Anon Liðs 7I/6 — brynju ‘mail-shirt’
Knútr réð ok bað bíða
(baugstalls) Dani alla;
(lundr gekk rǫskr und randir
ríkr) vá herr við díki.
Nær vas, sveit þars sóttum,
Syn, með hjalm ok brynju,
elds sem olmum heldi
elg Rennandi kennir.
Knútr réð ok bað alla Dani bíða; ríkr lundr baugstalls gekk rǫskr und randir; herr vá við díki. Syn, vas nær sem kennir elds Rennandi heldi olmum elg, þars sóttum sveit með hjalm ok brynju.
Knútr decided and commanded all the Danes to wait; the mighty tree of the ring-support [SHIELD > WARRIOR = Knútr] went, brave, under the shields; the army fought by the moat. Syn [lady], it was nearly as if the master of the fire of Rennandi <river> [GOLD > MAN] were holding a maddened elk, where we attacked the army with helmet and mail-shirt.
notes
[6] með hjalm ok brynju ‘with helmet and mail-shirt’: Mail-shirts could connote superior status (Brooks 1978, 83, 90, 93), and this indicates the resources available to Knútr and suggests that, despite the sentiments in st. 2, some of the men at least are equipped with them. Thietmar of Merseburg (Kurze 1889, 217) states that vast numbers of loricae ‘coats of mail’ were stockpiled in London during this siege.