Eirekr náði útan fœra
erkistól of Saxa merki;
hljótum vér, þats hag várn bœtir,
hingat norðr at skjǫldungs orðum.
Eirekr náði fœra útan erkistól of merki Saxa; vér hljótum hingat norðr at orðum skjǫldungs, þats bœtir hag várn.
Eiríkr was able to bring back from abroad an archbishopric over the border of the Saxons; we receive here in the north according to the king’s bidding that which improves our [spiritual] situation.
[2] of merki Saxa ‘over the border of the Saxons’: Refers to the transfer of the seat of ecclesiastical power from Hamburg-Bremen (Saxony) to Denmark. In the words of Saxo (2005, II, 12, 5, 2, p. 72): tum etiam patriam ac domestica sacra Saxonica pręlatione liberari petiuit ‘then indeed he pleaded for his native land and local churches to be liberated from Saxon supremacy’.