Ótt Knútdr 11I/3 — helga ‘Helge’
Svíum hnekkðir þú, søkkva
siklingr ǫrr, en mikla
ylgr, þars Ô in helga,
ulfs beitu fekk, heitir.
Helt, þars hrafn né svalta,
(hvatráðr est þú) láði,
ógnar stafr, fyr jǫfrum,
ýgr, tveimr (við kyn beima).
Siklingr ǫrr søkkva, þú hnekkðir Svíum, en ylgr fekk mikla beitu ulfs, þars heitir Ô in helga. Ýgr stafr ógnar, helt láði fyr tveimr jǫfrum, þars hrafn né svalta; þú est hvatráðr við kyn beima.
Sovereign generous with treasures, you checked the Swedes, and the she-wolf received much wolf’s food [CORPSES], at the place which is called Helgeå. Fierce staff of battle [WARRIOR], you held the territory against two princes, where the raven did not at all go hungry; you are bold-minded against the race of men.
notes
[3] Ô in helga ‘Helgeå’: The battle here took place in (probably) 1026, when the Swedish and Norwegian forces of Ǫnundr Óláfsson and Óláfr Haraldsson launched an attack on Knútr’s Denmark. The site of the battle has traditionally been identified as Helgeå, in the eastern part of Skåne, but a site in Uppland has also been suggested (Gräslund 1986). The outcome of the battle is also somewhat unclear. From one point of view, since the attack on Denmark was unsuccessful, Knútr was clearly the ‘victor’; but the battle itself may well have been inconclusive, and the ASC (‘E’) s. a. 1025 even reports a Swedish victory. See further Moberg (1941, 148-78); Moberg (1987); Moberg (1989); Lawson (1993, 96-100); P. Sawyer (1994, 18-19).