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Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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RvHbreiðm Hl 21III

Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Rǫgnvaldr jarl and Hallr Þórarinsson, Háttalykill 21’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1029.

Rǫgnvaldr jarl and Hallr ÞórarinssonHáttalykill
202122

Hvítserkr gekk at hildi
ha† …
jafnt vas hann maðr †h† …
… flug stildi.
Fylkir †hyg† …


… sem skildi.

Hvítserkr gekk at hildi †ha† … jafnt vas hann maðr †h† … stildi flug. Fylkir †hyg† … sem skildi.

Hvítserkr went to battle … … always he was a man … … halted the flight. The leader … … as with the shield.

Mss: papp25ˣ(42v), R683ˣ(127r-v)

Readings: [2] ha†: ‘sa’ papp25ˣ, ‘sa’ or ‘ha’ (?) R683ˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 516, Skj BI, 492, Skald I, 241; Hl 1941, 35, 56-7.

Context: The metre is not named (Titulus deest ‘The heading is missing’), but it can be reconstructed as hexasyllabic runhent ‘end-rhymed’, and the same end-rhyme extends throughout the stanza (cf. SnSt Ht 88).

Notes: [All]: The stanza is damaged and beyond repair. The hero commemorated appears to be Hvítserkr hvati ‘the Keen’, another of Ragnarr loðbrók’s sons (see sts 11-20). Hvítserkr could, however, also be one of the warriors of the legendary king Hrólfr kraki ‘Pole-ladder’ (see st. 23 and Hrólf) although that is less likely in view of the enumeration of Ragnarr’s sons in the preceding stanzas. On Hvítserkr, see also KrákÁsl Lv 9VIII (Ragn 30). — [2]: In papp25ˣ the line reads ‘sa …’ (the reading in R683ˣ cannot be established with any certainty because of a later correction), but the metre requires alliteration on h-. Jón Helgason (Hl 1941) conjectures hann bjó ulfum gildi ‘he prepared a banquet for the wolves’. — [3]: Metrically the line is anomalous. Rugman indicates that the rhyme-word in the cadence began with h- (alliterating with hann ‘he’), in which case hildi ‘battle’ would be the only possible candidate. That reading makes no sense, however, and Jón Helgason (Hl 1941) suggests mildi ‘generous’ (alliterating with maðr ‘man’ in position 4), but that still leaves an unmetrical line, unless the pron. hann ‘he’ is extrametrical (see st. 22/7) and a syllable is missing between maðr and mildi. — [4] stildi (3rd pers. sg. pret. indic.) ‘halted’: The form is peculiar (the regular form is stilti).

References

  1. Bibliography
  2. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
  3. Hl 1941 = Jón Helgason and Anne Holtsmark, eds. 1941. Háttalykill enn forni. BA 1. Copenhagen: Munksgaard.
  4. Internal references
  5. 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Hrólfs saga kraka’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 539. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=73> (accessed 29 March 2024)
  6. Not published: do not cite (RloðVIII)
  7. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Snorri Sturluson, Háttatal 88’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1198.
  8. Rory McTurk (ed.) 2017, ‘Ragnars saga loðbrókar 30 (Kráka/Áslaug Sigurðardóttir, Lausavísur 9)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 684.
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