Sigv Víkv 10^I

Tøgr vas fullr í fǫgrum
folkveggs drífahreggi
(helt, sem hilmir mælti,)
Hringsfirði (lið þingat).
Ból lét hann á Hóli
hôtt — víkingar ôttu —
— þeir bôðut sér síðan
slíks skotnaðar — brotna.

Tøgr vas fullr {drífahreggi {folkveggs}} í fǫgrum Hringsfirði; lið helt þingat, sem hilmir mælti. Hann lét hôtt ból brotna á Hóli; víkingar ôttu; þeir bôðut sér síðan slíks skotnaðar.

The ten was complete {with a driving storm {of the battle-wall}} [SHIELD > BATTLE] in beautiful Hringsfjǫrðr; the troop went there, as the ruler commanded. He had a high building on Hóll destroyed; the vikings owned it; they did not ask for such luck for themselves after that.

Mss: Kˣ(228r), papp18ˣ(67v) (Hkr); Holm2(7r), R686ˣ(13r), J2ˣ(123r-v), 325VI(6vb), 73aˣ(21r), 78aˣ(20v), 68(6v), 61(80rb), 75c(3v), 325V(9ra), 325VII(2r), Bb(127ra), Flat(80va), Tóm(96v) (ÓH)

Readings: [1] Tøgr: tugr R686ˣ, 325VI, 78aˣ, ‘tygr’ J2ˣ;    fullr: fylldr 325VI, 73aˣ, 78aˣ, 68;    fǫgrum: fǫgru 325VI, 73aˣ, 78aˣ, ‘fǫgr[...]’ 325VII    [2] folk‑: folks‑ R686ˣ, 61, Bb;    ‑veggs: ‑vegs Holm2, J2ˣ, 78aˣ, 61, 325V, Bb, ‑hreggs 325VII, ‑vegg Tóm;    drífa‑: so papp18ˣ, Holm2, R686ˣ, J2ˣ, 325VI, 73aˣ, 78aˣ, 68, 61, 75c, 325V, 325VII, Bb, Flat, Tóm, drífar Kˣ    [3] hilmir: hilmi papp18ˣ;    mælti: ‘mellti’ Bb    [4] Hrings‑: hring‑ J2ˣ, 325VI, 73aˣ, 78aˣ, 325VII;    ‑firði: ‑firðir 78aˣ;    þingat: þingum 325VI, 73aˣ, 78aˣ    [5] Ból: ‘lol’ R686ˣ, blóð 325V, 325VII, Flat, Tóm;    Hóli: so papp18ˣ, R686ˣ, J2ˣ, 325VI, 73aˣ, 78aˣ, 68, 61, 75c, Bb, ‘hǫli’ Kˣ, ‘høli’ Holm2, hæli 325V, hlóði 325VII, Flat, hljóði Tóm    [7] þeir: þar 325VI, 78aˣ, 61;    bôðut: buðu R686ˣ, bôðu J2ˣ, 325VI, 73aˣ, 78aˣ, 68, Flat, Tóm, báðir 325VII, bôðuð Bb    [8] slíks: slíkt 325VII, Flat, Tóm;    skotnaðar: kostnaðar 325V;    brotna: so Holm2, R686ˣ, J2ˣ, 325VI, 73aˣ, 78aˣ, 68, 61, 75c, 325V, 325VII, Bb, Flat, Tóm, þrotna Kˣ, papp18ˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 226, Skj BI, 215, Skald I, 112, NN §§1858, 2480A; Hkr 1893-1901, II, 23, IV, 112, ÍF 27, 22-3, Hkr 1991, I, 265 (ÓHHkr ch. 16); ÓH 1941, I, 48 (ch. 24), Flat 1860-8, II, 21; Fell 1981b, 118-19, Jón Skaptason 1983, 62, 224-5.

Context: After the death of Aðalráðr (Æthelred), Óláfr heads suðr um sjá ‘south across the sea’. He fights a battle in Hringsfjǫrðr and captures and destroys a castle at Hóll.

Notes: [4, 5] Hringsfirði; Hóli ‘Hringsfjǫrðr; Hóll’: The context in Hkr suggests that this was in what is now France, and most commentators, following Johnsen (1916, 15-16), have linked this episode with an attack on Dol in Brittany by a certain Olaf, king of the Norwegians, referred to in William of Jumièges’ Gesta Normannorum Ducum (Houts 1992-5, II, 24-7), and have assumed that Hóll is simply an erroneous form of that name. If so, then Hringsfjǫrðr is most likely the estuary of the river Rance, west of Dol, which penetrates deep inland in a fjord-like way. The Fsk compiler does not mention Hringsfjǫrðr, nor cite the stanza, but seems to have known it. Instead of á Hóli, Fsk has á Hœli, and it identifies the vikings (l. 6) there as Danes, as in st. 6 (see Context). An alternative suggestion (Morales Romero 2006, 202-4) is that this location is in Spain, which may have some merit in that the following stanzas are most likely about Spain. — [6] víkingar ôttu ‘the vikings owned it’: The abruptness of this clause caused Finnur Jónsson (Hkr 1893-1901; Skj B), following Sveinbjörn Egilsson, to attach an enclitic rel. pron. (e)s ‘which’ to the preceding word hôtt, giving ‘which vikings owned’. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson (ÍF 27) assumes a rel. clause in his translation, but does not print the rel. pron. in his text. — [8] skotnaðar ‘luck’: This is gen. sg. of a word skotnuðr or skotnaðr which occurs only here but must derive from the impersonal verb skotna ‘to get a piece of good luck or gain’ (CVC: skotna). — [8] brotna ‘destroyed’: An inf. dependent on lét ‘had’. This, the reading of all ÓH mss, is more apt in context than þrotna ‘dwindle, come to an end’ in the K transcripts.

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. CVC = Cleasby, Richard, Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and W. A. Craigie. 1957. An Icelandic-English Dictionary. 2nd edn. Oxford: Clarendon.
6. Fell, Christine E. 1981b. ‘Víkingarvísur’. In Dronke et al. 1981, 106-22.
7. Flat 1860-8 = Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and C. R. Unger, eds. 1860-8. Flateyjarbók. En samling af norske konge-sagaer med indskudte mindre fortællinger om begivenheder i og udenfor Norge samt annaler. 3 vols. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
8. 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.
9. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
10. Hkr 1893-1901 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1893-1901. Heimskringla: Nóregs konunga sǫgur af Snorri Sturluson. 4 vols. SUGNL 23. Copenhagen: Møller.
11. Hkr 1991 = Bergljót S. Kristjánsdóttir et al., eds. 1991. Heimskringla. 3 vols. Reykjavík: Mál og menning.
12. 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.
13. Johnsen, Oscar Albert. 1916. Olav Haraldssons ungdom indtil slaget ved Nesjar. Kristiania [Oslo]: Dybwad.
14. Houts, Elisabeth M. C. van, ed. and trans. 1992-5. The Gesta Normannorum Ducum of William of Jumièges, Orderic Vitalis, and Robert of Torigni. 2 vols. Oxford Medieval Texts. Oxford: Clarendon.
15. Morales Romero, Eduardo. 2006. Historia de los vikingos en España. Madrid: Miraguano Ediciones.
16. Internal references
17. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Heimskringla’ 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. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=4> (accessed 24 April 2024)
18. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Óláfs saga helga’ 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=53> (accessed 24 April 2024)
19. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Fagrskinna’ 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. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=56> (accessed 24 April 2024)
20. (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 24 April 2024)