Anon Krm 5VIII/4 — Herruðr ‘Herruðr’
Hjuggu vér með hjörvi.
Hygg engan þá frýðu,
áðr en á Heflis hestum
Herruðr í styr felli.
Klýfr eigi ægis öndrum
annarr jarl in frægri
lunda völl til lægis
á langskipum síðan.
Sá bar siklingr víða
snart fram í styr hjarta.
Hjuggu vér með hjörvi. Hygg engan þá frýðu, áðr en Herruðr felli í styr á hestum Heflis. Annarr jarl in frægri klýfr eigi síðan völl lunda öndrum ægis, á langskipum, til lægis. Sá siklingr bar víða snart hjarta fram í styr.
We hewed with the sword. No one found fault with us then, I reckon, before Herruðr fell in battle on the horses of Heflir <sea-king> [SHIPS]. No other, more famous jarl will ever again cleave the plain of puffins [SEA] with skis of the sea [SHIPS], on longships, heading into harbour. That leader carried a stout heart far and wide forward into battle.
readings
[4] Herruðr: ‘Herraudur’ 6ˣ, Herþjófr R702ˣ, ‘heraudur’ LR, R693ˣ
notes
[4] Herruðr: According to RagnSon, where it occurs as Herrauðr (see Hb 1892-6, 458), Saxo’s account, where it occurs as Herothus (see Saxo 2015, I, ix. 4. 4-5 and 4. 17, pp. 634-5, 644-5), and Ragn, where it has the form Herruðr (see Ragn 1906-8, 116-17), this is the name of the jarl in Götaland (so Ragn; in Västergötland, RagnSon) or, as Saxo has it, the king of the Swedes (rex Sueonum), who offers his daughter Þóra/Thora in marriage to the man who can destroy a hypertrophic serpent (two such serpents in Saxo’s account). Ragnarr succeeds in doing so, thus winning Þóra as his first wife (so Ragn and RagnSon; Thora as his second wife in Saxo). Cf. st. 1, Note to ll. 2-10 above. Only in Saxo’s account (Saxo 2015, I, ix. 4. 17, pp. 644-5) is the death of Herothus mentioned, and then only in passing, with no mention of the manner of his death: thus it cannot be said for certain whether it is the Herr(a)uðr/Herothus of these accounts who is mentioned here.