Sigv Víkv 6^I

Rétts, at sókn in sétta,
(snarr þengill bauð Englum
at) þars Ôleifr sótti
(Yggs) Lundúna bryggjur.
Sverð bitu vǫlsk, en vǫrðu
víkingar þar díki;
átti sumt í sléttu
Súðvirki lið búðir.

Rétts, at in sétta sókn, þars Ôleifr sótti bryggjur Lundúna; snarr þengill bauð Englum {at Yggs}. Vǫlsk sverð bitu, en víkingar vǫrðu þar díki; sumt lið átti búðir í sléttu Súðvirki.

It is correct that the sixth battle [took place] where Óláfr attacked the wharves of London; the valiant prince offered the English {the strife of Yggr <= Óðinn>} [BATTLE]. Frankish swords bit, and vikings defended the ditch there; some of the troop had huts in level Southwark.

Mss: Kˣ(226r-v) (Hkr); Holm2(7r), R686ˣ(12r), J2ˣ(122r), 325VI(6va), 73aˣ(20r), 78aˣ(19r), 68(6r), 61(80ra), 75c(3r), 325V(8va), 325VII(2r), Bb(126vb), Flat(80rb), Tóm(96v) (ÓH); FskBˣ(40r), FskAˣ(153) (Fsk); DG8(72v) (ÓHLeg)

Readings: [1] Rétts (‘Rett er’): ‘Let(t er)’(?) 325VI, rétt varð 75c, 325V, Flat, Tóm, er corrected from varð 325VII, ‘Rett ier’ Bb;    at: ‘[…]’ 325VI, om. 75c, 325V, 325VII, Flat, Tóm;    in: inn 325VII, ina FskAˣ;    sétta: séttu FskAˣ    [2] þengill: þengil 68;    bauð: ‘(bauð)’(?) 325VI, vann DG8;    Englum: ‘(englom)’(?) 325VI    [3] at: ‘att’ R686ˣ, 325VI, 78aˣ, 61, átt 73aˣ;    sótti: sœtti DG8    [4] Yggs: uggs FskBˣ;    Lundúna: Lundúnar 61, 325V;    bryggjur: bryggju Bb, FskAˣ, bryggjum DG8    [5] Sverð bitu: ‘[…]’ 325VI;    vǫlsk: ‘vꜹls’ J2ˣ, ‘(vau)lsk’(?) 325VI, ‘vold’ 68, ‘uausk’ Tóm, ‘volks’ FskAˣ;    vǫrðu: varði 61    [6] víkingar: víkingr R686ˣ, víkinga 61;    þar: lið 61, þá FskBˣ, FskAˣ;    díki: ‘þiki’ R686ˣ    [7] átti: áttu 325VII;    sumt: ‘sunnz’ 68, 325VII, Flat, Tóm    [8] Súð‑: suðr Tóm, FskBˣ, FskAˣ;    lið: þar 325V

Editions: Skj AI, 224-5, Skj BI, 214, Skald I, 112, NN §2469; Hkr 1893-1901, II, 19, IV, 109-10, ÍF 27, 17-18, Hkr 1991, I, 262 (ÓHHkr ch. 13); ÓH 1941, I, 45 (ch. 23), Flat 1860-8, II, 20; Fsk 1902-3, 141 (ch. 25), ÍF 29, 168 (ch. 27); ÓHLeg 1922, 10, ÓHLeg 1982, 46-7; Fell 1981b, 114-15, Jón Skaptason 1983, 58, 222-3.

Context: ÓH-Hkr and ÓHLeg have a long description of Óláfr’s battle in London before citing the stanza. According to ÓHLeg he was supporting Knútr inn ríki (Cnut the Great), while according to ÓH-Hkr it was Aðalráðr (the English King Æthelred). In Fsk, it is cited after a very brief introduction of Óláfr Haraldsson and an enumeration of his first five battles. He is then said to have gone west to England where he fought at Lundúnabryggjur (on which, see Note to l. 4, below) against Danes who were launching viking raids.

Notes: [All]: For the events of Víkv 6-8, see also Ótt Hfl 8-10 and Note to Hfl 8 [All]; the battle at Lundúnabryggjur is commemorated in Hfl 8. Although Óláfr appears to have fought for the English King Aðalráðr (Æthelred) after the death of Sveinn tjúguskegg ‘Fork-beard’ in 1014, Snorri’s claim that Óláfr’s earlier battles were fought in support of him (see Contexts to sts 6, 7) is probably erroneous: see Note to Ótt Hfl 13 [All]. His earlier English campaigns seem rather to have been fought alongside Þorkell inn hávi and the Danes (see Note to Ótt Hfl 8 [All]), and it appears that Óláfr ‘like his friend Þorkell, changed sides and became a supporter of Æthelred’ (A. Campbell 1971, 12). The skaldic stanzas do not in themselves clarify who Óláfr’s allies and opponents were, nor exactly where and when he fought; even when they are considered in conjunction with the English and Norse prose sources much remains uncertain (see A. Campbell 1971, 4, 8-12; Campbell 1998, 73-82). — [1] rétts, at in sétta sókn ‘it is correct that the sixth battle [took place]’: (a) The subject sókn ‘battle’ lacks a verb and a verb meaning ‘took place’ or ‘was’ appears to be implied; cf. Anon Ól 1/8 for a parallel. (b) Skj B supplies the verb vas ‘was’ by emendation. (c) Kock prefers the reading Rétt varð to the alternative of assuming an understood verb, and interprets rétt as p. p. of rétta ‘to stretch out, hand over, offer’, rather than an adj., hence ‘(battle) was offered’. However, this variant is found only in C-class mss of ÓH, added to which rétta in this meaning is not common in the skaldic corpus, and never occurs in collocation with a battle-word, despite the frequency with which skalds have need of an expression meaning ‘to give battle’. — [4] bryggjur Lundúna ‘the wharves of London’: Or possibly ‘bridge’. The prose of Hkr clearly understands Lundúna bryggjur to be a bridge, while ÓHLeg seems to imagine them as jetties. The only other skaldic instance of bryggja (also in the pl.) is Ótt Hfl 8/2, referring to the same event and probably derivative of Sigvatr. The reference is usually assumed to be to London Bridge (e.g. Townend 1998, 73), and portrayal of an attack on the bridge would seem likely – both strategic and memorable. However, this sense is only possible with semantic influence from the OE cognate brycg ‘bridge’, since ON bryggja normally means ‘quay, landing-stage, wharf’ (ONP). Only one bridge in London is known from the period, and archaeological research shows that it was built between 990 and 1020 AD (Watson et al. 2001, 57, 73). Fell (1981b) explains the pl. form as ‘used for the singular’, citing Hofmann’s suggestion (1955, 82) that the pl. form is used to distinguish the ‘bridge’ meaning from the normal meaning. However, this explanation of the pl. is not wholly satisfactory and the normal meaning of ON bryggja ‘quay, wharf, jetty’ would be compatible with the extensive development of the Thames foreshore known to have taken place in the late C10th and C11th (Milne 1992, 7, 24-6, 37, 42, 46; Milne 2003, 43-7, 57-62); the structures found at New Fresh Wharf (Steedman et al. 1992, 99-103, also cover illustration) could appropriately be described as bryggjur. — [5-8]: It is tentatively assumed here that Óláfr and Þorkell’s forces wield Frankish swords and have temporary huts in Southwark, while the English defend the ditch. However, the identifications are far from certain: see Notes to [All] and to ll. 6 and 7 below. — [5] vǫlsk ‘Frankish’: Also applied to swords in Arn Magndr 9/3^II, Þham Magndr 4/4^II. The exact geographical range of this adj. in skaldic poetry is not well defined; among the possibilities are ‘southern, foreign’ (Falk 1914b, 40) and ‘Norman’, applied to two earls in Gísl Magnkv 10/8^II. Since Frankish swords were particularly prized in the Viking Age it is likely that that is what is meant here. — [6] víkingar ‘vikings’: See also st. 3/6 and Note, and st. 10/6. (a) Since the predicate of víkingar is vǫrðu þar díki ‘defended the ditch there’, the word appears to denote the inhabitants or defenders of London, the Englar ‘English’ of l. 2. This is consonant with the tendency in Víkv for the first helmingr to refer to Óláfr’s attack and the second to describe the defence (sts 2, 5, 7, 9, 10), and with the clear antithesis between sótti ‘attacked’ (l. 3) and vǫrðu ‘defended’ (l. 5). (b) On the other hand it is possible, with Hellberg (1980, 37), to understand víkingar to mean Scandinavians of some sort and to assume that the whole helmingr gives further information about Óláfr’s army, defending themselves in Southwark. For Scandinavian troops in London constructing earthworks in this era see Anon Liðs 7/4 and Note; cf. also Hkr (ÍF 27, 15). — [6] díki ‘the ditch’: There seems to have been a defensive ditch dated to the early C11th in Southwark, in which a few weapons of Scandinavian type have been found (Watson et al. 2001, 53-4). — [8] Súðvirki ‘Southwark’: The bridgehead on the south bank of the Thames. The form of the name is uncertain. A long vowel is indicated by the rhyme on búð-. ON suðr ‘south’ normally has a short vowel, while OE sūð, with the same meaning, had a long vowel. Townend proposes either that ‘Sigvatr is prepared to alter the expected form of a place-name for a purely metrical reason’ (1998, 74) or that ‘the English first element appears to have been reproduced rather than the Norse cognate substituted’ (1998, 97). As Townend notes, most of the mss also lack the expected -r, except for the Fsk group, which have reinterpreted the name correctly but at the expense of the rhyme. A further possibility is that Sigvatr may have misinterpreted the first element as equivalent to ON súð ‘planking’ and the p. n. therefore as meaning something like ‘wooden, planked fortification’ (Jesch 2001a, 73). Finally, it is possible that the rhyme is inexact in terms of vowel length, as, e.g., in Sigv Austv 18/6 jafnvíst : Lista, also involving a p. n. — [8] lið ‘the troop’: Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson (ÍF 27) takes this to be the defenders, the víkingar ‘vikings’ who vǫrðu þar díki ‘defended the ditch there’, while Fell (1981b) seems to suggest that they are the attackers. In favour of the latter is the fact that búðir ‘huts’ are temporary structures which could well have been occupied by transient warriors, i.e. Óláfr’s attacking troop.

References

1. Bibliography
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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. Campbell, Alistair. 1971. Skaldic Verse and Anglo-Saxon History: The Dorothea Coke Memorial Lecture in Northern Studies delivered 17 March 1970 at University College London. London: Lewis.
6. Fell, Christine E. 1981b. ‘Víkingarvísur’. In Dronke et al. 1981, 106-22.
7. Jesch, Judith. 2001a. Ships and Men in the Late Viking Age: The Vocabulary of Runic Inscriptions and Skaldic Verse. Woodbridge: Boydell.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. ÓHLeg 1982 = Heinrichs, Anne et al., eds and trans. 1982. Olafs saga hins helga: Die ‘Legendarische Saga’ über Olaf den Heiligen (Hs. Delagard. saml. nr. 8^II). Heidelberg: Winter.
11. ONP = Degnbol, Helle et al., eds. 1989-. A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose / Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog. 1-. Copenhagen: The Arnamagnæan Commission.
12. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
13. Hkr 1893-1901 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1893-1901. Heimskringla: Nóregs konunga sǫgur af Snorri Sturluson. 4 vols. SUGNL 23. Copenhagen: Møller.
14. Hkr 1991 = Bergljót S. Kristjánsdóttir et al., eds. 1991. Heimskringla. 3 vols. Reykjavík: Mál og menning.
15. Campbell, Alistair, ed. 1998. Encomium Emmae Reginae. Edition of 1949 with a supplementary introduction by Simon Keynes. Camden Classic Reprints 4. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
16. Falk, Hjalmar. 1914b. Altnordische Waffenkunde. Videnskapsselskapets skrifter, II. Hist.-filos. kl. 1914, 6. Kristiania (Oslo): Dybwad.
17. Fsk 1902-3 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1902-3. Fagrskinna: Nóregs kononga tal. SUGNL 30. Copenhagen: Møller.
18. ÍF 29 = Ágrip af Nóregskonunga sǫgum; Fagrskinna—Nóregs konungatal. Ed. Bjarni Einarsson. 1985.
19. 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.
20. ÓHLeg 1922 = Johnsen, Oscar Albert, ed. 1922. Olafs saga hins helga efter pergamenthåndskrift i Uppsala Universitetsbibliotek, Delagardieske samling nr. 8^II. Det norske historiske kildeskriftfond skrifter 47. Kristiania (Oslo): Dybwad.
21. Townend, Matthew. 1998. English Place-Names in Skaldic Verse. English Place-Name Society extra ser. 1. Nottingham: English Place-Name Society.
22. Hellberg, Staffan. 1980. ‘Vikingatidens víkingar’. ANF 95, 25-88.
23. Milne, Gustav. 1992. Timber Building Techniques in London c. 900-1400: An Archaeological Study of Waterfront Installations and Related Material. Special Paper 15. London: London and Middlesex Archaeology Society.
24. Milne, Gustav. 2003. The Port of Medieval London. Stroud: Tempus.
25. Steedman, Ken et al., eds. 1992. Aspects of Saxo-Norman London 3. The Bridgehead and Billingsgate to 1200. Special Paper 14. London: London and Middlesex Archaeology Society.
26. Watson, Bruce et al. 2001. London Bridge: 2000 Years of a River Crossing. MoLAS Monograph 8. London: Museum of London Archaeology Service.
27. Internal references
28. (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 19 April 2024)
29. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Óláfs saga helga (Legendary)’ 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=31> (accessed 19 April 2024)
30. (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 19 April 2024)
31. (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 19 April 2024)
32. (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 19 April 2024)
33. Not published: do not cite (Run^VI)
34. Russell Poole (ed.) 2012, ‘Anonymous Poems, Liðsmannaflokkr 7’ 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. 1024.
35. Judith Jesch 2012, ‘ Sigvatr Þórðarson, Víkingarvísur’ 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. 532. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1360> (accessed 19 April 2024)
36. Kate Heslop (ed.) 2012, ‘Anonymous Poems, Poem about Óláfr Tryggvason 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. 1063.
37. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Arnórr jarlaskáld Þórðarson, Magnússdrápa 9’ 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. 218.
38. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Gísl Illugason, Erfikvæði about Magnús berfœttr 10’ 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. 423-4.
39. Matthew Townend (ed.) 2012, ‘Óttarr svarti, Hǫfuðlausn 8’ 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. 750.
40. Matthew Townend (ed.) 2012, ‘Óttarr svarti, Hǫfuðlausn 13’ 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. 757.
41. R. D. Fulk (ed.) 2012, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Austrfararvísur 18’ 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. 608.
42. Judith Jesch (ed.) 2012, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Víkingarvísur 6’ 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. 541.
43. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Þorkell hamarskáld, Magnússdrápa 4’ 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. 412-13.