Sigv Tryggfl 1^I

Tíreggjaðr fór Tryggvi
— tóksk morð af því — norðan,
en Sveinn konungr sinni
sunnan ferð at gunni.
Nær vask þausnum þeira;
þat bar skjótt at móti;
herr týnði þar harða
— hjǫrgǫll vas þá — fjǫrvi.

Tíreggjaðr Tryggvi fór norðan, en Sveinn konungr ferð sinni sunnan at gunni; morð tóksk af því. Vask nær þausnum þeira; þat bar skjótt at móti; herr týnði þar harða fjǫrvi; hjǫrgǫll vas þá.

Urged on to glory, Tryggvi went from the north, while King Sveinn [went] with his troop from the south to the battle; killing arose from that. I was near their tumult; that swiftly resulted in an encounter; the army lost life there in great numbers; there was sword-clanging then.

Mss: Kˣ(491r), 39(11vb), E(2v) (Hkr); Holm2(72v), J2ˣ(238r), 325VI(40va), 73aˣ(211v), Holm4(68ra), 61(129rb), 325V(87rb-va), 325VII(40v), Bb(204va), Tóm(160r) (ÓH); 61(74rb), 53(71vb), Bb(109vb) (ÓT)

Readings: [1] Tír‑: geir‑ Tóm;    ‑eggjaðr: ‑eggaðr 325VI, ‑eggjar Bb(109vb);    fór: hjó 53;    Tryggvi: tiggi 53, ‘trygi’ Bb(109vb)    [2] af: ‘[…]’ 325VI, at 325VII, á Tóm;    norðan: ‘noþan’ 39    [3, 4] sinni sunnan: sunnan sinni 325V    [3] sinni: ‘snni’ 61(129rb), sinnar Tóm    [4] gunni: ‘gv[…]’ 325VII    [6] þat: þar 61(74rb), 53, Bb(109vb);    bar: berst Bb(204va);    móti: motti Bb(204va), Bb(109vb)    [7] herr: hár 61(129rb), hann Tóm;    þar: þá 61(129rb);    harða: hǫrða E, J2ˣ, hára 61(129rb)    [8] ‑gǫll vas þá (‘gꜹll var þa’): gǫll var þat J2ˣ, 325VI, 325V, Bb(204va), 61(74rb), 53, Bb(109vb), gǫll var þar Holm4, 325VII, gull vafðan 61(129rb), Tóm

Editions: Skj AI, 247, Skj BI, 231, Skald I, 120, NN §§620, 645, 646; Hkr 1893-1901, II, 527, IV, 177, ÍF 27, 413, Hkr 1991, 555 (ÓHHkr ch. 249), E 1916, 5; ÓH 1941, I, 611 (ch. 250), ÓT 1958-2000, II, 339 (ch. 282); Jón Skaptason 1983, 123, 269-72.

Context: Tryggvi, who claims to be the son of Óláfr Tryggvason, is killed in a battle at Bókn (Bokn in Boknafjorden, Rogaland) by King Sveinn Álfífuson.

Notes: [1-4]: The trope of two opponents approaching each other from different cardinal directions (norðan ‘from the north’, sunnan ‘from the south’) is common in the battle-poetry of the late C10th and the C11th. Examples where it is encompassed within a stanza include Hfr ErfÓl 17, Anon (ÓH) 1, Þfagr Sveinn 3^II, Halli XI Fl 3^II, and cf. Sigv Nesv 1, where the adverbs are austan ‘from the east’ and norðan ‘from the north’; see also Jesch (2001a, 206). — [1] tíreggjaðr fór Tryggvi ‘urged on to glory, Tryggvi went’: Stúfr Stúfdr 7/1^II has the closely similar Tíreggjaðr hjó tyggi ‘the glory-urged ruler cut down’, which may explain the variants in 53. Tiggi, the 53 variant on Tryggvi, is the basis for Hellberg’s argument (1972, 24-30) that this stanza is not about Tryggvi at all, but since the variant is found only in 53, a not especially reliable ms., the case is unconvincing. — [1] tíreggjaðr ‘urged on to glory’: Cf. Sigvatr’s use of tírfylgjandi ‘follower of glory’ in Víkv 12/2. — [1] fór ‘went’: The verb is the implied predicate of Sveinn konungr ‘King Sveinn’ (l. 3) as well as of Tryggvi (l. 1). — [3, 4] ferð sinni ‘his troop’: The arrangement here is also adopted by most eds, but the phrase could be taken with the first clause, which produces a more complex word order (so Skj B, where ferð is seemingly taken to mean ‘journey’; Kock contests the word order in NN §645). — [7] harða ‘in great numbers’: The adv. is here taken in the sense ‘powerfully, to a great extent’, qualifying the whole statement about loss of life (so also Skald; NN §§620, 646; ÍF 27; Jón Skaptason 1983). It could alternatively be taken with skjótt ‘swiftly’ in l. 6 (so Skj B), again resulting in more complex word order. — [8] hjǫrgǫll ‘sword-clanging’: Cf. hjǫrdynr ‘sword-din’ in Sigv Nesv 5/4.

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. Jesch, Judith. 2001a. Ships and Men in the Late Viking Age: The Vocabulary of Runic Inscriptions and Skaldic Verse. Woodbridge: Boydell.
6. ÓH 1941 = Johnsen, Oscar Albert and Jón Helgason, eds. 1941. Saga Óláfs konungs hins helga: Den store saga om Olav den hellige efter pergamenthåndskrift i Kungliga biblioteket i Stockholm nr. 2 4^to med varianter fra andre håndskrifter. 2 vols. Det norske historiske kildeskriftfond skrifter 53. Oslo: Dybwad.
7. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
8. Hkr 1893-1901 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1893-1901. Heimskringla: Nóregs konunga sǫgur af Snorri Sturluson. 4 vols. SUGNL 23. Copenhagen: Møller.
9. Hkr 1991 = Bergljót S. Kristjánsdóttir et al., eds. 1991. Heimskringla. 3 vols. Reykjavík: Mál og menning.
10. E 1916 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1916. Eirspennill: AM 47 fol. Nóregs konunga sǫgur: Magnús góði – Hákon gamli. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske historiske kildeskriftskommission.
11. Jón Skaptason. 1983. ‘Material for an Edition and Translation of the Poems of Sigvat Þórðarson, skáld’. Ph.D. thesis. State University of New York at Stony Brook. DAI 44: 3681A.
12. ÓT 1958-2000 = Ólafur Halldórsson, ed. 1958-2000. Saga Óláfs Tryggvasonar en mesta. 3 vols. EA A 1-3. Copenhagen: Munksgaard (Reitzel).
13. Internal references
14. Diana Whaley 2012, ‘(Biography of) Óláfr Tryggvason’ 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. 383.
15. (forthcoming), ‘ Heimskringla, Óláfs saga helga (in Heimskringla)’ 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. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=152> (accessed 26 April 2024)
16. Russell Poole 2009, ‘ Halli stirði, Flokkr’ 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. 337-43. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1244> (accessed 26 April 2024)
17. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2012, ‘Anonymous Lausavísur, Lausavísa from Óláfs saga helga 1’ 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. 1087.
18. Kate Heslop (ed.) 2012, ‘Hallfreðr vandræðaskáld Óttarsson, Erfidrápa Óláfs Tryggvasonar 17’ 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. 424.
19. Russell Poole (ed.) 2012, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Nesjavísur 1’ 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. 558.
20. Judith Jesch (ed.) 2012, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Víkingarvísur 12’ 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. 551.
21. Russell Poole (ed.) 2012, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Nesjavísur 5’ 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. 563.
22. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Stúfr inn blindi Þórðarson kattar, Stúfsdrápa 7’ 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. 356-7.
23. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Þorleikr fagri, Flokkr about Sveinn Úlfsson 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, pp. 315-16.