Edáð Banddr 9I/1 — banda ‘of the gods’
Dregr land at mun banda
Eirekr und sik geira
veðrmildr ok semr hildi
[gunnblíðr, ok ræðr síðan
jarl goðvǫrðu hjarli].
Eirekr dregr land und sik at mun banda, geira veðrmildr, ok semr hildi, [gunnblíðr, ok jarl ræðr síðan goðvǫrðu hjarli].
Eiríkr draws land under himself at the pleasure of the gods, generous with the storm of spears [(lit. ‘storm-generous of spears’) BATTLE], and contrives warfare, [rejoicing in battle, and the jarl rules since then the god-defended land].
notes
[1]: The repetition of the word banda ‘of the gods’ (l. 1) by placing it in the stef ‘refrain’ appears to affirm an ideology in which Eiríkr, as one of the jarls of Hlaðir (Lade), possesses a special affinity with the bǫnd ‘deities’ (cf. Marold 1992, 705-7) and conquers and retains lands at their will. The jarl and the ‘heathen’ deities are juxtaposed near the beginning and the end of the stef: banda | Eirekr (ll. 1-2) and jarl goðvǫrðu (l. 5) respectively. Perhaps especially indicative of heathen defiance is the expression goðvǫrðu ‘god-defended, divinely protected’, in an era where many communities, including those ruled over by the newly baptised Óláfr Tryggvason and Valdamarr (Vladimir, st. 6/4 and Note), would entrust defence of the land to the Christian God.