Sigv Lv 12^I

Hafa allframir jǫfrar
út sín hǫfuð Knúti
fœrð ór Fífi norðan
— friðkaup vas þat — miðju.
Seldi Ôleifr aldri
(opt vá sigr) inn digri
haus í heimi (þvísa
hann) engum svá manni.

Allframir jǫfrar hafa fœrð Knúti hǫfuð sín út norðan ór miðju Fífi; þat vas friðkaup. Ôleifr inn digri seldi aldri haus svá engum manni í heimi; hann vá opt sigr þvísa.

The most outstanding lords have presented their heads to Knútr from the north out of mid Fife; it was the price of peace. Óláfr the Stout never surrendered his skull thus to anyone in the world; he has often won victory for that reason.

Mss: Holm2(41v), 325V(44va), 972ˣ(297va), J2ˣ(183r), 325VI(30ra), 75a(31ra), 73aˣ(134v-135r), 68(40r), 61(104vb-105ra), Holm4(34vb), 325VII(23v), Bb(171va), Flat(111vb), Tóm(129v), 325XI 2 g(2vb) (ÓH); Kˣ(370r) (Hkr)

Readings: [1] ‑framir: framar 73aˣ, ‘[…]’ 325XI 2 g;    jǫfrar: ‘[…]’ 325XI 2 g    [2] út: ‘[…]’ 325XI 2 g;    sín: sinn Flat, ‘[…]’ 325XI 2 g;    hǫfuð: hǫfðuð Bb;    Knúti: ‘hnuti’ Tóm    [3] fœrð: so 325V, 972ˣ, J2ˣ, 325VI, 75a, 73aˣ, 68, 61, Holm4, Bb, Flat, Tóm, 325XI 2 g, ferð Holm2, 68, 61, ‘førð’ 325VII, forð Kˣ;    Fífi: finni Tóm, ‘f[…]i’ 325XI 2 g    [4] ‑kaup: so all others, kapp corrected from kaup Holm2;    vas (‘var’): er 75a, Bb;    miðju: miðja 325VI, miðjum 325VII, Bb, Flat    [5] Seldi: felldi 75a, selds 68, seldir 61    [6] vá: vann 325V;    digri: ‘di[…]ri’ 325XI 2 g    [7] haus í: hausi 73aˣ, 61, hans í Bb, Flat, haus ór Tóm;    heimi: hilmir 61    [8] hann: ‘hán’ 325V;    svá: om. Tóm

Editions: Skj AI, 269-70, Skj BI, 249-50, Skald I, 129, NN §1874; Fms 4, 293, Fms 12, 88, ÓH 1853, 132, 280, ÓH 1941, I, 343 (ch. 120), Flat 1860-8, II, 254; Hkr 1777-1826, II, 215, VI, 91, Hkr 1868, 378 (ÓHHkr ch. 140), Hkr 1893-1901, II, 287, IV, 140, ÍF 27, 225, Hkr 1991, I, 413 (ÓHHkr ch. 131); Konráð Gíslason 1892, 38, 180, Jón Skaptason 1983, 197, 321-2.

Context: Ambassadors from Denmark convey the message that King Knútr inn ríki (Cnut the Great) demands King Óláfr’s submission and control of all of Norway, and Óláfr refuses, pledging to resist to the last. Sigvatr asks the departing ambassadors the outcome of their audience, and they say that Óláfr has foolishly rejected Knútr’s demand. It would be wise for Óláfr to submit, because Knútr is gracious and forgiving, and he will accept the fealty of those who have resisted him, as he did recently when he agreed to let two kings from Fife in Scotland hold their land in fief. Sigvatr responds with this stanza.

Notes: [3] Fífi ‘Fife’: ON Fíf also occurs as a heiti for ‘land’: see Þul Jarðar 1/5^III and Note. — [7] þvísa ‘for that reason’: (a) Neuter dat. sg. of the demonstrative pron. þessi ‘this’, here taken adverbially in the intercalary clause. (b) Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) would place the word in the principal clause, where, if it is not meaningless, it would oddly imply that Óláfr has surrendered his head for another reason. Jón Skaptason (1983, 197) chooses the same arrangement, translating ‘so’. (c) Jón Þorkelsson (1884, 68-9, followed by Gering 1912, 146, Kock, NN §1874, ÍF 27, and Hkr 1991) proposes that it functions adjectivally, modifying heimi ‘world’ in l. 7. The problem is that heimi is m., while þvísa is n., and so he argues that there was in early times a n. form that survives only in gen. compounds like heimisgarðr ‘homestead’. But heimis- is not attested in the sense ‘world’s’ (as observed by Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson, ÍF 27), and so it seems safer to align þvísa with the intercalary clause than to assume an otherwise unattested form.

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. Fms = Sveinbjörn Egilsson et al., eds. 1825-37. Fornmanna sögur eptir gömlum handritum útgefnar að tilhlutun hins norræna fornfræða fèlags. 12 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
4. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
9. Hkr 1893-1901 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1893-1901. Heimskringla: Nóregs konunga sǫgur af Snorri Sturluson. 4 vols. SUGNL 23. Copenhagen: Møller.
10. Hkr 1991 = Bergljót S. Kristjánsdóttir et al., eds. 1991. Heimskringla. 3 vols. Reykjavík: Mál og menning.
11. Jón Þorkelsson [J. Thorkelsson]. 1884. ‘Bemærkninger til nogle steder i versene i Heimskringla’. Aftryk af oversigt over det kgl. danske videnskabs selskabs forhandlinger 1884. Copenhagen: Luno.
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. Konráð Gíslason, ed. 1892a. Udvalg af oldnordiske skjaldekvad, med anmærkninger. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
14. Gering, Hugo. 1912. ‘Beiträge zu der Metrik und Erklärung skaldischer Dichtungen’. ZDP 44, 133-69.
15. Hkr 1777-1826 = Schöning, Gerhard et al., eds. 1777-1826. Heimskringla edr Noregs konunga-sögor. 6 vols. Copenhagen: Stein.
16. Hkr 1868 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1868. Heimskringla eller Norges kongesagaer af Snorre Sturlassøn. Christiania (Oslo): Brøgger & Christie.
17. ÓH 1853 = Munch, P. A. and C. R. Unger, eds. 1853. Saga Olafs konungs ens helga. Christiania (Oslo): Det kongelige norske Fredriks Universitet.
18. Internal references
19. (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)
20. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Jarðar heiti 1’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 878.