SnSt Ht 69^III

Kunn bjók kvæði
konungs bróður þjóð
(þann veitk þengil)
þrenn (fjǫlmennan).
Fram skal in fjórða
fólkglaðs vaða
ljóss elds lagar
lofun friðrofa.

Bjók {bróður konungs} þrenn kvæði, kunn þjóð; veitk þann þengil fjǫlmennan. In fjórða lofun {fólkglaðs friðrofa {ljóss elds lagar}} skal vaða fram.

I prepared three praise poems, known to people, {for the king’s brother} [= Skúli]; I know that lord to have a large following. The fourth encomium {about the battle-glad truce-breaker {of the fair fire of the ocean}} [GOLD > GENEROUS MAN] must issue forth.

Mss: R(51r), W(149) (SnE)

Readings: [1] bjók (‘bio ek’): so W, bjó en R    [4] þrenn: ‘þ[…]nn’ W    [5] in: corrected from ‘eð’ W    [6] fólk‑: fjǫl‑ W

Editions: Skj AII, 70, Skj BII, 80, Skald II, 44; SnE 1848-87, I, 684-5, III, 129, SnE 1879-81, I, 12, 82, II, 26, SnE 1931, 244, SnE 2007, 29-30; Konráð Gíslason 1895-7, I, 43-4.

Context: This is a second variant of tøglag ‘journey-metre’. All odd lines have two alliterating staves (in positions 1 and 3) but lack internal rhyme. The even lines have aðalhending in positions 1 and 3 (ll. 4, 8) or 2 and 3 (ll. 2 and 6).

Notes: [All]: The four poems referred to in this stanza are presumably the second and third part of Ht (sts 31-67 and sts 68-96) and two poems that Snorri had composed about Skúli on earlier occasions (see Stu 1878, I, 244; LH 1894-1901, I, 79; SnE 2007, 68). — [All]: For this metre, see st. 68 above and RvHbreið Hl 25-6. — [1] kunn; bjók ‘known; I prepared’: In R ‘Kvɴ’ appears to have been altered to ‘K\a/vɴ’ (?) and ‘bio en’ ‘prepared again’ has been corrected to ‘bio c’ (R*). — [2] konungs ‘the king’s’: King Ingi Bárðarson.

References

1. Bibliography
2. SnE 1848-87 = Snorri Sturluson. 1848-87. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar: Edda Snorronis Sturlaei. Ed. Jón Sigurðsson et al. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Legatum Arnamagnaeanum. Rpt. Osnabrück: Zeller, 1966.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
5. Konráð Gíslason. 1895-7. Efterladte skrifter. 2 vols. I: Forelæsninger over oldnordiske skjaldekvad. II: Forelæsninger og videnskablige afhandlinger. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
6. LH 1894-1901 = Finnur Jónsson. 1894-1901. Den oldnorske og oldislandske litteraturs historie. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Gad.
7. Stu 1878 = Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon], ed. 1878. Sturlunga Saga including the Islendinga Saga of Lawman Sturla Thordsson and Other Works Edited with Prolegomena, Appendices, Tables, Indices, and Maps. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon.
8. SnE 2007 = Snorri Sturluson. 2007. Edda: Háttatal. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
9. SnE 1879-81 = Möbius, Theodor, ed. 1879-81. Hattatal Snorra Sturlusonar. 2 vols. Halle an de Saale: Verlag der Buchhandlung des Waisenhauses.
10. Internal references
11. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Háttatal’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=165> (accessed 25 April 2024)
12. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Rǫgnvaldr jarl and Hallr Þórarinsson, Háttalykill 25’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1033.