Anon Alpost 10VII/5 — sverði ‘a sword’
Giftu giefr með kröftum
guðspjallamaðr snjalla
mildr Mathéas öldum;
miskunnar guðs unni.
Hann var særðr með sverði
siðar í kirkju miðri;
veiti hann virðum mætum
væna hjálp í bænum.
Hier er Mathéas minni
mjög þekkiligt inni.
Mildr guðspjallamaðr Mathéas giefr öldum snjalla giftu með kröftum; unni guðs miskunnar. Hann var særðr með sverði í miðri kirkju siðar; veiti hann mætum virðum væna hjálp í bænum. Mathéas minni er mjög þekkiligt hier inni.
The gentle evangelist Matthew gives people resounding good fortune with miracles; he granted [them] God’s mercy. He was mortally wounded with a sword in the middle of ‘the church of faith’. May he grant to worthy men fair help in their prayers. Matthew’s memorial toast is very agreeable herein.
notes
[5] hann var særðr með sverði ‘he was mortally wounded with a sword’: A sword or halberd is the iconographic symbol of Matthew’s martyrdom (see Kilström 1956, 175; Roeder 1956, 23). Occasionally the saint is represented with a sword piercing his back (Braun 1943, 523 [Abb. 280], 525; Foote 1976, 169), a detail which appears in most descriptions of the saint’s death at the hands of a king named Hyrtacus (see Cross 1979, 169); cf. the Auctaria (‘Supplements’) to the Martyrology of Usuard: Hircatus [sic] ... apostolum Matthæum ... gladio a tergo percuti fecit et martyrem Christi consecravit ‘Hyrtacus ... had the Apostle Matthew ... cut down from behind with a sword and consecrated him as a martyr of Christ’ (Usuardus Sangermanensis, Martyrologium, col. 493A). The list of Apostles in Holm perg 5 fol, 59vb likewise records that Matthew was med sverdi stangadr ꜳ baki ‘stabbed in the back with a sword’ (Foote 1976, 154, 168-9); cf. AM 764 4°, 16v.