Skúli Svǫlðr 2III/1 — Frísa ‘the Frisians’’
Fylgðak Frísa dolgi,
(fekk ungr) þars spjǫr sungu,
— nú fiðr ǫld, at eldumk —
(aldrbót) ok Sigvalda,
þás til móts við mœti
malmþings í dyn hjalma
sunnr fyr Svǫlðrar mynni
sárlauk roðinn bôrum.
Fylgðak dolgi Frísa ok Sigvalda, þars spjǫr sungu; fekk ungr aldrbót – nú fiðr ǫld at eldumk –, þás bôrum roðinn sárlauk í dyn hjalma til móts við mœti malmþings sunnr fyr mynni Svǫlðrar.
I followed the Frisians’ enemy [= Eiríkr] and Sigvaldi, where spears sang; I got renown young – now people find I grow old –, when we [I] bore the reddened wound-leek [SWORD] into the din of helmets [BATTLE] against the meeter of the metal-assembly [BATTLE > WARRIOR] south before the mouth of Svolder.
readings
[1] Frísa: ‘frida’ Bb
notes
[1] dolgi Frísa ‘the Frisians’ enemy [= Eiríkr]’: No other ruler in the surviving skaldic corpus is described as an enemy of the Frisians. This kenning is usually presumed to refer to Eiríkr jarl (see his Biography in Introduction to SkP I), son of Hákon jarl inn ríki ‘the Mighty’ and, after his victory at the battle of Svolder, ruler of Norway (as a vassal of the Danish king Knútr inn ríki, son of another of Svolder’s victors, Sveinn tjúguskegg ‘Forkbeard’), although no source associates Eiríkr with campaigns in Frisia (ÓT ch. 90, cited by Finnur Jónsson in Hkr 1893-1901, IV, 97, does not in fact mention Frisia), and some have doubted the association with him (cf. the references in Baetke 1951, 93; Wood 1964, 180). Baetke (1951, 93-4) argues that the kenning could refer to Eiríkr’s later campaigns in England. According to Hkr (ÓTHkr ch. 105, ÍF 26, 358), Skúli was Eiríkr’s forecastle man during the battle of Svolder; cf. also Egils saga (Eg ch. 87, ÍF 2, 300): Skúli var lengi í víking; hann var stafnbúi Eiríks jarls á Járnbarðanum, þá er Óláfr konungr Tryggvason fell ‘Skúli was for a long time on viking expeditions; he was Eiríkr jarl’s forecastle man on Járnbarðinn ‘Iron-prow’ when King Óláfr Tryggvason fell’.
kennings
- dolgi Frísa — the Frisians’ enemy [= Eiríkr]