I, 556; (cf. Johnstone 1782, 98; Depping 1839, 359), that it is Kent, or a part of it, that is referred to here. While the majority of the earliest Germanic settlers of Kent seem to have been Jutes rather than Angles (Collingwood and Myres 1937, 363), there is a strong case for saying that their first leaders, Hengest and Horsa, whose landing in Kent at Ypwines fleot (in all probability Ebbsfleet) is recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle s. a. 449 (ASC I, 12-13), were of Anglian descent (see Bliss 1998, 168-80). If so, and if it is borne in mind that in medieval times Ebbsfleet was at the neck of a peninsula on the south coast of what was then the Isle of Thanet, now the easternmost tip of Kent (see Lewis 1736, I, 9-10 and map facing p. viii; cf. Moody 2008, 36-42), it is quite possible that it was remembered by some as Englanes ‘the headland of the Angles’. — [5-7]: For Olsen’s (1933a) questionable argument that these lines, taken together with sts 15/10 and 18/7-8, show the influence of Sigv Nesv^I and Anon Darr^V (Nj) and carry hints of Palm Sunday, see the Introduction. — [6] sex dægr ‘three days’: The word dœgr is normally understood to mean ‘half a (twenty-four hour) day, whether day or night’ (cf. LP: dœgr and Introduction to Þul Dœgra^III). — [7] messu odda ‘a chant of sword-points [BATTLE]’: This kenning, with its connotations of divine service, is paralleled in RvHbreiðm Hl 25/6^III, where the kenning hjǫrsalma ‘of sword-psalms [BATTLE]’ occurs, cf. de Vries (1938, 722 n. 78). — [10] Valþjófr: This Valþjófr, lit. ‘Slain-men-thief’, seems to be a purely legendary figure of whom nothing is known, though his name is identical with that of Earl Waltheof (Valþjófr), d. 1076 (mentioned in ÞSkall Valfl 2/1^II and Anon Harst 1/3^II) and with one of the pseudonyms adopted by the disguised Friðþjófr in Frið 36/13.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. Vries, Jan de. 1964-7. Altnordische Literaturgeschichte. 2 vols. 2nd edn. Grundriss der germanischen Philologie 15-16. Berlin: de Gruyter.
6. Wisén, Theodor, ed. 1886-9. Carmina Norrœnæ: Ex reliquiis vetustioris norrœnæ poësis selecta, recognita, commentariis et glossario instructa. 2 vols. Lund: Ohlsson.
7. Finnur Jónsson. 1893b. Carmina Norrœna: Rettet Tekst. Copenhagen: Nielsen & Lydiche.
8. ASC [Anglo-Saxon Chronicle] = Plummer, Charles and John Earle, eds. 1892-9. Two of the Saxon Chronicles Parallel. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon. Rpt. 1952.
9. Pfeiffer, Friedrich. 1860. Altnordisches Lesebuch. Leipzig: T. O. Weigel.
10. Björn Sigfússon. 1934. ‘Names of Sea-Kings (heiti sækonunga)’. MP 32, 125-42.
11. Ragn 1906-8 = Olsen 1906-8, 111-222.
12. Vries, Jan de. 1938. Een skald onder de troubadours. Ledeburg, Gent: N. V. Drukkerij Erasmus.
13. Finnur Jónsson. 1905. ‘Krákumál’. Oversigt over det Kgl. Danske videnskabernes selskabs forhandlinger 1905, 151-83.
14. Krm 1891 = 2nd edn (pp. 225-8) of Krm as ed. in Valdimar Ásmundarson 1885-9, I.
15. 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.
16. Langenfelt, Gösta. 1920. Toponymics or Derivations from Local Names in English: Studies in Word-formation and Contributions to English Lexicography. Inaugural Dissertation. Uppsala: Appleberg.
17. Depping, Georges Bernard. 1839. Review of Édélestand du Mèril. 1839. Histoire de la Poésie Scandinave. Paris: Brockhaus & Avenarius. Journal des Savants June 1839, 353-68.
18. Johnstone, James, ed. and trans. 1782. Lodbrokar-Quida; Or the death-song of Lodbroc; now first correctly printed from various manuscripts; with a free English translation. To which are added, the various readings; a literal Latin version; an Islando-Latino glossary; and explanatory notes. Copenhagen: [n. p.].
19. Bliss, Alan, ed. 1998. J. R. R. Tolkien. Finn and Hengest: The Fragment and the Episode. London: HarperCollins.
20. Lewis, John. 1736. The History and Antiquities, as well Ecclesiastical as Civil, of the Isle of Tenet, in Kent. 3 vols. 2nd edn. London: Printed for the author and for Joseph Ames and Peter Thompson.
21. Moody, Gerald. 2008. The Isle of Thanet from Prehistory to the Norman Conquest. Stroud: Tempus.
22. Suhm, P. F. et al. 1782-1828. Historie af Danmark. 14 vols. Copenhagen: Berling.
23. Internal references
24. 2022, ‘ Anonymous, Njáls saga’ 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, pp. 1220-1313. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=55> (accessed 20 April 2024)
25. R. D. Fulk (forthcoming), ‘ Anonymous, Darraðarljóð’ 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. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1008> (accessed 20 April 2024)
26. 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 20 April 2024)
27. Matthew Townend (ed.) 2009, ‘Anonymous Poems, Haraldsstikki 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. 807-8.
28. Kari Ellen Gade 2017, ‘ Rǫgnvaldr jarl and Hallr Þórarinsson, Háttalykill’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1001. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1347> (accessed 20 April 2024)
29. Russell Poole 2012, ‘ Sigvatr Þórðarson, Nesjavísur’ 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. 555. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1357> (accessed 20 April 2024)
30. Elena Gurevich 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Sækonunga heiti’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 677. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=3183> (accessed 20 April 2024)
31. Elena Gurevich 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Dœgra heiti’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 914. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=3231> (accessed 20 April 2024)
32. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Þorkell Skallason, Valþjófsflokkr 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. 383-4.
33. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Friðþjófs saga ins frœkna 36 (Friðþjófr Þorsteinsson, Lausavísur 30)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 234.