Þórálfr Frag 1III/4 — Háreks ‘Hárekr’s’
Sagði hitt, es hugði,
Hliðskjalfar gramr sjǫlfum
hlífar styggr, þars hǫggnir
Háreks liðar vôru.
Gramr Hliðskjalfar, styggr hlífar, sagði sjǫlfum hitt, es hugði, þars liðar Háreks vôru hǫggnir.
The lord of Hliðskjálf [= Óðinn], shy of protection, told him what he intended, where Hárekr’s troops were cut down.
readings
[4] Háreks liðar: ‘huorir magne’ B
notes
[4] Háreks ‘Hárekr’s’: The most prominent Hárekr in the kings’ sagas is Hárekr Eyvindarson ór Þjóttu ‘from Tjøtta’, a Norwegian magnate, son of a skald and a composer and patron of skaldic poetry; see further skald Biography of Hárekr, SkP I, 808. Hárekr was killed c. 1035, however, which puts him well within the Christian era. An earlier and more promising candidate might be Hárekr Guthormsson, who according to Snorri Sturluson (Hákgóð ch. 4, ÍF 26, 154) fell in England with Eiríkr blóðøx ‘Blood-axe’ c. 954. Eiríkr was commemorated in the distinctly pagan poem Eiríksmál (Anon EirmI), which contains (in st. 7) a reproachful question to Óðinn as to why he deprived Eiríkr of victory. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson (ÍF 26, 154 n.) suggests that Hárekr and others were named in a now lost portion of Eirm, and if correct this might in turn suggest that he is the Hárekr mentioned by Þórálfr l. 4. However, whether Anon EirmI named the fallen companions of Eiríkr is disputed (see Introduction to the poem), and this identification remains highly speculative.