Ótt Hfl 13I/6 — lands ‘a land’
Komt í land ok lendir,
láðvǫrðr, Aðalráði;
þín naut rekka rúni
ríki efldr at slíku.
Harðr vas fundr, sás fœrðuð
friðlands á vit niðja
(réð áttstuðill áðan)
Játmundar (þar grundu).
Láðvǫrðr, komt Aðalráði í land ok lendir; efldr ríki, naut rúni rekka þín at slíku. Fundr vas harðr, sás fœrðuð niðja Játmundar á vit friðlands; áttstuðill réð grundu þar áðan.
Land-guardian [KING], you brought Æthelred into the land and gave [him] land; strengthened with a kingdom, the counsellor of warriors [KING = Æthelred] had help from you in this. The fighting was hard, by which you brought the kinsman of Eadmund [= Æthelred] into a land of peace; the prop of the family ruled the land there previously.
readings
[6] ‑lands: land Holm2, 325VII, landi J1ˣ, J2ˣ, lǫnd 325VI, 73aˣ, 78aˣ, land or lǫnd 68, 61, 75c, Flat, Tóm
notes
[6] friðlands ‘a land of peace’: There is clearly some paradoxical play at work in ll. 5-6: how can entry into a friðland involve fundr ‘fighting’ that is harðr ‘hard’? ÍF 27 attempts to reconcile the paradox by translating friðland as ‘a pacified land’ (followed by ÍF 29 and ÍF 35), while Poole translates as ‘the country friendly to him [i.e. Æthelred]’ (1980, 274). Poole’s interpretation seems more apposite. As the ASC makes clear, following Sveinn’s death Æthelred com … ham to his agenre þeode, 7 he glædlice fram him eallum onfange<n> wæs ‘came home to his own people and was gladly received by them all’ (Cubbin 1996, 59). On the term friðland see further Fell (1982-3, 95-7), who argues it has a positive legal sense based on interpersonal or diplomatic relations rather than simply the absence of warfare.