ÞjóðA Sex 11^II

Gegn skyli herr, sem hugnar,
hjaldrvitjaðar sitja,
dolgstœranda dýrum,
dróttinvandr ok standa.
Lýtr folkstara feiti
(fátt es til, nema játta
þat, sem þá vill gotnum)
þjóð ǫll (konungr bjóða).

Gegn herr {hjaldrvitjaðar} skyli sitja ok standa dróttinvandr, sem hugnar {dýrum dolgstœranda}. Ǫll þjóð lýtr {feiti {folkstara}}; fátt es til, nema játta þat, sem konungr vill þá bjóða gotnum.

The worthy troop {of the battle-frequenter} [WARRIOR] must sit and stand lord-loyal, as it pleases {the excellent war-sweller} [WARRIOR]. The whole people bends {to the fattener {of the war-starling}} [RAVEN > WARRIOR]; there is little option except to agree to what the king wants to command men at the time.

Mss: Kˣ(547r), 39(24vb), F(46vb), E(17v), J2ˣ(273v) (Hkr); H(47r), Hr(33vb) (H-Hr); 570a(20v-21r) (HÍ); Mork(11r) (Mork, ll. 5-8); Flat(199rb) (Flat, ll. 5-8); H(60v), Hr(44va) (H-Hr, ll. 5-8); FskBˣ(78r), FskAˣ(287) (Fsk, ll. 5-8)

Readings: [1] Gegn: Þegn H(47r), Hr(33vb);    herr: hverr H(47r), hver Hr(33vb), 570a    [2] hjaldr‑: ‘[...]’ 570a;    ‑vitjaðar: ‑vitja(ð)(?) H(47r);    sitja: ‘[...]a’ H(47r), ‘[...]’ 570a    [3] dolg‑: dolgr Hr(33vb);    ‑stœranda: ‑stýrandi H(47r), Hr(33vb), ‘stęrra’ 570a    [4] ‑vandr: ‘‑vande’ E;    ok: at Hr(33vb)    [5] Lýtr: ‘lystr’ 39, ‘lykr’ Hr(33vb);    ‑stara: ‘‑stera’ E, ‑starra FskBˣ;    feiti: ‘fæiti’ E, ‘fe[...]’ 570a, fretti FskAˣ    [6] fátt es til nema: ‘[...]ema’ 570a;    játta: so 39, F, H(47r), Hr(33vb), FskBˣ, FskAˣ, játa Kˣ, E, J2ˣ    [7] þat: því Hr(33vb)    [8] ǫll: valdr H(47r), Hr(33vb), ‘aull .g.’ Hr(44va), ‘ollr’ FskAˣ;    konungr bjóða: ‘k[...]’ Mork

Editions: Skj AI, 371, 374, Skj BI, 341, 344 (l. 5), Skald I, 172, NN §2029; Hkr 1893-1901, III, 133-4, IV, 222, ÍF 28, 123, Hkr 1991, 637 (HSig ch. 42), F 1871, 217, E 1916, 61; Fms 6, 269 (HSig ch. 57), Fms 12, 152; HÍ 1952, 7; Mork 1928-1932, 188, Andersson and Gade 2000, 216-17, 477 (MH); Flat 1860-8, III, 351 (MH); Fms 6, 339 (HSig ch. 91); Fsk 1902-3, 278 (ch. 47), ÍF 29, 273 (ch. 57).

Context: The context in HÍ, which may be the most original source (Fidjestøl 1982, 136), cites the st. as printed above immediately before narrating Haraldr’s assassination of Einarr þambarskelfir ‘Paunch-shaker’ (?), underlining the king’s addiction to power, and Hkr similarly cites it at a pause in the narrative about Einarr. Fsk, Mork and Flat preserve ll. 5-8, the stef ‘refrain’ after st. 22/5-8 in a different context: that of Haraldr’s crushing of the Upplendingar (see sts 19-21) and their submission to his rule. In Fsk, the stef follows st. 22/5-8 with a prose sentence in between, but in Mork and Flat the two helmingar form a single st. H-Hr combines the two approaches: the eight-l. st. printed above is cited in the same context as Hkr, then ll. 5-8 are cited after st. 20 in a narrative of Haraldr’s suppression of the Upplendingar. At this point ll. 5-6 are explicitly identified as the refrain (stefit) in a drápa about Haraldr.

Notes: [All]: In Mork, st. 22/5-6 is written on the top l. of fol. 11r, with 21/7-8 and the stef continuing in the upper margin, while in Flat the same eight ll. are written continuously in the main text. — [5-8]: These ll. comprise a stef or refrain—the only survivor of the six referred to in Sexstefja’s title—which would have punctuated part of the poem at regular intervals, so that its placing in the prose sources varies (see Context above) and is problematic here. — [5] fátt es til, nema ‘there is little option except’: Lit. ‘there is few/little to hand except’. Kock prints uncontracted fátt es in Skald (as do Finnur Jónsson in Fsk 1902-3 and Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson in ÍF 28; Hkr 1991 has fátt er), and gives reasons in NN §2029. Finnur printed the contracted fátt’s in Hkr 1893-1901 and Skj B. — [6-7] játta þat, sem ‘to agree to what’: Játta normally takes the dat. case, but acc. is also possible (the ÍF 28 note gives an example). Only the Hr scribe seems to have been uneasy enough to write dat. því. The forms játta and játa represented in the mss are both acceptable.  

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj A = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15a. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. A: Tekst efter håndskrifterne. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1967. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
4. Fms = Sveinbjörn Egilsson et al., eds. 1825-37. Fornmanna sögur eptir gömlum handritum útgefnar að tilhlutun hins norræna fornfræða fèlags. 12 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
5. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
6. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
7. Andersson, Theodore M. and Kari Ellen Gade, trans. 2000. Morkinskinna: The Earliest Icelandic Chronicle of the Norwegian Kings (1030-1157). Islandica 51. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.
8. Fidjestøl, Bjarne. 1982. Det norrøne fyrstediktet. Universitet i Bergen Nordisk institutts skriftserie 11. Øvre Ervik: Alvheim & Eide.
9. 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.
10. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
11. Hkr 1893-1901 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1893-1901. Heimskringla: Nóregs konunga sǫgur af Snorri Sturluson. 4 vols. SUGNL 23. Copenhagen: Møller.
12. Hkr 1991 = Bergljót S. Kristjánsdóttir et al., eds. 1991. Heimskringla. 3 vols. Reykjavík: Mál og menning.
13. F 1871 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1871. Fríssbók: Codex Frisianus. En samling af norske konge-sagaer. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
14. Fsk 1902-3 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1902-3. Fagrskinna: Nóregs kononga tal. SUGNL 30. Copenhagen: Møller.
15. E 1916 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1916. Eirspennill: AM 47 fol. Nóregs konunga sǫgur: Magnús góði – Hákon gamli. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske historiske kildeskriftskommission.
16. HÍ 1952 = Jón Helgason and Jakob Benediktsson, eds. 1952. Hákonar saga Ívarssonar. SUGNL 62. Copenhagen: Jørgensen.
17. ÍF 29 = Ágrip af Nóregskonunga sǫgum; Fagrskinna—Nóregs konungatal. Ed. Bjarni Einarsson. 1985.
18. Internal references
19. (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)
20. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Flateyjarbók’ 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=44> (accessed 24 April 2024)
21. (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)
22. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Hulda-Hrokkinskinna’ 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=84> (accessed 24 April 2024)
23. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Morkinskinna’ 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=87> (accessed 24 April 2024)
24. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Hákonar saga Ívarssonar’ 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=141> (accessed 24 April 2024)
25. (forthcoming), ‘ Heimskringla, Haralds saga Sigurðssonar’ 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=142> (accessed 24 April 2024)
26. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Magnúss saga góða ok Haralds harðráða’ 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=147> (accessed 24 April 2024)
27. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Halldórr skvaldri, Haraldsdrápa 5’ 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. 496.