Skaldsagas: Text, Vocation, and Desire in the Icelandic Sagas of Poets 9783110823547, 9783110169706

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Skaldsagas

Ergänzungsbände zum Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde Herausgegeben von Heinrich Beck, Dieter Geuenich, Heiko Steuer Band 27

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Walter de Gruyter · Berlin · New York 2001

Skaldsagas Text, Vocation, and Desire in the Icelandic Sagas of Poets

Edited by Russell Poole

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Walter de Gruyter · Berlin · New York 2001

© Gedruckt auf säurefreiem Papier, das die US-ANSI-Norm über Haltbarkeit erfüllt

Die Dmtscbe Bibliothek - CIP-Einheitsaifoabme Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde / von Johannes Hoops. Hrsg. von Heinrich Beck ... — Berlin ; New York : de Gruyter Bis Bd. 4 der 1. Aufl. hrsg. von Johannes Hoops Etgänzungsbände / hrsg. von Heiniich Beck ... Skaldsagas : text, vocation, and desire in the Icelandic sagas of poets / ed. by Russell Poole. - Berlin ; New York : de Gruyter, 2000 (Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde : Etgänzungsbände ; Bd. 27) ISBN 3-11-016970-3

© Copyright 2000 by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Ca KG, D-10785 Berlin. Dieses Werk einschließlich aller seiner Teile ist urheberrechtlich geschützt. Jede Verwertung außerhalb der engen Grenzen des Urheberrechtsgesetzes ist ohne Zustimmung des Vedages unzulässig und strafbar. Das gilt insbesondere fur Vervielfältigungen, Übersetzungen, Mikroverfilmungen und die Einspeicherung und Verarbeitung in elektronischen Systemen. Printed in Germany Druck und buchbinderische Verarbeitung: Hubert & Co., Göttingen Einbandgestaltung: Christopher Schneider, Berlin

Table of Contents RUSSELL POOIJE Introduction

1

MARGARET CLUNIES ROSS The Skald Sagas as a Genre: Definitions and Typical Features

25

KARI ELLEN GADE The Dating and Attributions of Verses in the Skald Sagas

50

EDITH MAROLD The Relation Between Verses and Prose in Bjarnar saga Hitdaelakappa

75

RUSSELL POOLE The Relation Between Verses and Prose in Hallfreòar saga and Gunnlaugs saga

125

PREBEN MEULENGRACHT S0RENSEN The Prosimetrum Form 1: Verses as the Voice of the Past

172

TORFLH. TUIJNIUS The Prosimetrum Form 2: Verses as an Influence in Saga Composition and Interpretation

191

JOHN LINDOW Skald Sagas in their Literary Context 1: Related Icelandic Genres

218

ALISON FINLAY Skald Sagas in their Literary Context 2: Possible European Contexts . . . .

232

THEODORE M. ANDERSSON Skald Sagas in their Literary Context 3: The Love Triangle Theme

272

DIANA WHALEY Representations of Skalds in the Sagas 1: Social and Professional Relations

285

vi

Table of Contents

JENNY JOCHENS

Representations of Skalds in the Sagas 2: Gender Relations

309

Literature

333

Notes on contributors

350

Index

353

Skaldsagas - RGA-E Band 27 - Seiten 1-24 © Copyright 2000 Walter de Gruyter · Berlin · New York

Introduction By RUSSELL POOLE

Four scenes to establish our theme, each centring on a medieval Icelandic poet. A poet is cursed by a sorceress so that he will never consummate his love, even though he lies in the same bed as his beloved. A poet affronts his patron, the Christian king of Norway, by expressing reluctance to renounce the heathen gods. Smarting from a seal-bite, a poet ridicules his rival for picking up a new-born calf by its tail end. In a fatal duel, fought on Norwegian soil, a poet kills the rival who has considerately brought him water. Each scene, however poetic or unpoetic it might seem to us, finds its expression within a poetic composition. The names and nicknames of the women these poets pursued: Steingerân "stone"-Gerár, a name found nowhere else and suggestive of a fine necklace Kolfinna: "coal-black Finna", named for her dark complexion and hair, with her name, compare, from a related saga, Dorbjçrg kolbrún ("coal-black eye-lashes") Oddny eykyndill: "candle of the island" Helga in fagra: "the beautiful" And the poets themselves: Kormákr:

Irish by name if not by ancestry

Hallfredr vandrxdaskáld:

"difficult poet"

Bjçm Hitdœlakappi:

"champion of the people of Hitardalr"

Gunnlaugr ormstunga:

"serpent-tongue"

The nicknames in this list foreshadow what ensuing chapters in this book will make explicit: these poets use, and provoke, aggression, both physical and verbal. Their temperaments can only be described as troublesome, not least to themselves.

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The sagas Our focus, then, is the small set of Icelandic sagas where the Uves of those men are selectively chronicled: Kormaks saga, Hallfreòar saga, Bjarnar saga Hitdœlakappa, and Gunnlaugs saga ormstungu. Although the prose in these narratives is of comparatively late composition, thirteenth-century in the main, elements of the story materials may derive from older oral traditions. Related, but with different emphases and handling of detail, are two further works written down at approximately the same period, Egils saga Skalla-Grimssonar and Fóstbraeòra saga. These works centre, respectively, upon the poet and warrior Egill Skalla-Grimsson and the two foster-brothers I>ormóòr Kolbrúnarskáld and t>orgeirr Hávarsson, of whom the former, like Egill, was both a poet and a warrior. The present book will offer some discussion of these two related sagas insofar as they shed light upon the principal four (the latter to be referred to as the "core" sagas, the former as "outliers", for reasons that will be explained in the next chapter). A group of texts such as the principal four just mentioned amply deserves its own monograph. These are works that centre on the perennial, and perhaps even universal, literary themes of love, warfare, poetry, and death. Their mutually complementary status has long been recognized by scholars and critics. Many years ago, German translations of precisely these four texts were put between the covers of Thüle vol. 9 with the title Vier Skaldengeschichten. Collectively they offer a convenient and attractive initiation into the realm of Icelandic saga literature, being shorter, less complexly plotted, and endowed with a more compact cast of characters than such staple classics as Njáls saga and Laxdoela saga. Amongst the four, Gunnlaugs saga, a work with a clearly defined and economical story line, elegant structure, strong characterization, and marked emotional impact, ranks as an internationally recognized masterpiece. Gunnlaugs saga is commonly read both in translation and in the original by beginners in Old Norse/Icelandic language and literature studies; Hallfreòar saga, though more complex in textual terms, also lends itself to this use. Perhaps surprisingly, given what I have said so far, the present volume is to our knowledge the only English-language monograph so far devoted to the Icelandic sagas of poets (to whom, from this point, I shall refer by the anglicized version of their native name, skáld).2 Our aim has been to collaborate in the production of an integrated volume which will serve scholars and students in a variety of fields including medieval studies and comparative literature. We

In this volume the sagas will henceforth be consistently referred to by the short form of these names, thus Bjarnar saga, Gunnlaugs saga, and Egils saga. The skald sagas are referred to in modern Icelandic as skaldasögur.

Introduction

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believe that it offers new evidence, arguments, and viewpoints in terms of both traditional philology and recent theoretical and critical approaches. Naturally the contributors occasionally differ among themselves: although such differences are not foregrounded in a debate format, equally it has not been our policy to artificially gloss over them. To assist readers whose own specialisms lie elsewhere, the book supplies comprehensive guidance on the complex terminology and issues that attach to the sagas and to skaldic poetry, some of it internal to the chapters and some in the index. Translations of all Icelandic quotations are appended (these, except where otherwise noted, are by the editor and/or the relevant chapter author).

The skalds So who exactly are the skalds? So far as our records tell us, the Old Norse/ Icelandic noun skáld applied first to the early Norwegian court poets of ninthcentury Norwegian kings and jarls (a jarl being a major ruler ranking below a king). Subsequently, with the settlement of Iceland, the term came to apply preeminently to the many Icelanders who became specialists in court poetry. As a kind of national (or, better, "trans-national") treasure of poetry, consulted by the Danish writers Sven Aggesen and Saxo Grammaticus, at around the turn of the thirteenth century, in deference to their famed mythological and historical traditions, they appear to have eclipsed practitioners hailing from other Scandinavian nations. It is with the skalds born and bred in Iceland that we are concerned in this book. To judge from medieval Icelandic literature, the art of poetry was widely diffused through the Icelandic population. Apparently both men and women (and even children) could compose, though it is inevitably the adult male skalds whose lives and work have assumed prominence. Many of them enjoyed prestige and prosperity both at home and abroad, not least because of their verse-making skills. To take a few examples down the centimes, Sighvatr tórcíarson used his unsurpassed poetic facility amid eleventh-century turbulence to maintain values of harmony, reconciliation, and sweet reasonableness, even when interceding between leaders whose chief mutual feeling was hatred. From the twelfth and thirteenth centuries we could cite Hrafn Sveinbjamarson, whose travels abroad gained him the respect of foreigners but who was esteemed at home as well for his craftsmanship in wood and iron, his expertise in law and medicine, his

It is customary to append the word jarl to the name of the person concerned, thus Eirikr jarl or Hákon jarl, and that practice is followed in this book. An alternative spelling in common use is Sigvatr.

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retentive memory, his swimming, his archery. He was dark-haired and goodlooking, and, perhaps surprisingly after this lengthy recital of personal assets, less than prolific as a poet {Hrafnssaga Sveinbjamarsonar 1987:2). Finally, we can scarcely omit Snorri Sturluson himself, a man of illustrious lineage who numbered the Norwegian leaders among his friends and held a series of positions of power at home, until, like Hrafn, he met his end through assassination. But silver-tongued diplomats like Sighvatr, gilded chieftains like Hrafn, and movers and shapers like Snorri are little to our purpose in this book. To constitute a leading figure in the sagas we are concerned with, the skald must possess some darker tincture. Unlike Hrafn Sveinbjamarson and, for that matter, his namesake Hrafn Qnundarson, Gunnlaugr's rival, our archetypal skald should be dark of eyes or hair and ill-looking. And that applies not just to his complexion but to his psyche. The archetypal skald radiates trouble. When Gunnlaugr bad-mouths a member of Eirikr jarl's following as "einkar meinn, [...] illr ok svartr" - that is "particularly malignant, [...] bad and dark" - he could with equal justice be describing himself. Egill Skalla-Grimsson huddled up at the court of Aäalsteinn is a monument of menace. As summed up by Margaret Clunies Ross in chapter 2, skalds were credited with great physical strength but poor judgement, a violent temper, and an inability to get on with other people. The name skáld, itself intimates as much, if we subscribe to an etymology that connects it with the English word scold and other cognates of pejorative meaning (Steblin-Kamensky 1969). In medieval Scandinavian mythology, skaldic art is linked to Oòinn, the treacherous and vindictive god whose powers encompass warfare, prophecy, love, sex, secrets, and sacrifice. This medieval Icelandic mystification of poets, with their abiding self-destructive "dark side", seems to belong within a perennial conflict of attitudes in human culture to what we construct as "giftedness" or "genius". There may be a William Wordsworth for every Samuel Coleridge, a Rudyard Kipling for every Oscar Wilde, a Sighvatr for every Gunnlaugr, but it is Coleridge and Wilde and Gunnlaugr whose more sombre life stories have left their mark upon the communal memory. The hero of the skald sagas, as analysed by Clunies Ross, is a compound of most if not all of the following features. He possesses high status in his native community; composes many verses (public or personal, or both); incurs some kind of enduring trauma or loss in a love relationship; travels abroad in order to give his ambition wider fulfilment than would be afforded by the narrow limits The native Icelandic forms of names occurring in the sagas will be used throughout this book. Alternative forms are listed in the index. This policy extends to such English kings as Aäalsteinn (yEòelstan) and Aôalràôr (^Còelred) and is intended to underline the fact that saga personages should not be identified simplistically with historical figures as they are known from other sources.

Introduction

5

of parental or community authority within Iceland; succeeds in both poetry and battle and sometimes, less romantically, in trading as well; throws himself into the furtherance of rivalry and vengeance, often both at home and overseas. We see a life lived with energy, ferocity even, and yet strangely inconclusive and wavering in its sense of purpose. Tellingly, one of the most salient characteristics of the skald saga is the negative one of its not being a family saga (a common alternative term for the sagas of Icelanders); instead, its emphasis falls upon individuals at the margin of the Icelandic social order, who do not succeed in perpetuating their family line. These are men whose talents augur success, yet whose temperament, arguably implicated with their art, amasses them detractors and mortal enemies. In an obscure verse Egill Skalla-Grimsson even appears to boast of the strange gift of converting uncertain acquaintances into definite foes. 7 We have no evidence to show that sagas of skalds enjoyed contemporaneous recognition as a distinct sub-genre. And yet, at least to some degree, as the preceding paragraph suggests and as Clunies Ross argues in detail, they follow a formula, so long as we avoid applying that formula with excess zeal - always a hazard in genre studies. We find that in some sagas the poet's role as a professional is significant for the story line, in others it is only marginal. In some his love is fulfilled, in others it is thwarted. In some he falls victim to a vendetta, in others it might be tempest or other misadventure that brings him to his death. N o r is the fact that the hero makes verses a decisive genre marker in itself. There are various works featuring a verse-making hero which resist classification as a "skald saga" in other respects: two famous examples are Gísla saga Súrssonar and Grettis saga, both of which have an outlaw as protagonist. Formally, a notable aspect of the skald sagas is their characteristic blending of prose and verse, a format that would seem a natural corollary of encapsulating the lifestory of a poet. But this is no conclusive genre marker either, since many sagas of Icelanders, whether they are centrally concerned with poets or not, contain an essentially similar blend. So our formula is a fuzzy one in various ways. But that should not dismay us, as students of literature. Quite as fuzzy is the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Gothic formula, since the numerous novels and short stories that can be categorized as "Gothic" turn out on close inspection to contain varying sub-sets of characteristic features. Likewise, there are confusing overlaps with other fictions that are not usually felt to be "Gothic". And yet the usefulness of the Gothic formula is not in doubt.

6

7 8

The native term in modern Icelandic is fslendingasaga, plural -sopir.

See Sonatorrek v. 24 (Skjaldedigtning B1.37). For further discussion see for example Kosofsky Sedgwick 1980.

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Poetry in the skald sagas The mixed prose-verse form which I have just mentioned is often termed prosimetrum, in imitation of classical taxonomy, though use of the term involves some tendentious assumptions. Presently I shall discuss the aesthetic properties of prosimetrum. For the moment, however, I want to concentrate on a key literary-historical property of works in that format in Old Icelandic: they rank as our chief source of knowledge about skaldic poetry. Were it not for the cultivation of prosimetrum in medieval Icelandic narrative and other written discourse,9 skaldic poetry would have perished almost entirely. And that would have been a loss of considerable magnitude. Altogether skaldic poetry stands as a body of work with enormous aesthetic and cultural significance. It is true that we might ascribe its recent rise in critical esteem to such twentieth-century vogues as the cultivation of difficult poetics and compositional virtuosity, the fascination with self-reflexive texts, and the "New Historicist" interest in types of discourse that serve to situate and maintain but also interrogate power within the community - all, needless to say, parameters that readily accommodate skaldic poetry. But this is already to show that the appeal of skaldic poetry is broadly based, and even if scholars of earlier generations sometimes grumbled at its obscurity, its questionable political morality, and its formularity, there was something about skaldic poetics that compelled their admiration and inspired their scholarly travails as well. The skald sagas, then, along with many other texts, serve as a conspectus or mini-anthology of the various kinds of skaldic composition. They show how, on the political front, poetry was used as a vehicle for praise, commemoration, and satire and, on the personal front, symmetrically, expressed love, grief, and abuse. From the aesthetic point of view, certain of the verses embedded in the skald sagas rank among the very finest known to us. Had these sagas perished we could not have known Kormákr's description of the stormy sea beating against cliffs; Hallfreôr's forebodings of punishment in Hell; Bjprn's outrageously fishy chronicle of his rival's origins; and Gunnlaugr's eroticallycharged nostalgia on his return home. Much of the skaldic poetry embedded in the sagas is presented as single verses, spoken by a character as mood and circumstances inspire. The single-stanza package contains a characteristic blend of narrative and lyricism, where the blending process is helped by a syntactic structure that makes free use of parentheses, interlacing of clauses, and a decided break at the end of the first half-stanza, so that the verse moves in supple fashion from event to reaction, action to emotion. Altogether, these miniature poems On the background to this see the detailed discussion in chapter 6 of this volume. 10

The half-stanza will henceforward be referred to by its native name, helmingr.

Introduction

7

appeal to many modern readers in a way that what the poets' contemporaries may have regarded as more staple skaldic fare, namely official praise and satire, does not. Indeed, the prose narrators themselves seem to have steered clear of official poetry, perhaps out of a cultivation of spontaneity or for a variety of other reasons discussed in chapter 11 of this volume. A single example, albeit an atypically simple one, may serve to illustrate some characteristics of skaldic poetry. The poet is Hallfreòr and the stanza-form is termed dróttkvcett (translatable roughly as "court measure", in reference to the fact that many poems performed at courts were composed in this format). ]>ykki mér, es ek ]?ekki {junnisunga Gunni, sem fleybrautir fljóti fley medal tveggja eyja, en t>ás sék á S£gu saums í kvinna flaumi, sem skrautbúin skrídi skeid meó gyldum reiôa. It seems to me, when I see the woman, as if a shipfloatson the sea between two islands, and, when I espy her amidst a group of women, as if an ornamented ship scuds along with gilded tackle. What translation cannot convey is the sonority of alliteration and assonance and the subtle rhythm of the individual line, to be analysed in greater detail presently; the similes, whose selection from the maritime world has the effect of bringing the domestic and public spheres into juxtaposition; and the kennings, or poetic circumlocutions, which represent the busy woman who presides over the working farm as a "valkyrie of the fine-spun head-dress" or a "goddess of the seam". Still more elusive is the overtone of strife - and this woman as the occasion of it - that lies latent in the word "Gunni", translated generically above as "valkyrie". What does emerge, however, is the strongly personal element in this praise, a feeling of spontaneity and of the dramatic that would not seem amiss were it Romeo or perhaps Antony speaking rather than Hallfreòr. But here we must pause in our aesthetic enjoyment to put on our scholarly spectacles. When we read a verse like this, how far are we actually confronting Viking Age spontaneity and overflow of powerful feelings? How far can we trust the saga when it says, as it does, that Hallfreòr "spoke" this verse? What precisely does the act of "speaking" mean in this context? These are not trivial or merely vexatious questions. If we could lend credence to the skald sagas they would rate as a source without peer where the composition of medieval poetry is concerned. They would bring us into m a x i m a l closeness to the skald himself describing and constructing the events of his life even as they unfold. So we

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ought to proceed cautiously, sceptically even, and to interrogate our documents thoroughly before we put pressure on them as sources for literary history. Kari Ellen Gade's contribution in chapter 3 sifts evidence internal to the poetry itself. She surveys the verses in our four principal sagas in an attempt to determine their date of composition and authenticity of attribution. The various criteria used in the past are supplemented here with new ones derived from Gade's current research into skaldic metrics. She shows that past investigations have often been compromised by preconceptions concerning the issues under debate, combined with an overly intuitive approach to skaldic language and metre. Little reliance, for instance, can be placed on archaic forms of names or on conspicuous morphological variants, such as uncontracted forms in the declension of adjectives, since such gross, easily recognized features were readily imitated by skalds who lived several generations later than the protagonists in our sagas. The only such feature to hold any significance for dating is the particle of, a kind of linguistic relic that successive generations of skalds handled with diminishing facility. Instead, Gade places her chief reliance upon close observation of the way skalds constructed the individual verse line within the dróttkveett form. Before we look at her detailed arguments it will be useful to have available a brief and simplified summary of the relevant rules. Let us re-visit the Hallfreôr stanza cited above: frykki mér, es ek Jjekki ^unnisunga Gunni, sem fleybrautir fljóti fley medal tveggja eyja, en {jás sék á S£gu saums í kvinna flaumi, sem skrautbúin skriôi skeiô meó gyldum reiôa.

In each set of couplets, we see the same pattern of alliteration: the odd lines contain two alliterating syllables and the even lines contain one. Thus in the first couplet "J>ykki" alliterates with "jjekki" within the line and with "jjunn-" within the couplet. The rule is strict: no fewer and no more than three alliterating syllables is permissible. In most couplets we also see a pattern of internal rhyming such that the odd lines contain consonance and the even lines contain full rhyme. Thus in the first couplet "Jjykki" is in consonance with "jpekki" and "jjunn-" is in full rhyme with "Gunn-". Here the rule is less strict.

For an approximate analogy in English poetry we might contrast Spenser's use of proclitic y- (as in y-dadd, y-drad) in the sixteenth century with Chaucer's in the fourteenth century.

Introduction

9

Sometimes, as in the second-last line, consonance in the odd line may be suspended in favour of a postponed consonance with the full rhyme in the ensuing even line. Thus "skiicSi" sits free within its own line but provides consonance with "skeiô" and "reiôa" in the next. Alternatively, consonance in an odd line can sometimes be omitted entirely, as line 5.12 As to syllable count, it will be observed that every line has six syllables, or, as in lines 1 and 4, would have been pronounced with elision, resolution, or other forms of syllable compression so as to reduce a higher raw count to the mandatory quota of six. The final two syllables in each line are always trochaic, in other words in a configuration where a strongly stressed syllable is followed by a weakly stressed one. The remaining four syllable slots in each line could be filled in a variety of ways, though strict rules still applied. The primary rule for these first four syllables aligns them with the five metrical types identified for early Germanic verse by Eduard Sievers (1893). Only lines of the following general configuration are permitted (line types not exemplified in the verse above are taken from other verses by Hallfreôr):13 Type Type Type Type Type

A Β C D E

saums í kvinna en trauôr jjvíat vel sem fleybrautir Jjunnisunga skplkving of J)ák

strong, weak, strong, weak weak, strong, weak, strong weak, strong, (half-)strong, weak strong, (half-)strong, (less-)strong, weak strong, (less-)strong, weak, strong

As one of various refinements to these basic patterns, it was invariably the case in ninth- through eleventh-century skaldic poetry that the fourth slot in each line might not be occupied by a monosyllabic noun or adjective unless it consisted of a light syllable. Thus the words "skeiô" and "trauôr" would not be permissible in this slot. The rule, whose full complexities cannot be entered into here, is named Craigie's Law in honour of its discoverer, the Scottish lexicographer William Craigie (1900). Gade's approach in her chapter centres on a very close analysis which tabulates the disposition of strongly and weakly stressed syllables, the placement of lexical and syntactic components, and the arrangement of alliteration and internal rhyme. In combination, these patterns generate a restricted number of possible configurations for each line. These configurations did not remain static over the centuries, despite the tight constraints placed upon the poet, but underwent subtle shifts. Thus, to take almost the chronological extremes, lines

The native terms for line-internal consonance and full rhyme respectively are skothending and aòalhendtng. The notation ofrelativesyllable stress is of course technically imprecise, from a linguistic point of view, and should not be taken au pied de la lettre.

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in the corpus of verses affiliated with Bragi Boddason, the earliest attested skald whose work survives, contain a higher incidence of certain types of configuration than Unes affiliated with Snorri Sturluson. Each new period of skaldic activity seems to have ushered in subtly mutated configurations not to be found in previous eras, while, correspondingly, some older configurations tended to obsolescence. A key aspect of these configurations is that they were never codified by contemporary practitioners, so far as our extant texts tell us, and seem to have existed at an intuitive rather than a cognitive level. Certainly they slip through the mesh of categories used by Snorri in his Edda, which among other things provides a conspectus of poetic metres and stanza-forms. Occasional endeavours at imitation on the part of later skalds, for whom a particular type of configuration was not "natural" or intuitive, show awareness as limited to the gross features and not reaching to the subtleties that Gade has identified. In sum, Gade's analysis produces good justifications for upholding the authenticity of most verses attributed to Kormákr and Hallfreôr but casts suspicion on most of those attributed to Bjprn Hitdoelakappi and Gunnlaugr. An important consequence is that the erotic verses affiliated with Kormákr and Hallfreôr stand revealed as isolated in literary history from their later counterparts in Provence and northern France, though not necessarily from the fragments of Old English poetry that centre upon love, loss, and regret. This result would provide further support for Peter Dronke's proposition (1968:1.2), discussed in chapter 9 of this volume, that the genre of love and erotic poetry arose independently at many times and places, both within Europe and elsewhere. What specifically happened at these diverse historical moments can be viewed as the articulation of a meta-language of desire, a construction of love within a particular generic framework. Hallfreâr and Kormákr's verses also afford us invaluable insights into late Viking Age mentality in respect of honour, religious belief, and transactional mores. It follows that Gade's results are of great significance not merely for the history of skaldic poetics but also for fields such as comparative literature and the study of "emotionology". If certain verses are as old as the tenth or early eleventh century, what precisely is their relationship to the saga's prose narrative in its extant shape, as committed to writing perhaps two hundred or two hundred and fifty years later? Just how much authority can we attribute to the oral traditions that we posit as having bridged that gap? Could the "packaging" in which we find the verses be as misleading as some other types of packaging? Starting in the nineteenth century, a long series of scholars have pointed to cases where "goodness of fit" between prose narrative and inset verses is deficient. When discrepancies arise between verse and prose, we may suspect that the verses were designed for a purpose other than that they are serving in the extant saga or that realizations of the story line may have varied over time. Scholars have also

Introduction

11

pointed to cases where verses fit more neatly and meaningfully with each other than with the surrounding prose. In complementary chapters these observations are taken up by Edith Marold and Russell Poole, who deal respectively with the verses in Bjamarsaga and in Hattfreòar saga and Gunnlaugs saga.M Marold and Poole adduce evidence that while sometimes the verses inset in a saga acted as a source for the prose sometimes too they represent an alternative version of the story which the prose may only partially take account of. In either case, the compilers of sagas seem to have favoured a formal approach where extended poems were broken down into their constituent stanzas, which were then used piecemeal, sometimes widely dispersed through the prose narrative. In Bjamarsaga, Hattfreòar saga, and Gunnlaugs saga alike it is possible to reconstruct flokkar (singularflokkr) or informal poems from which the inset lausavtsur (literally "loose or independent verses") were excerpted. On occasion, as evidently in Bjamar saga, the narrator even interwove two or three verse sequences with each other and distributed them through a series of prose episodes. Through the quasi-archaeological study of compositional stratification, it becomes possible to consider the verses as an independent entity. The continuity between verses, when they are abstracted from the prose narrative and strung together by the scholar, creates a second narrative level with its own structure and meaning. The result may be to disclose hitherto concealed affiliations. For instance, Marold tentatively posits a connection between Bjprn's Eykyndilsvisur and European fabliaux, with Anglo-Norman narratives as conceivably the immediate contact-point. Both Marold and Poole postulate that a series of adversarial venes between pairs of poets in Bjarnar saga, Hattfreòar saga, and Gunnlaugs saga might exemplify a poetic genre for which the native term is senna ("flyting" is a better-known English term). In sum, compositional stratigraphy has the potential to lead us to new discoveries, almost as surely as what is properly termed archaeology. But we nevertheless need to assimilate it into a more holistic view of the sagas. On the negative side, our modern acumen in source criticism can easily lead us into distinctions and arguments that would be foreign to the sensibility of those who compiled and consumed the sagas. For instance, when a saga says that a skald "spoke" a verse, we cannot run "headlong", as Michael Frayn's amateur art historian does, into an attribution in the scientific, bibliographical sense, where "this is a Hallfreôr poem" would run in parallel to "this is a Shakespeare play" or "this is a Rembrandt painting" or "this is a Mozart sonata". The saga is saying merely that the poet "spoke" the verse, not necessarily that he or she made it up for that occasion or even that that particular poet was its author. In one Parallel considerations of the verses in Kormáks saga, which has been much more intensively discussed by scholars, can be found in O'Donoghue 1991, Poole 1997, and references there given.

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notoriously problematic case, Kormáks saga and Gunnlaugs saga happen to show their respective heroes speaking the same verse.15 Comparing the two texts in a scientific spirit, we can determine that the ascription to Kormákr has a better claim to authenticity. Yet the person who shaped Gunnlaugs saga as we now have it probably did not set out either to impart accurate data or to practise deceit. The possibilities are diverse: he may have known a variant tradition (oral or written) about the authorship of the verse; he may have intended the verse as Gunnlaugr's implicit quotation of Kormákr, not an original composition; or he may have given the question little consideration, beyond thinking that the verse supplied an appropriate expression of emotion for his stylized poet-hero. O n the positive side, the archaeological approach reminds us that if we envisage the skald sagas purely as an aesthetic unit, ascribable to a definite author, that may be more an artifact of our own consciousness than a conclusion to be drawn unequivocally from the witnesses. The state oiBjamarsaga, which has to be re-assembled from fragments, and of Hallfrebar saga, which exists in two different major redactions, reminds us how important it is to acknowledge the existence of variant redactions and to avoid enshrining one version as the textus receptus - a temptation that is especially strong for anyone who reads the sagas in translation. In the case of Kormaks saga, the prose narrative is so scrappily told that the inset verses dominate the work, which again might warn us not to over-do the topos of critical apologia. There is increasing evidence that the skald sagas, like many other sagas, as we see them now, represent just one selection and arrangement of story materials that would have varied in substance and sequence from performance to performance. Additionally, poststructuralist criticism talks of finding gaps and fissures in texts and availing ourselves of them in order to diagnose wider tensions and ambivalences in the culture: these are texts whose gaps and fissures it would be positively perverse to gloss over. Somehow, in the face of the competing claims that I have described in the preceding pair of paragraphs, we need to keep the different aspects of the saga in perspective. Marold, Poole, and, in chapter 6, Preben Meulengracht Serensen concur upon the need for a simultaneous appreciation of the synchronic and the diachronic dimensions or, to express the idea a little differently, a sense of balance between approaches to the work as product and as process. A point to be borne in mind is that medieval production and reception may themselves have been double-visioned. Analogues can be located in genres closer to our own time. Victorian novels such as Vanity Fair, North and South, Little Dorrit, and Middlemarch first greeted the public as serials and only subsequently were reissued in volume format. The authors and publishers of those works calculated from the outset on a double-visioned reception from their public, many of

For details see chapter 5 in this volume.

Introduction

13

whom enacted it in the most gratifying possible fashion - by buying the "product" twice: Dickens speaks in self-praise of the skill required if an episode is to make sense in the two different contexts. In speaking of a medieval double vision, I mean in part that the audience of a particular performance of a saga might well have been aware that a verse used there was also to be found embedded in some totally different context, say within a different saga (ascribed to a different poet) or as part of a free-standing poem. To work variations on the contexts for verses may have entered into the artistry of saga narration, an artistry that would depend on what we should now call intertextuality. The invention of novel, perhaps even deliberately far-fetched "aetiological anecdotes" for inset verses may have been one of the marks of a resourceful story-teller. Some story-tellers may have devised their newfangled explanations under pressure of newly fashionable literary genres (on this see the suggestions by Alison Finlay in chapter 9). Variation may have extended as far as the conscious revamping of verses to fit new contexts, as Marold suggests in relation to a pair of verses whose essential logic, along with many verbal parallels, is reproduced in both Bjarnarsaga and Eyrbyggja saga, with attributions to different skalds. Verses are not uniquely vulnerable, since, as Poole shows, nicknames too can become the subject of aetiological anecdotes whose content and placement within different saga redactions can vary considerably. Bjarni Einarsson himself, normally anxious to defend the skald sagas as seamless aesthetic entities, posits use of legendary source-material as the reason for apparent flaws and jaggedness in the conclusion of Gunnlaugs saga (1956). If we resort to special pleading to smooth over unevennesses in the prose narrative we are likely to miss the saga narrator's special brand of intertextual artistry. Once again, a quick review of other literatures furnishes us with plenty of analogues for the devising of narratives that purport to explain the circumstances in which given poems came to be composed. It is as if in many cultures the gap between poetic discourse and unmarked narrative is so wide that some kind of bridge is called for. Modern performance poets often bridge the gap themselves, sometimes, it would seem, by inventing elaborate ex post facto rationalizations of what impelled them to compose a given poem. Likewise in medieval and other "traditional" literatures, it is common to find poems accounted for by means of a reconstruction of supposed or purported events that led to the act of composition. A classic case is the Provençal razo, which purports to supply the "rationale" of composition ( Vidas of the Troubadours 1984), but comparable examples could be found in the court poetry of Japan and elsewhere (see, for instance, McCullough 1997). Comparison of these diverse genres from diverse regions suggests that elsewhere, as in early Iceland, ingenuity

See for example Butt and Tillotson 1957 and Sutherland 1974.

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in rationalizing or motivating the act of poetic composition, for instance by an insistent literalism in the interpretation of metaphor, counted for more than strict verisimilitude or historical veracity. In the following pair of chapters Preben Meulengracht Sorensen and Torfi H. Tulinius17 make it their particular brief to renew discussion of the function of the inset verses in a mixed prose-verse form. Such attention to formal matters is timely, in that the last dozen years have seen an increasing interest in prosimetrum and the publication of a number of significant book-length comparative discussions, notable among them Friis-Jensen 1987, Dronke 1994, and Harris and Reichl 1997. Although Jan Ziolkowski is surely right to point out that the term prosimetrum is "not currently a household word" (1997:45), the current generation of critics and scholars finds a fascination in literary selfreflexiveness, liminality, and postmodemity avant la lettre, all of which are characteristics that can be read into this singular and highly labile form. Prosimetrum form is characteristic, as Meulengracht S0rensen notes, not merely of the "core" skald sagas but also of many sagas of Icelanders or of the Norwegian kings. Where the latter (the kings' sagas or konunga sögur) are concerned, Snorri stated his reason for quoting skaldic verses, namely that they are invaluable in providing corroboration of an historical narrative. In Meulengracht Sorensen's opinion, however, Snorri may not have accurately represented his own practice in writing thus and in any case his comments can only mislead us if we attempt to apply them to the sagas of Icelanders, a distinct genre, as best we know, from what Snorri had in mind. Using examples from Fóstbrceòra saga, Meulengracht S0rensen argues that modern scholarship has overemphasized the role of skaldic verses as sources. Correspondingly, it has paid insufficient attention to the mutual relationships between verse and prose within the total economy of the saga - narratological and aesthetic. Meulengracht S0rensen sees the inclusion of verses in sagas as centrally motivated by the wish to incorporate a voice that is specific to the past. What confers this sense of pastness is not so much the historical events alluded to in individual stanzas but rather the tradition-bound form in which the stanzas are composed, a form that harked back, in the fond fancies of emerging nationalism, to the Asian prehistory of Scandinavian culture and society. Even when certain stanzas were not the work of the poet to whom the saga attributed them, the crucial point, for the audience, was nonetheless that, in virtue of their formal correctness, the stanzas in question could have been composed in the distant past. Like Meulengracht Serensen, Torfi takes as his major premiss the idea that the inset verses are not just a decorative add-on but constitute an organic

Throughout this volume Icelanders will be referred to by their given names, e.g. Torfi, and not their patronymics, e.g. Tulinius. The same policy applies in the bibliography.

Introduction

15

element in the total economy of the skald sagas, guiding narrators and audience alike on how to compose and construe. It is Torfi's contention that thirteenthcentury Icelanders brought a special blend of interpretive skills to their reading and listening. Lay audiences anywhere in Christian medieval Europe faced daunting challenges when they confronted doctrinally orthodox interpretations of the Songs of Solomon, the Psalms of David, and other books of the Bible. But the Icelandic audience came to the task already issued with hermeneutical equipment of a sort, since they had been inculcated for generations, and indeed from prior to their christianization, with an extending native form of frceòi, or "learning", namely skaldic poetry. At the time the sagas were assuming a written form, in the early thirteenth century, skaldic poetry was still enthusiastically practised in leading families, particularly, it seems, on the part of young men of high social standing. To this period as well belongs the theorization and codification of skaldic practice that we see most notably in Snorri's Edda but of which other manifestations, some of them earlier than Snorri, also exist. The community's skaldic interpretive skills sat side by side with the Christian interpretive skills that we see evidenced in such contemporary works of doctrine and learning as the Icelandic Homily Book and the Norwegian Konungs skuggsjd, and both were at a high level of sophistication. It is a key element in Torfi's argument that the skald sagas, along with the other sagas of Icelanders, represent a genre where the narrative line might not have been transparent even to a contemporary audience, or certainly not upon an immediate unreflective hearing. If one hoped to appreciate the story line and the themes properly, nothing would substitute for a minute observation of fine details and hints along the way. The presence of skaldic verses within the narrative would itself have exerted a retarding effect upon reception, as the audience took in the subtleties of the diction and syntax and the beauty of the form. Other stimulation towards careful reflection would arise from the notorious parsimony of saga narrative concerning clarifications of motivation or even the exact turn of events: a well-known example occurs in Gisla saga, whose narrator, wittingly or unwittingly, has bequeathed us a murder mystery that resists straightforward solution. Painstaking reading and listening would be the natural outcome, in a process analogous, Torfi thinks, to an audience's careful decoding of skaldic stanzas. Five essential traits of "skaldic saga composition'' show up: intertextual allusions, formal and semantic unity, interlacing of plot lines, suppression of connective tissue, and planned ambiguity or indeterminacy of meaning. An interpretive community with these skills, along with the patience and leisure to apply them not merely to the comparatively brief skaldic poems but also to full-

18

See, for instance, Meulengracht Serensen 1986.

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length sagas, would register subtleties that have eluded modern scholars and critics. As exemplification, Torfi shows how Hallfredar saga hints at the hero's reasons for evading marriage with Kolfinna, an episode which has puzzled modem interpreters and led to adverse criticism of the saga's structure. To understand the text one has to register Hallfreòr's exact social status vis-à-vis that of Kolfinna, her family, and her eventual husband Griss, as measured according to thirteenth-century norms. Similarly in Egils saga the audience would have been well aware of the need to suspend judgement until a complex plot-line, such as the process by which Egill marries Asgerôr, had been followed through to its logical conclusion. Altogether, Torfi traces a pattern where Hallfreòar saga (a "core" skald saga) represents an early endeavour in the direction of "skaldic saga composition", to be followed later by the very much more complicated Egils saga (an "outlier").

The skald sagas in relation to other genres While, as I have already noted, it is tempting to cite analogues for the skald sagas, or aspects of them, from around the globe, the identification of precise affiliations and literary lineages is naturally far more imposing a task. The ensuing set of three chapters by John Lindow, Alison Finlay, and Theodore M. Andersson, respectively, begins with a look at the native literature before engaging in wider searches in European literature. Lindow's chapter establishes commonalities not so much with the lengthy, classic sagas of Icelanders (the likes of Njáls saga and Laotdoela saga) but with the considerably shorter and lessknown pxttir - mini-sagas, as it were - which often centre upon the relationship between a visiting Icelander and a Norwegian king. Scholars have analysed these frœttir so as to reveal a so-called "travel pattern", where different stages of the Icelander's visit and reception at a foreign court, very often that of a Norwegian king or jarl, follow a stereotyped progression. Subordinate to the travel pattern, though not entirely absent either, is a classic pattern seen in the sagas of Icelanders, that of a steadily escalating vendetta which eventually leads to violent deaths and resolution. Once again, we cannot speak of any rigid formulas or genre markers. For instance, in thepœttir the focus is upon the king whereas in the skald sagas it is naturally upon the poet. A given body of story materials might have been multiply re-worked so as to fit different manuscript contexts. Thus, if the eventual destination of the story was a king's saga compilation, then naturally the king would be put in the limelight. If, on the other hand, the story found itself incorporated into a matrix like that of the manuscript Mòòruvallabók, where sagas of Icelanders enjoy pride of place, the focus would inevitably be upon the poet.

Introduction

17

Among the core skald sagas Gunnlaugs saga, Bjarnarsaga, and pre-eminently Hallfreòar saga can be shown as containing the "travel pattern''. To some degree they work within this pattern but to some degree too they re-work it, enlarging on some of its facets while perhaps disregarding or omitting others. For instance, the extent to which the Icelander becomes the king's man differs greatly from one saga to another, likewise, the conflict between the need to travel and the skald's love Ufe is accentuated more in some sagas than in others; still another variable is the extent to whichrivalsbecome reconciled. Among the peripheral sagas, Fóstbraeòra saga and Egils saga, but the former more than the latter, also exhibit an interest in both travel and the complex relationships between kings and Icelanders. By contrast, Kormáks saga, our other core saga, does little more than skirt past these topics, even though, to judge from other sources, the potential for a full realization of the pattern must have existed in the wider community's repository of knowledge about Kormákr. In sum, we see that although the skald sagas contain recognizable patterns, these are not used slavishly or predictably; it is not possible to speak of some simple template for saga composition. Rather, Lindow emphasizes the essential heterogeneity of the skald sagas taken as a group. Complementing Lindow's chapter, with its focus on native analogues, Finlay's objective in her chapter is to survey developments in European literary culture for their possible impacts upon the skald sagas. Here the major piece of existing scholarship to be evaluated is Bjami Einarsson's study of the different versions of the story of Tristan and Isolde in relation to the skald sagas (1961). Bjarni's conclusion was that the Tristan material, taken over in an oral form in the late twelfth century, underpinned Kormáks saga and hence by extension the other skald sagas. His views, substantially repeated in his later studies, have won qualified assent from a few scholars but not, at least as yet, general acceptance. In reaching a position on Bjarni's hypothesis Finlay considers two main types of evidence. First, we have the well-known contact of Rpgnvaldr jarl of Orkney with the Provençal court, with indications in one or two of his verses that he might have absorbed ideas from the poetry of the troubadours. Secondly, we must assess Bjarni's citation of numerous incidental similarities between the skald sagas and the stories of Tristan. A thorough examination, motif by motif, of these pieces of evidence, particularly in relation to Kormáks saga, leads Finlay to the view that at best they are inconclusive, at worst delusive. That of course does not exclude the possibility of some diffuse infiltration of literary impulses from Europe - perhaps from Icelandic clerics in Northern France or Germany or through trading connections with Europe or the British Isles. Finlay points to a specific possibility of such indebtedness in the account of Bjprn Hitdoelakappi's adventures abroad at the beginning of his saga. Possibly too the author of Kormáks saga may have tinkered with existing episodes in order to follow a fashionable foreign example. What does seem excluded is derivation of

Russell Poole

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the essential story-line, at either motivic or verbal level, from the European texts. In sum, the story of Tristan cannot have been the original inspiration of the love stories in the skald sagas. For Finlay, the sagas of poets are better explained as drawing chiefly upon a mixture of indigenous impulses. With Dronke (1968:1.2) she takes the view, as we have noted, that love and erotic themes must have been a time-honoured element of early Icelandic story-telling. Were it not for two special social pressures, she believes, we should see a correspondingly strong thematization of love in the extant sagas. These pressures consisted of stringent legal sanctions against erotic verse and against ritualized verbal abuse (niff) in medieval Iceland. Finlay ventures the hypothesis that pre-existing niei verses may have supplied a basis for the skald sagas. Male aspersions on another male who monopolizes a young woman back home in Iceland or Norway seem to exist in germ at least as early as the first decades of the eleventh century, in praise poetry as well as lausavisur. Although the motif did not, to our knowledge, achieve realization in full-scale narrative form at that stage, it evidently constituted a familiar situation that no more than a few hints would be sufficient to conjure up. One can imagine fuller narration developing in a series of easy steps: 1. a contrast between the Viking at war and the farmer at home, the latter watching protectively over a woman, as in Libsmannaflokkr, with an expression of the speaker's love or lust for this woman;" 2. sentiments of definite jealousy or rivalry on the part of the Viking, taking expression as nib, as in v. 58 in Kormdks saga; 3. the narrativization of these pieces of nib in the form of sustained rivalry and even vendetta concerning the woman on the part of the Viking and the farmer, as in the fully developed skald sagas. Rivalry of that kind could be seen as intrinsic to an economy in transition, where male prospects in marriage might depend upon the fluctuating status of two competing livelihoods, husbandry on a local farm or harvests of Danegeld and other bounties abroad. To compose love poetry was in itself an inflammatory act in the escalating conflict. We can understand why if we bear in mind that the true meaning of mansçngr, the native approximation to our "love poem", is occluded by this conventional translation and by its purely fortuitous resemblance to German minnesang. The element man, "(female) slave/servant" indicates that in reality the desired woman (so far from the idealization practised by the troubadours) is being treated by the skald as a social inferior, as in Torfi's analysis of the Hallfreôr/Kolfinna story, lovable as a mistress but not as a wife - a deadly insult to her protector and her family in general.

19

See Poole 1991:95.

Introduction

19

Andersson contributes to the foregoing hypotheses on literary history by showing how European influences could have modified the Icelandic traditions identified by Lindow and Finlay. Once the distinctively Icelandic ingredients have been strained out, a key motif in the four core sagas emerges as theft or alienation of the poet's intended bride. This motif, as Andersson points out, resists unequivocal demonstration in the inset verses, even those which probably originate not long before the writing down of the sagas. The idea of a rival obtaining the skald's future bride by trickery or deception might have been read into the verses by a prose narrator, but it could not have been straightforwardly derived from them On the other hand, bridal quest duplicity seems to be a genuinely early feature of German handlings of the story of Brynhildr and of a profusion of other stories. The best approach to the love triangle in the skald sagas, Andersson thinks, is not to trace it to a single literary impulse but to consider it in the general context of impulses from a refashioned Brynhildr legend, a first exposure to German bridal quest narrative (perhaps in oral form), glimmerings of Continental romance exemplified by the Tristan story, and medieval readings of the story of Dido in Virgil's Aeneid. All these phenomena seem to have been concomitant with and contributory to a growth of romanticism and the development of something resembling psychological illusionism in eddaic verse and saga prose narrative. Here the inception of dialogue writing that centres upon the emotions, sometimes with surprisingly detailed and sensitive analysis, is the crucial element. We could well hypothesize that from the European sources identified by Andersson a veneer of sentiment, sophistication, and psychology was applied to the originally cruder and earthier narratives posited by Finlay. From such a process of cultural grafting, to be localized as a late twelfth-century development, the key characteristics of the skald sagas as they have come down to us may have evolved. Implicit throughout these three chapters is the view that definite advances in the literaryhistorical discussion can be achieved by the patient analysis of evidence and the avoidance of grand assumptions, such as used to be fashionable, regarding the wholesale import and adoption of literary fashions from elsewhere. Rpgnvaldr's stanza in praise of Ermengarda of Narbonne, discussed in Finlay's chapter, is a telling example of how a process of simultaneous reproduction and innovation within traditional literary forms constitutes the most plausible model of literary evolution.

The figure of the skald in the skald sagas Whatever the blend of literary impulses, native and foreign, that combined inextricably to inform the skald sagas, we are left with a complex view of the protagonists in these texts. We can formulate two basic questions: What did the

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skalds mean to the thirteenth-century interpretive community? Why the strong interest in that particular species of manhood? Diana Whaley's focus is on the dynamic between society and poets in their personal and professional development. She sees narrator and audience joining in a romantic complicity as they reconstruct a bygone era in the light of the present day. Systematic stylization attends the portrayal of the skalds: restless and troublesome at home during their youth, successful and prospering when given larger scope and royal patronage abroad, and finally often relapsing into frustration and objectionable behaviour on their return home to Iceland. Obviously some glamour attached to their profession, as viewed by thirteenth-century Icelanders. Scenes in the sagas display a keen interest in how poetry might have functioned as a component in social transactions. Kormákr, Hallfreôr, Bjpm, and Gunnlaugr are all shown vilifying their rivals in riskily memorable stanzas. The risks, which lay in possible legal proceedings and duels, are followed up by the narrator with considerable attention to technical niceties. Conversely, Hallfreôr and Gunnlaugr are shown exercising virtuosity in verse flattery and reaping rewards in the form of respectively a sword and a fur-lined cloak. That is merely for openers in Gunnlaugr's case, because his subsequent rewards soar into hyperinflation, culminating with the patron who contemplates the gift of two ships but desists upon fiscally prudent advice. From scenes like these we form the sense that verbal transactions and economic transactions - two sides of the same coin, of course - alike had the potential to engross the audience. The saga cultivation of skaldic art even extends to some ventures into poetological terminology, though naturally not on the scale or with the precision seen in Snorri's Edda. The narrator can distinguish between a drapa (a formal eulogy with a refrain) and the less esteemed flokkr (literally a "flock" of verses which might be quite loosely assembled). What political and social impulses guided these stylizations is very difficult indeed for us to determine now. One thing that is clear is that the relevant social values must have shifted over time, since some older verses depict the skald as a man of action where the later prose characterizes him as a person inclined to agonize in indecision or to fritter away golden opportunities. We may guess that oppositional attitudes regarding the Norwegian power across the sea played a considerable role in the formation of the stylizations, but that role is circumscribed by the fact, noted by Whaley, that it is the poet, not the king (whether Norwegian or further afield), upon whom the narration typically centres. More fundamental to the pattern are probably ambivalences of attitude concerning Iceland The skald on his restless though remunerative travels comes to epitomize an aspect of the Icelandic ethos as surely as do Grettir and Gisli on their paths of outlawry. The figure of the skald acts as a focal point for communal tensions between satisfaction with local opportunities and frustration at geographical isolation and social constraints. This ambivalence can express

Introduction

21

itself both from the community's point of view and from the skald's. From the community's point of view, the skald may attract a mixture of admiration for his successful cultivation of distinguished people abroad and resentment for his sharp-tongued scorn of perfectly worthy people at home. And the sheer mobility of a successful itinerant is apt to cause tensions with those who through their livelihood must settle for comparative immobility. Likewise, poetry was sometimes felt, as in Guntilaugs saga, to mirror the character of the poet, for better or worse. From the skald's point of view, the ambivalence is equally strong. Whether the island nation or the beloved woman is the point of return he contemplates, the prospect is equally uncertain: the "candle of the land" emits no constant illumination of joy but instead a fitful light, now of hope, now of disappointment. Through the protagonists (the poets, their rivals, and the contested women), the Icelandic audience could be thought to gain expression and validation for these equivocal and conflicting reactions to the Icelandic experience. Jenny Jochens complementarity takes up saga representations of a concern that resists classification into today's familiar "private sphere" and "public sphere" dichotomy: the skald's place in a network of heterosexual, homosocial, and homosexual relationships, with, respectively, his beloved woman, his king, and his rival. In this assortment of relationships it is perhaps that with the king which would occasion most surprise from a modern standpoint (although some recent semi-fictional treatments of the patron/artist relationship have encompassed this dimension). Yet both the prose narrative and the inset verses in the skald sagas reveal the skalds' public display of intense affection for their kings. Particularly striking in this regard are the erfidmpur or memorial laments composed by such poets as HallfreÒr, Sighvatr, and Oddr Kikinaskald. As Jochens remarks, Sighvatr's verses commemorating the death of Oláfr helgi include one which extols love between men over heterosexual love. Such displays of affection need to be seen in combination with the fact, foregrounded in the sagas and paettir about them, that skalds like Hallfreôr and Sighvatr composed praises for rival rulers as a corollary of an itinerant livelihood. It is therefore hard, if not impossible, for us to assess what might have been "sincere" and what mere posturing in the declarations of love and allegiance for one patron in particular. Certainly, though, the thirteenth-century conception of these behaviours avoided mere reductivist cynicism. The sagas posit a mix of homosocial attachment and detachment, trust and suspicion as lying at the heart of the relationship between poets and rulers. To this potentially explosive combination the sagas added, as Jochens points out, accounts of mutual tensions and hostilities between the skald and other personages at the patron's court such as we see in Gunnlaugs saga. The expressions of heterosexual love for women are less surprising in psychological terms. Here, however, it is important to trace how far the sagas

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operate with the notion of equal poetic and emotional opportunity. While there may be some mentions of women skalds and even sporadic attributions of love verses to women, notably Steingerôr in Kormáks saga, we do not hear a great deal about love relationships from the women's point of view, beyond assurances in some of the men's verses that the feelings were mutual (nor, I may observe, has it seemed in tune with our sources to pursue a gender-neutral characterization of skaldic and saga authorship in the writing of this book). The thirteenth-century understanding of gender relations two hundred to two hundred and fifty years before nevertheless contains its subtleties. Some cues are taken up from pre-existing verses. Kormákr, for one, describes his male gaze as contested, if not anticipated, by a gaze from Steingerôr. That, along with the experience of falling in love at first sight, appears to unnerve him. Hallfreôr's verses encompass both the incitation to rape and a possibly more sensitive recognition that the verbal abuse he lavishes on Kolfinna's husband is offensive from the woman's point of view. Here already we might sense a transition in the construction of heterosexual relations between persons of different social classes. The prose narration greatly elaborates on these love relationships and tends to a more equal treatment of the gender roles. Hallfreòar saga, as we have seen, attributes conspicuously independent attitudes to Kolfinna, who maintains personal dignity in defiance of the protagonist's recourse to physical coercion. Steingerôr, in Kormáks saga, grabs on to her father in order to prevent him adding his strength to an attack on Kormákr. When Pormóór Kolbrúnarskáld equivocates about the true dedicatee of the Kolbrúnarvísur, an indignant I>orbjprg fits the punishment to the crime, giving her erstwhile adorer a pain in the eyes. In general the skald saga women are shown as no mere passive vessels but as acting deliberately, whether to thwart or to support their lovers' schemes. Helga in Gunnlaugs saga has been treated as an exception, but let us not forget that once she has realized Hrafn's duplicity in wedding her she brings the marriage to its collapse in short order. As we have already remarked, the very composition of mansçngr concerning a woman married or betrothed to some other man, is legally speaking a hostile act which must be challenged if the woman's current protector is not to lose honour. Praise for the woman is ipso facto dispraise for her protector. For this reason, love verses are so double-edged that Jochens is prompted to argue for a more accurate translation of mansçngr as "erotic Übel". Love and rivalry are almost inextricably intertwined in the account of gender relations that Jochens elicits from the sagas. As a generalization, rivalry dominates over heterosexual love. In the case of I>ôrôr and Bjprn a persistence in salvoes of libellous poetry prevents a final reconciliation and eventually results in Bjprn's death. Moreover, although centred on heterosexual love and rivalry, the relationship between a skald and his competitor is represented as admitting a homosocial dimension. Here again the nib verses spoken by Pôrôr and Bjpm, along with the

Introduction

23

accompanying prose, provide our clearest example, in that they presuppose a certain intimacy, albeit intimacy of a negative kind. The nid verses spoken about Griss by Hallfreôr by contrast lack this dimension. The question here is how far the thirteenth-century community saw homosociality as apt to intensify into homoeroticism. One would expect mentions of homosexual activities to be sparse, since strong legal sanctions applied to any public declaration on that topic. Even so, at least in the case of I>ôrôr and Bjprn it seems possible that the violent mutual repulsion in the name of a contested woman was construed by teller and audience alike as being only the surface aspect of the story. Although bound to circumspection, as is conventional in saga style, the narrator throws out several strong hints that he construed the relationship between the two men as intermittently homosexual, before and during their lives as married men who fathered children - leaving aside for now the ticklish problem of which children were whose. Altogether, Jochens traces a development in representations of medieval Icelandic society whereby male homosociality, which had been privileged in early praise poetry as the bonding principle in the war-band, gradually becomes supplemented by a valorization of heterosexual love (as seen in the skald saga verses). This heterosexual strand in the story-materials is, however, interspersed with sporadic episodes (principally in the prose narration) where homosexuality is hinted at. Whether in an antiquarian spirit or, more plausibly, because this jostling of gender relationships in some way enacted tensions within its own social norms (see now Guôrùn Nordal 1998), the thirteenth-century audience obviously found the skald's lifestyle preferences quite as engrossing as his art and his livelihood. The inception of work upon this volume took the form of a colloquium at Stanford University in May 1995. The colloquium was organized by Theodore M. Andersson, Kari Ellen Gade, and John Lindow, to whom the other contributors are grateful for their enthusiasm, vision, and hard work. Gratitude for financial subventions is due to the Office of the Dean of Humanities and Sciences and the Department of German Studies at Stanford University and to the Nordic Consulates of Washington DC. Each of us has been materially assisted by our respective institutions with conference leave, research funding, computing services, and the like. At a later stage we have been indebted to John Durbin, at Indiana University, and Victor Hansen, at the University of Sydney, for preliminary drafts of the translations of respectively chapters 4 and 6. As editor, I naturally owe a great deal to all the contributors but would like to

An analogue in this respect from Middle Scots is the late fifteenth-century "Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedie", attributed to William Dunbar and Walter Kennedy.

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express special gratitude to Kari Ellen Gade for her help with organizing publication of the volume. I have also benefited from technical assistance generously provided by Astrid van Nahl in Germany and Ted Drawneek, Mike Ellis, and Jane Moran in New Zealand. Finally I am grateful to Debbie Rayner for numeroias practical suggestions and support.

Skaldsagas - RGA-E Band 27 - Seiten 25^9 © Copyright 2000 Walter de Gruyter · Berlin · New York

The Skald Sagas as a Genre: Definitions and Typical Features B y MARGARET CLUNIES ROSS

Prolegomenon to a Definition It is generally accepted that the skald sagas or skald biographies, as they are sometimes called, form a distinctive sub-set of the sagas of Icelanders to the extent that one can relatively easily assign specific sagas to this sub-set and exclude others. This chapter probes the rationale upon which this classification has been based, and examines the literary and conceptual characteristics of the skald saga. Some of the problems which are central to the definition of the skald saga genre have also been central to general twentieth-century discussions of the evolution of Icelandic saga writing in the Middle Ages. In addition, questions of definition and identity lead naturally to considerations of why this particular literary class should take the form it does and what its larger social and cultural purposes were in medieval Iceland. Thus the exercise of defining the skald saga has the potential to illuminate wider-ranging issues in medieval Icelandic literature and culture as well as to clarify the nature of one of the most interesting sub-sets within the sagas of Icelanders genre. Though it is convenient to refer to the skald sagas as a sub-set of a larger generic group, the sagas of Icelanders, the distinction is not clear-cut. While there is a small core of sagas that are universally accepted as belonging to the sub-set, there are other sagas that may be considered outliers, in the sense that they share some characteristics of the core group but have other features that are not represented there. Thus it seems plausible to identify a group of characteristics that are found in all members of the core and some of the outliers and other characteristics that do not achieve universal representation. When justifying consideration of members of the outlier group as having skald saga characteristics it will also be important to indicate the extent to which its skald saga character informs the outlier saga as a whole. Thus an aetiology of the literary form and content of the skald saga becomes feasible. In defining the genre, I shall take someone else's views as a starting point, firstly in order to key the present discussion into what has gone before it and, secondly, to allow us to problematize the elements of the received definition. I

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have chosen that offered by Bjarni Einarsson in Medieval Scandinavia. An Encyclopedia, not only because it is accessible in an authoritative, recent book, but also because the author is well known for his work on the skald sagas. H e wrote thus (1993a:589): Skaldasögur ("Sagas of Skalds") is a modern name given to a group of Islendingasogur that have famous skalds as principal characters: Kormaks saga, Hallfreòar saga, Bjarnar saga Hitdœlakappa, Gunnlaugs saga ormstungu, Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar, and Fôstbrœôra saga. The first four are also sagas of tragic love. There are several explicit or implicit defining criteria of skald sagas in Bjarni's text. We note first a listing of sagas that are said to belong to the sub-set, with an implicit distinction being made between the first four and the final two, which are separated from the others because they do not deal with the theme of tragic love. While we need to probe further the question of whether Bjami's list adequately covers the sub-set, we can note that the first four sagas of his list, Kormaks saga, Hall/redar saga, Bjarnar saga, and Gunnlaugs saga, are the works that most scholars agree constitute the core of the skald saga group. A further inference is, therefore, that one of the major characteristics of the core group of skald sagas is that they should deal with "tragic love". We will need to examine later whether the term "tragic love" accurately describes the subject matter of these sagas and whether the love theme extends to the outliers and, if so, in what form. A second defining characteristic, and one that, implicitly, may be found in both core and outliers, is that the saga's protagonist must be a poet, hence the modern name "skald saga". Bjarni Einarsson's use of the plural, "famous skalds as principal characters", is perhaps deliberate, for, as we shall see, several of the skald sagas involve more than one famous poet. We need to observe too, though Bjarni does not say so explicitly, that the poets in question are all Icelanders, not Norwegians, who were also practitioners of skaldic poetry. A third characteristic lies hidden in Bjarni's use of the adjective "famous" to describe the kinds of poets that figure in skald sagas, in both the core and its outliers. Evidently, the kinds of poets who are major characters in these sagas have to have enjoyed an established reputation in Iceland and in other parts of the Viking world, at least according to the authors of their sagas and, in some cases, other sources. So we infer from Bjarni's definition that all sagas that qualify for inclusion in the sub-set must have protagonists who are famous poets, while those in the core have protagonists who are famous poets and are also involved in tragic love affairs. It will be necessary for us to go on and interrogate the terms of Bjarni's definition further, to query the list of members of the skald saga group, to ask what made a famous poet in medieval Icelandic tradition, to investigate how these sagas represent famous poets, and to examine whether the phrase "sagas of

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tragic love" is an accurate description of the subject-matter of the core sagas. We will abo have to consider whether we would wish to add any further defining characteristics of the skald saga group. Before we do this, however, it seems appropriate to devote a few paragraphs to an outline of the plot of each of the four core sagas in order to determine their common elements and to see whether the outliers fit the defined pattern, in terms of both their skald saga elements and their overall character. It is perhaps already apparent that the outliers are thematically and structurally more diverse than the core group.

The Core Sagas Kormaks saga The saga begins by bringing Kormákr's father Qgmundr from Norway to Iceland in the days when king Eiríkr bló00x, "bloodaxe", made many men's lives difficult. Qgmundr arrives in Miâfjçrôr, in north-west Iceland, where he is granted land by the local landowner Miòfjardar-Bjarni. He marries a woman named Dalla, daughter of Qnundr sjóni, and they have two sons, I>orgils, a taciturn and gentle man, and Kormákr, dark and curly-haired, pale-skinned and rather like his mother in appearance, big and strong, and aggressive in temperament. We hear next that Kormákr and his brother pay a visit to a farm where a young woman named Steingerdr is being fostered. Kormákr falls in love with her at first sight, being particularly attracted by her feet, which he glimpses through the space between the bottom of a door and the threshold. He recites a number of love verses on this occasion, and Steingerôr seems equally attracted by him. However, the girl's father becomes worried at the attentions Kormákr is paying his daughter and brings her home; meanwhile Kormákr has already begun to stir up trouble for himself by courting Steingerdr rather too flagrantly and at the same time engaging in fights with other would-be suitors, one of whom he kills. This man's mother, who has a reputation for sorcery, lays a curse on Kormákr to the effect that he will never enjoy Steingerôr sexually. The curse begins to take effect when Kormákr unaccountably fails to appear at his own wedding with Steingerdr and hereafter the saga details his escalating frustration and aggression towards other men who succeed in marrying her, first towards Bersi, with whom he eventually fights a duel (for which the native term is hólmganga), and then with her second husband I>orvaldr tinteinn "tin stake" Eysteinsson and his brother I>orvarôr. Both of Steingeròr's husbands are poets in their own right, and many of the incessant hostilities between Kormákr and the men he sees as his rivals are conducted by means of verbal insults and slanders as much as by physical aggression. Throughout the period of her marriages, Kormákr continues to pay court to Steingerdr in a blatant and

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frenetic way, and her reaction is mixed, sometimes showing signs of enjoyment and positive feeling towards Kormákr, while at other times she retreats from involvement with him. The fact that, after Kormákr has humiliated Bersi in their duel, she divorces herself from him should probably be understood partly as her way of indicating that she would have preferred Kormákr, if fate had not made their marriage impossible. After Steingeròr marries Porvaldr, Kormákr decides to go abroad with his brother. He visits Steingeròr to tell her this, and asks her to make him a shirt (a sign of sexual intimacy), which she refuses to do. He declares war (via poetic slander) on her husband and proceeds on a series of Viking adventures in Norway, and then goes on to Ireland, never being able to forget his beloved and the fact that she is enjoying the sexual attentions of the "tin stake". He returns to Iceland and by coincidence lands near where Steingeròr happens to be riding by. They spend the night together at a small farm separated only by a wooden partition. Once again, however, their love is unconsummated and Steingeròr refuses to accept a gold ring from him. The rest of the saga details Kormákr's obsessive and provocative attentions to Steingeròr, which eventually cause Porvaldr's brother ï>orvarôr to challenge Kormákr to a duel. The brother fails to appear, usually a cause of dishonour, but the humiliation that would normally follow for him and his family on account of his presumed cowardice is somewhat dissipated by the brothers' lodging a suit against Kormákr for defamation. Another invitation to a duel follows, and eventually both Kormákr and his brother and Steingeròr and her husband journey abroad and are involved in various adventures. At one point Kormákr rescues Steingeròr from a band of Vikings, and her husband professes himself willing to allow her to go away with Kormákr, but Steingeròr decides she does not want to exchange partners. Indeed, Kormákr himself eventually urges her to go with her husband. Kormákr makes his own way then to Scotland, where he dies fighting an enormous Scottish giant. His thoughts, however, are still upon Steingeròr, and his final reported utterances are a sequence of verses in the last of which her name is incorporated.

Hallfreòar saga The saga of this "troublesome poet", as king Óláfr Tryggvason of Norway nicknamed him, begins in Norway with an account of the lives of two foster brothers, Ottarr t>orvaldsson and Avaldi Ingjaldsson, who, after Viking adventures in the British Isles, emigrate to Iceland and settle in the Vatnsdalr area in the north of the island. Ottarr's son Hallfreòr falls in love with Avaldi's daughter Kolfinna but is reluctant to marry her. He is described as big and strong from an early age, with beetling eyebrows, an ugly nose and red hair. He

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is said to be a good poet, but given to composing insulting verse. He is also temperamentally unstable, and, hardly surprisingly, unpopular. Avaldi's friend Max advises him to marry Kolfinna to another man, Griss Saemingsson, and not to Hallfredr, who has antagonized Avaldi with his ostentatious flirting with his daughter and his refusal to marry her. From this point on, Hallfredr deliberately offends and insults both Avaldi and Már, both through the attentions he continues to pay to Kolfinna and through satirical verses. Within a short time Griss and Kolfinna are married and Ottarr eventually persuades his truculent son to go abroad. Hallfredr takes ship for Norway, though he is unable to forget his love for Kolfinna, which he proclaims in a couple of verses. Hallfredr now spends time first at the court of the pagan Hákon jarl and then, after his death, with the Christian evangelist king Oláfr Tryggvason, into whose presence he is forced by supernatural means. Hallfredr is compelled by the king to convert to Christianity, and a large part of the middle section of the saga is taken up with an account of the skald's mental and spiritual struggles as he comes to terms with his abandonment of the old gods, with whom his practice of poetry is so closely bound up, and his grudging adoption of the new religion of Christianity. Many of the verses in this section give an insight into the poet's inner turmoil and his sense of loss as he abandons the old religion. Hallfredr becomes a favourite of Oláfr, a situation which arouses jealousy and aggression towards him on the part of two brothers named Ottarr and Kálfr who are members of the king's bodyguard. Unfortunately, Hallfredr kills Óttarr and the king banishes him from court, sending him on an expedition to the province of Upplpnd to blind a recalcitrant heathen named fOrleifr inn spaki, "the wise". Hallfredr puts out one of his eyes but refuses to harm the other. There follows a series of adventures abroad which lead Hallfredr eventually to dangerous and heathen Gautland. There he marries a heathen woman, Ingibjçrg, and has two children by her. After some years, he is visited by king Oláfr in a dream and upbraided for settling among heathens. Abashed, Hallfredr returns to the king with his wife and sons; he is shriven, composes a poem to make amends for his lapse of faith, and Ingibjçrg and their sons are baptized, though she d i » soon afterwards. Hallfredr's thoughts now urge him to return to Iceland. The king gives him three precious gifts upon leaving, telling him never to part with them. The very first night back in Iceland, Hallfredr makes his way to Griss's shielings (shepherds' huts), where he finds Kolfinna without her husband, and he and his men sleep the night and have sexual intercourse with the women there. Hallfredr sleeps with Kolfinna and, on the pretext of reciting verses against her husband which, he says, he has heard she composed herself, he delivers himself of a tirade of three verses that are grossly insulting to Griss. They succeed in angering Kolfinna, who rejects one of the king's gifts, a cloak, which Hallfredr had wanted to give her.

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The scene is now set for physical aggression between Gríss and Hallfreôr and their respective supporters and for the continuation of Hallfreôr's poetic assault upon Gríss in a set of verses named as the Gríssvisur, "Gríss verses". The conflict leads to the death of a man on each side, the killing of Hallfreôr's brother Galti at the Húnavatn assembly by Kolfinna's brother Brandr being mentioned also in Landnámabók} Then king Óláfr intervenes again on the eve of a single combat between Hallfreôr and Gríss, once more in a dream, telling his poet to avoid the fight which is in a bad cause and to pay compensation to Gríss. H e advises him also to go in search of news of far greater moment, which turns out to be the fall of the king himself. Gríss, who has served the Emperor of Byzantium, understands Hallfreôr's position and the two men come to a settlement without loss of honour on either side. The rest of the saga takes place mainly outside Iceland and involves Hallfreôr's attempts to come to terms with his sorrow at the death of king Óláfr, his accommodation to the new ruler Eirikr jarl, son of Hákon, and the poetry he is reported as composing in honour of both rulers. He stays for a time with I>orleifr inn spaki and then joins in a voyage to Iceland with a fellow-poet, Gunnlaugr ormstunga. Reference is made to Gunnlaugr's own woman troubles (see below). After this, Hallfreôr spends most of his time travelling. On his final journey to Iceland, with his son, also called Hallfreôr, he is fatally injured by the swinging b o o m of the ship's sail. H e sees a woman following the ship, presumably the fetch, o r f y l g j a k o n a , of his family, and declares everything at an end between them, but his son takes her on. Hallfreôr dies and is laid in a coffin at sea, together with Oláfr's gifts. The coffin drifts to Iona, where servants of the abbot find it, break it open, steal the treasures and sink Hallfreôr's body in a fen. However, Óláfr appears in a dream to the abbot and apprises him of what has happened. The poet's body is retrieved, carried to the church and given honourable burial. The king's gifts are made into precious furnishings for the church. The poet's son, also nicknamed "the troublesome poet", returns to Iceland and becomes a prosperous farmer from whom many notable people are descended.

Β jamar saga Hítdcelakappa Though this saga takes its name from Bjpm Arngeirsson, its initial focus is upon another poet, I>óròr Kolbeinsson, who is well known in other sources as a court poet of Eirikr jarl. According to Skáldatal, a list of court poets, I>órór was also

Literally, the "book of land-takings", i.e. those made when people of Scandinavian and Hibernian origins settled Iceland in the late ninth century.

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one of the poets of king Magnus inn gôôi of Norway, who died in 1047, and the Danish Sveinn jarl (d. 1076). The saga writer makes use of what is likely to have been a better known reputation for Dôrôr to place the otherwise little known Bjçrn in the context of their joint poetic rivalry and contention for a beautiful woman named Oddny eykyndill ("island candle"). In the first chapter of the saga, Bjçrn, "like many others", is represented as the victim of Dóròr's mockery and censure, surely a transparent literary move to play a relatively unknown protagonist into the centre of the saga's narrative action. Bjçrn is said to be a big, powerful and good-looking man. He and Oddny quickly develop a mutual attraction and meet frequently. In spite of this love interest, Bjçrn is also attracted to foreign travel, and when some Norwegian merchants spend the winter at his foster-father's farm, he seizes the opportunity to travel back to Norway with them on their ship the next summer. Before he leaves, however, he becomes betrothed to Oddny eykyndill with the approval of both families. The arrangement is that she will wait for him for three years; if, after the third winter, he still does not return to Iceland, she is then free to marry another man if she wishes. Bjçrn now travels to Norway and takes service in the retinue of Eirikr jarl, his foster-father's patron. It turns out that I>órdr Kolbeinsson also has business abroad at this time, which first takes him to Denmark to claim an inheritance and then to the court of Eirikr and so to a meeting with Bjçrn, though they do not reveal their enmity in front of the jarl. I>óròr tries indeed to persuade Bjçrn to return to Iceland rather than stay away another winter, and it is soon apparent to the saga audience that his motives in doing so are hostile. When Bjçrn declares he wants to go harrying the following summer, Pórdr offers to take a token of Bjçrn's love for Oddny back to Iceland when he returns himself. When he gets to Iceland he goes to visit Oddny, gives her the ring (a gift to Bjçrn from the jarl) and tells her that Bjçrn had given him right of marriage ("rádahaginn") with her if her betrothed died or did not return to Iceland. Bjçrn has all sorts of adventures in the east and spends time in Byzantium. Meanwhile, back home, Póròr pays some traders to spread the word that Bjçrn has been wounded and killed abroad. He then proposes marriage to Oddny and is accepted after the time limit for Bjçrn's return has elapsed. Eventually, Bjçrn gets to hear what has happened, but this does not spur him on to return to Iceland; rather, he takes off on further adventures, which include saving king Knútr inn riki of England from a flying dragon. Some time now passes, enough to allow Oddny and I>órór to have had eight children. I>óròr needs to go abroad to claim another inheritance and there encounters Bjçrn again, who this time gains the upper hand when they meet, spares ]>órdr's life but robs him of his money and trading ship and sends him off shamed and dishonoured Oláfr helgi, who by then is reigning in Norway, arbitrates a settlement between them and fróròr returns to Iceland, but does not

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mention what has happened to him. Eventually, after a heart-to-heart talk with the king, who dissuades him from further raiding on the ground that it disturbs God's law, Bjprn is persuaded to return to Iceland too. It is said that from then on he always wore a pair of the king's leggings-thongs and that, after his death, the thongs were used as the cincture for a set of vestments at the church of Garôar on Akranes. The next and largest part of the saga is taken up with the personal animosity between Bjprn and Póròr back in Iceland and Oddny's feelings now that she realizes her husband had lied to her when he led her to believe that Bjpm was dead. At I>óròr's invitation, Bjprn takes up residence in t>órÒr's and Oddny's house, an arrangement that the saga writer states seemed strange to people (and was strange!) and appears to have involved an adulterous relationship between Bjprn and Oddny carried on under her husband's nose. Such a situation provided an ideal milieu for the flourishing of a range of powerful emotions: jealousy, anger, humiliation, vengeance and vituperation and the manifestation of those emotions in acts of petty quarrelling, outrage of the rules of hospitality, insulting verse making and so forth. People argue over who has composed the more insulting verses about the other man, Bjprn or t>óràr, and this section of the saga rehearses the circumstances in which a number of apparently well known poems of insult (nídvísur) were composed by the rivals about one another and the increasingly desperate measures taken by both sides to get even. The final chapters show the saga writer turning Bjprn into a new age Christian saga hero who dies at his rival's hands, while Dórdr remains unregenerate.

Gunnlaugs saga

The initial focus of this saga is upon the family of the woman Gunnlaugr is to fall in love with rather than upon the poet himself. She is Helga in fagra, "the fair", daughter of I>orsteinn Egilsson, himself the son of the famous poet Egill Skalla-Grimsson, and the inheritor of his father's farm at Borg in the west of Iceland. The narrative voice of this saga is self-consciously aware of how the story and its protagonists fit into the narratives of other members of the famous family of the Myrarmenn, which included a good number of excellent poets: Sumir váru ok skáldmenn miklir í jjeirri sett, Bjprn Hitdcelakappi, Einarr prestr Skúlason, Snorri Sturluson ok margir aôrir. (Gunnlaugs saga 1938:51, n. 3) Some in that family were also great poets, Bjprn the Champion of Hitardalr, the priest Einarr Skúlason, Snorri Sturluson and many others.

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Bjçrn, as we have seen, is the subject of one of the four core skald sagas discussed here. Einarr Skúlason was active in the first half of the twelfth century and composed a great deal of poetry for several Scandinavian kings and noblemen, much of which was recorded by Snorri Sturluson in his Edda and in Heimskringla. Einarr's best known poem is Geisli ("Beam of light"), a religious drapa composed in 1152-53 for Oláfr helgi. And Snorri Sturluson (1179-1241) was of course the author of the Edda, a treatise on poetics and mythology that incorporated a good deal of his own poetry in its final section, Hattatal, on Icelandic verse-forms. Porsteinn has an ill-omened dream which is interpreted for him by a visiting Norwegian to mean that the girl-child with whom I>orsteinn's wife is pregnant will be the cause of conflict between two men, who will fall desperately in love with her. They will fight over her and both be killed, and she will later marry another man from the west. I>orsteinn attempts to avert this fate by ordering the child to be exposed, if it is a girl, but his wife thwarts his plans by arranging to have the baby brought up by her husband's sister ßorgerdr Egilsdóttir at Hjardarholt. Eventually Porsteinn accepts the girl, Helga, back into his family and events turn out as the interpreter of his dream had predicted. The saga introduces Gunnlaugr, son of Illugi the black, said to be the second most powerful man in the Borg district. This young man is described as big, strong, red-haired, dark-eyed with a somewhat ugly nose and a difficult temperament. He is a good poet, but one rather given to composing verses of insult ("níáskár"), and so nicknamed Gunnlaugr ormstunga ("serpent-tongue"). His precocious desire to travel leads him to quarrel with his father Illugi, with whom he shares many traits, and he leaves home to study law with Porsteinn at Borg. There he falls for the dazzlingly beautiful Helga. The saga now introduces the man who is to be Gunnlaugr's rival for Helga's affections, another poet named Skáld-Hrafn Qnundarson. Unlike Gunnlaugr, Hrafn is said to be a popular man as well as a good poet and someone who travelled round the country, being well received everywhere he went. His first cousin Skapti Póroddson the law speaker was associated with the first promoters of Christianity in Iceland. From here on the saga develops Gunnlaugr's character as an aggressive troublemaker, as a man keen to travel abroad and, at the same time, wanting to become betrothed to Helga. Her father is wary of his unsettled nature, however, and promises Helga to Gunnlaugr without formally betrothing her, "skal Helga vera heitkona Gunnlaugs en eigi festarkona ok bíáa Jjrjá vetr", "Helga is to be Gunnlaugr's promised wife but not his betrothed and she is to wait for three years" {Gunnlaugs saga 1939:67). Gunnlaugr's success as a prospective husband is to depend on his returning to Iceland within the specified time and on an improvement in his temperament.

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Gunnlaugr now pursues the life of a travelling poet and Viking adventurer. He goes first to Norway, which was then ruled by Eirikr jarl and his brother Sveinn. His subsequent visits take him to England and the court of Aôalraôr, then to Dublin, where the king was Sigtryggr silkiskegg ("silken-beard"), and so on to Sigurôr jarl of the Orkneys. In all these places his reputation as a poet grows, and single stanzas and passages from longer poems attributed to him are quoted in the saga. Eventually he reaches the court of the Swedish king Oláfr sœnski at Uppsala, to find Hrafn Qnundarson already in residence. The two Icelanders compete for the king's praise, each putting the other down publicly to the point where Hrafn declares his friendship with Gunnlaugr at an end because Gunnlaugr has shamed him before the king. H e vows to retaliate by shaming Gunnlaugr and he thus turns his attention to winning Helga for himself, enlisting the support of his kinsman Skapti. I>orsteinn is not willing to break his agreement with Gunnlaugr, since the time limit for the poet to return has not yet expired. Gunnlaugr has still not come back by the end of the following summer, however, so, following consultation with the young man's father, I>orsteinn agrees to allow Hrafn's suit to go forward. This situation is displeasing to Helga. Meanwhile, Gunnlaugr, delayed by Aôalraôr in England, has been trying to get back to Iceland, but he leaves it too late: all the Iceland-bound ships have left Norway, except for Hallfreôr vandraeôaskàld's. The two skalds join forces and lament their common ill-luck with the women they love, as is also reported in Hall/redar saga. The two poets reach Iceland, and Gunnlaugr is just in time to discover from his father that Hrafn and Helga's marriage feast is taking place at that moment at Borg. Gunnlaugr is keen to ride there, but is impeded by an injured foot. The bride is reported to look downcast at her wedding and it is soon evident that she is not happy in her marriage. Hrafn is also troubled by bad dreams that he dies and Helga rejoices at his death. The marriage quickly disintegrates and Helga goes home to Borg. Meanwhile, Gunnlaugr and Helga meet at someone else's wedding feast, eyeing one another off. When eventually they talk, Gunnlaugr recites verses, criticizing her parents for marrying her for money. H e gives her a cloak, which Aôalraôr gave him, and Helga accepts it. Hrafn and Gunnlaugr agree to fight a duel at the Aiding (or Icelandic general assembly): Gunnlaugr is wounded and Hrafn disarmed, so they are equal, neither gaining the advantage of the other. The very next day, it is proclaimed from the Law Rock that duelling is to be prohibited in Iceland from that moment. Thus their quarrel must be pursued abroad. Hrafn, in company with a group of armed men, comes upon Gunnlaugr in bed one day and invites him to a duel in Norway. His reasons are that he has had no sexual pleasure with Helga and that, in any case, one of the two of them was bound to die before the other. Hrafn goes straight to Norway, whereas Gunnlaugr takes his time, travelling via Orkney, the Hebrides and Scotland. Finally the two men catch up with one

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another at a place calledDinganes. Gunnlaugr wounds Hrafn but refuses to fight on with a wounded man. Hrafn, on the pretext of asking for a drink, wounds Gunnlaugr fatally as he is being offered the water. He says he deceived Gunnlaugr because he grudged him the embraces of Helga in fagra. Hrafn dies at Dinganes, but Gunnlaugr lingers on for three nights, is given last rites by a priest, dies and is buried either by or in a church. Back in Iceland, the families are warned of the outcome of the conflict in dreams and eventually Helga marries another poet, a man named l>orkell Hallkelsson, but she never forgets her love for Gunnlaugr and eventually pines away, gazing at the cloak he has given her. The Outliers A number of the protagonists of the sagas of Icelanders are represented as skilled poets, whose verses are quoted in their sagas. Among them we can name Gisli Súrsson and Grettir Asmundarson, Víga-Glúmr Eyjólfsson, several of the Orkney earls, Torf-Einarr and Rçgnvaldr kali in particular, Egill SkallaGiimsson and the foster-brothers Dorgeirr and I>ormó5r, who are the joint protagonists of Fóstbroeòra saga. Many other characters in the sagas of Icelanders and historical sagas have poetry attributed to them, a circumstance that serves to remind us that the role of poet was not a full-time specialist occupation in medieval Scandinavia but was normally combined with other roles, though it was recognized that some people had greater poetic talent than others. I will suggest below that the sub-class of skald sagas presents a particular version of a widely-held Icelandic conception of the character and behaviour of the poetic personality, one that both the core and the outlier group recognise, at least to some degree. This common conception of the nature of the poetic personality probably accounts for many of the similarities in personal description and behaviour among the protagonists of these sagas. It would be possible to argue that the two outlaws' sagas, Gisla saga and Grettis saga, in their different ways, use the standard persona of the poet, as it appears in the core skald sagas, as a partial model for their representation of Gisli and Grettir. Both characters are represented in their sagas as composers of verse. Though Gisli is not identified as a poet in the short character portrait that accompanies his introduction in Gisla saga ch. 4, he has several of the attributes of the skalds of the core sagas: he is dark, physically strong, and bound up in complex difficulties with women, though in his case the problems stem from the attentions various men pay to his sister and from affairs carried on by his affinal relatives. These family troubles lead ultimately to his outlawry. Indeed, one could argue that the woman-theme in Gisla saga is the obverse of that in the core skald sagas: whereas the core skalds are frustrated wooers and aggressive flouters

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of the norms of Icelandic courtship behaviour (as we shall see), thus provoking aggression on the part of the fathers, brothers and husbands of the women they pay attention to, G is li is himself a happily married man who feels a keen sense of the necessity to protect his sister's honour and sort out the complications caused by his in-laws' illicit affairs. In this connection, we may note that the verses ascribed to Gisli in his saga are commonly held to originate in a later period than that in which the saga is set. If this is so, and the reasons seem compelling (Turville-Petre 1972), there may have been a subconscious realization on the part of whoever composed these verses that Gisli's personality, as presented in the saga, was an appropriate one to elaborate in the direction of poetic ability. There are also many similarities between the character portrait of the young Grettir Asmundarson and the typical young skald of the core sagas: Grettir is difficult to deal with, precociously strong, red-haired, and tricky in both words and deeds. There are also differences: Grettir is given to much more generalized aggression (including a sadistic interest in animals) than the skalds, and his anti-social behaviour is of a much more generalized nature. It, together with a strong dose of misfortune, leads ultimately to his outlawry. Though he does compose poetry, he is not identified as a poet in his character-portrait and the saga makes little of his dealings with women. Grettir's verses are fascinating in their diversity, but very few have anything to do with love, sexual attraction, or verse attacks upon rivals in love. One exception (ch. 75) is his two-verse defence of his own sexual prowess (at least when he was a young man) after two women have seen him naked and ridiculed the small size of his penis. But these verses belong to a different topos from those in the core skald sagas, one akin to Egill Skalla-Grimsson's lament of his physical decline as an old man (again ridiculed by women), including his sexual impotence (ch. 88). The depiction of Egill Skalla-Grimsson in the saga that bears his name is the most complex and large-scale representation of the life of a poet in Old Icelandic saga literature. In character he bears a strong resemblance to the young skalds of the core group, though in every respect his attributes are larger than life. He is dark and ugly, very strong physically at an early age, precociously skilled at poetry (he composes his first verse at age three), and extremely aggressive to the point of being uncontrollable in his frenzied attacks upon other men from his boyhood until old age. He also has an early passion to go travelling, nagging his parents to let him have his own boat. Much of his life (according to his saga) is spent abroad in various Viking adventures in many lands including Norway, Denmark and England. His relations with Eirikr blóòox and his queen Gunnhildr are hostile in the highest degree. The king makes Egill an outlaw in Norway, so Egill retaliates by killing one of the king's sons and then utters a curse against both king and queen, which has the effect of expelling them from the land of Norway. Later, they all meet again in the Viking kingdom of York,

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when Egill composes a long poem, Hçfuôlausn ("Head-ransom"), to flatter the king and thus escape sentence of death. A great deal of poetry in various forms and modes is attributed to Egill in his saga. Though Snoni Sturluson recognises him in his Edda as among the chief skalds, whose work set the standard for later poetic practice, there is curiously little evidence outside the saga for Egill's poetry. It has often been argued that Egils saga was composed by Snorri Sturluson himself (cf. Vésteinn Olason 1968) and, though conclusive proof is lacking, there are certainly many indications within the saga text that point to a Snorronian view of Icelandic history and a Snorronian interest in poets and poetry. The question of Snorri's part in the composition of the verses attributed to Egill also remains open (though cf. Gade 1995). Even the manuscripts in which the saga has come down to us are equivocal about whether the three long poems he is said to have composed, Hçfuôlausn, Arinbjarnarkinba, and Sonatorrek, are integral to the saga itself. None of the three is preserved in all extant manuscripts of the saga, nor always fully integrated into the text of the saga in the manuscripts that do preserve them. Hçfuôlausn occurs in the mid-fourteenth-century Wolfenbüttelbók (W) and in the seventeenth-century Keúlsbók (Κ),Αήηbjamarkviòa ("Lay of Arinbjçm") is found on the very last page of Môdruvallabôk (M = AM132 fol.), another manuscript from the mid-fourteenth century, while two additional stanzas are recorded in The Third Grammatical Treatise, and Sonatorrek ("Hard Loss of Sons") is in M (first stanza only) and K.2 Egill's career and his poetry are similar to those of the core skald group in some ways and different in others. Like them, the composer of Egils saga adopts a stronger interest in the poet's production of verse in a personalised context than in his composition of court poetry for foreign rulers, yet he achieves that emphasis in a different way. Although much of the saga action takes place abroad rather than in Iceland, Egill is intensely opposed to the reigning Norwegian king and only composes verse about him under duress. Even when he is with king Adalsteinn of England, the saga writer stresses Egill's use of verse to express his personal emotions and to obtain what he regards as his due from the king rather than focusing on his role as a court poet. In its anti-royal and anti-Norwegian stance (Meulengracht Serensen 1989) this saga differs from the core skald sagas, where Norwegian kings appear as the special friends and Christian patrons of the poets. Egils saga is like the core skald sagas, however, in its moving away from the representation of the poet functioning in a courtly context to depicting him in a more private and personal world, where poetry becomes a form of self-expression rather than an official organ of royal propaganda. All Egill's most memorable verses and long poems express his inner

2

See further Egils saga Skalla-Grtmssonar 1933:xv.

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feelings, across a whole range of emotions, moods and thoughts. Love and sexual passion are only weakly represented in his repertoire, however, and in that respect one may say that one of the main defining characteristics of the skald saga is vestigial here. There is a quite perfunctory treatment of the love theme in ch. 56 of the saga when Egill, after his brother I>órólfr's death, suddenly develops an interest in his brother's wife Asgeròr, becomes moody and, upon being questioned about the cause of his sorrow, confesses in two verses that he pines for his brother's widow. He marries her shortly afterwards. Egilssaga does problematize the poet's situation with regard to his woman, but in a way quite unlike the core skald sagas. Whereas the core sagas represent the poet's rivalry with another man (often another poet) over a woman, Egill marries his brother's wife and thereby inherits problems, which involve legal disputes he has to pursue in Norway in order to retain his wife's inheritance. These problems are caused by uncertainties regarding her legitimacy. In some respects Fóstbrceòra saga bears a closer resemblance to the core skald sagas than any other saga in the outlier group, yet here also we encounter a more complex set of themes and structures than we find in the core group, so that the parts of the saga which show strong similarities to the core can be easily identified and studied as elements in a larger whole. It has often been remarked (Schottmann 1992; Meulengracht Serensen 1994) that the plot of FóstbraeÒra saga is a very loosely joined concatenation of narratives, drawn in large part from oral tradition. These narratives included various poems attributed to the two sworn brothers who are the saga's central characters and an assortment of tales, some about t>ormóòr's obligation to take vengeance for t>orgeirr after the latter's death and others about the sworn brothers' relations with king Oláfr helgi of Norway. It is easily possible to recognise among the diversity of narrative episodes in this saga a number of the key themes we are in process of identifying as definers of the skald saga genre. It must be said, however, that though these themes may sometimes achieve transitory prominence, they are not concentrated in their effect as is the case in the core skald sagas. Like several of the core skald sagas, Fôstbrœôra saga follows the relationship between two men, I>orgeirr and I>ormôôr, who grow up in the Isafjpròr region of north-west Iceland. Both men share characteristics with the skalds of the core sagas, being aggressive and extremely difficult to get on with. t>orgeirr's life, in particular, is punctuated by a series of violent and barely justified killings, a circumstance which has suggested to some scholars that the saga writer regarded his life history as a test of the traditional Icelandic concept of honour (Jakob Benediktsson 1986:157-58). The men begin as sworn brothers but, though ï>ormôôr does in fact avenge his foster-brother's death by pursuing his killer to Greenland, the two men fall out after t>orgeirr, the more arrogant and aggressive of the two, fails to maintain the egalitarian trust that forms the basis of their partnership and decides that they should compete with one another to see who

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is the stronger. Thereafter their partnership breaks up and I>orgeirr makes his way to Norway to join Oláfr helgi's bodyguard ï>ormôôr later also joins the king's retinue as his court poet, becoming in time his favourite skald Like the king, he dies at the battle of Stiklarstadir. One may see this saga's depiction of the relationship between the two men as an interesting variation on the core skald sagas' representation of rivalry between two men, a number of whom are noted poets, over a woman. The differences are that, in Fóstbroeòra saga, the men begin by being friends but end up as estranged after I>orgeirr's act of inconsiderate hubris towards his foster-brother offends I>orgeirr so greatly that they part company. By contrast, the male-to-male hostility of the core skald sagas is largely fuelled by competition over a woman, though it becomes self-generating after a while. Admittedly, in one of the core group, Bjarnar saga, the men are already on hostile terms before the love action begins, but this seems to be part of this saga writer's concern to vilify I>óròr Kolbeinsson as a generally unpleasant and malicious character. Fóstbroeòra saga represents love and sexual attraction between men and women in a way that is different from the core group. The poets of this saga display a rather more casual attitude towards sexual passion than do the protagonists of the core group and it is noticeable that neither of them declares an undying affection for any one woman, even though X>ormóòr was obviously associated in Icelandic tradition and in the saga with ]>orbjçrg Glúmsdóttir, after whose nickname kolbrún, "dark eyelashes", he was known as Kolbrúnarskáld3 In Fóstbroeòra saga women tend to be more assertive than those in the core skald sagas and they also enjoy the poets' love verses about them, which they and their kin recognise as public declarations of the poets' affections. All these characteristics are displayed in a very amusing episode (ch. 11) in which ]>orbjçrg kolbrún discovers that her poet tormóòr has had the effrontery to recycle the "Kolbrún verses" (Kolbrúnaroísm•), which he had previously composed in her honour, in the service of his attentions to another woman, ]>órdís. When J>orbjç>rg hears of this disloyalty she is furious. She appears in a dream to Pormóòr, castigates him for his behaviour and says she will afflict his eyes (the organs through which his errant passion was conceived) with unbearable aching unless he recants. Thus the poet is forced to publicly rededicate his poem to his former love Kolbrún in circumstances that it is

The nickname Kolbrúnarskáld is attested in a number of independent sources, including

Landnámabók (fslendingabók. Landnámabók 1968:1.190-91). In the Sturlubók version Landnámabók (1968:1.170), ï>orbjçrg's nickname kolbrún is given, followed by the clause "er Pormóòr orti um", "about whom ï>ormôâr composed poetry".

of

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difficult to imagine the poets of the core group of skald sagas finding themselves in.

4

To conclude our survey of the outlier group, our analysis here has tended to confirm the conventional identification of the four sagas Kormáks saga, Hallfreòar saga, Bjarnarsaga, and Gunnlaugs saga as constituting the core of the skald saga sub-set on grounds of form, structure and theme, while Egils saga and Fôstbrœdra saga embody some of the same themes and structures but contain a great deal of other material. In addition, even though they treat similar themes to the core group, they do not handle them in the same way. In particular, it is noticeable that the nexus between the themes of the poet in society (as we will investigate in the next section of this chapter) and the poet in love either produces a quite different outcome (as in the case of Fóstbraeòra saga) or is vestigial (as in Egils saga). We have also seen that there is another group of sagas of Icelanders, whose protagonists are represented as poets, which have some similarities with the skald saga group, but probably not enough to be regarded as true outliers.

Defining the Genre of the Skald Saga Material Circumstances Before we turn again to the salient characteristics of Icelandic skald sagas as literary entities, there are some relevant external characteristics and material circumstancesrelatingto the sagas' preservation and transmission that constitute evidence bearing on questions of their definition and evolution as a sub-genre. Three of the core skald sagas, Kormáks saga, Hallfreòar saga, and Bjarnarsaga, are generally reckoned to be among the oldest preserved sagas of Icelanders, their composition thought to belong to the period between ca. 1200-30. Two outliers, Fóstbraeòra saga and Egils saga, are also considered by many scholars to belong to the oldest group, though Jónas Kristjánsson argued (1972) for a late thirteenth-century date for the first of these, a case which is interesting though not, in my view, compelling. Opinion is divided about the age of Gunnlaugs saga, some scholars placing it also with the earliest grouping of the early thirteenth century, others preferring a late thirteenth-century date. It is possible, as Bjarni Einarsson (1993b) has indicated, that both views may be right if the saga in its two surviving manuscripts is a text that has been modified during the course of the thirteenth century. In summary, then, scholarly opinion tends to place all or almost all the skald sagas among the very earliest of the sagas of

4

See chapter 11 in this volume for further discussion of this episode.

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Icelanders and, if that argument is sound, they constitute the bulk of the veryearliest sagas to have survived, only Heidarvtga saga being excluded. We may thus surmise that early date of composition in the history of the Old Icelandic saga genre may be another, external criterion of the identity of the skald saga sub-set. We must be cautious on this matter, as one could not say that all the arguments so far advanced for the relative age and chronological development of the sagas of Icelanders stand up equally well to scrutiny. Some are more compelling than others. Those which are based on stylistic arguments and questions of literary content and structure alone are often capable of several different interpretations, depending on one's general view of the way or ways in which the sagas of Icelanders developed. There are other pointers to early date of composition, however, and these include evidence about the age and authenticity of the verses contained in the sagas, a subject Kari Ellen Gade discusses at length in chapter 3 of this volume, and the nature and age of the manuscripts in which the sagas have been preserved. Gade's metrical analysis of the four core skald sagas supports the dating of the verses of Kormáks saga and Hallfreòarsaga to the period before 1014, but indicates that the major portion of the verses in Gunnlaugs saga and some of those in Bjarnarsaga were composed at a date later than the tenth or eleventh centuries. It is clear that the skald biography shares some of its subject matter with individual members of the genre of the kings' sagas which, as its name suggests, is a category of saga devoted to royal biography, chiefly lives of the kings of Norway. Some kinds of historical writing, both in Latin and in the vernacular (Norwegian and Icelandic), were already being composed in the twelfth century, but the Icelandic use of the saga form for royal biography seems to have begun about the same time as the earliest family sagas and other saga genres were developing (Knirk 1993). There is discontinuous material about the interactions between Norwegian kings and their Icelandic skalds within a number of kings' sagas and some manuscripts containing kings' sagas also preserve versions of the stories of skalds which appear elsewhere as continuous narrative. The question thus arises as to which came first, the discontinuous narratives about poets within kings' sagas, which may have given other saga writers the idea of concentrating and giving literary shape to that material in a separate saga devoted to the poet's life alone, or the continuous narrative which was then cut up and dispersed within the framework of royal sagas. It is difficult to determine from the age of the surviving manuscripts in which the versions are preserved which kind of development took place in individual instances. Hallfreòarsaga exists in two versions, one discontinuously

For a convenient summary of conventional scholarly views about the relative age of the sagas of Icelanders and the manuscripts in which they are to be found, see Schier 1970:34-59.

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within the various extant texts of the Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta (the "Longest Saga of Oláfr Tryggvason"), and the other as a literary entity within Mòòruvallabók. Most scholars have tended to assume that the discontinuous version was the earlier, and that the tendency towards narrative cohesion and conciseness, apparent in all the texts in Mòòruvallabók, was a later literary development. However, as the Longest Saga, is not an early work, and all the manuscripts in which it has survived are younger than Mòòruvallabók, we cannot draw any firm conclusion about the prior existence of a discontinuous Hallfreòar saga. The Longest Saga is usually considered to have been composed in the early fourteenth century and modelled upon the separate saga of Oláfr helgi composed by Snorri Sturluson. The earliest surviving manuscripts of the Longest Saga date from the late fourteenth century. One of the late fourteenth-century manuscripts carrying the discontinuous Hallfreòar saga, Flateyjarbók, shows evidence that the compiler knew a version of the concise text as well as the discontinuous one. In fact, it would be perfectly possible to infer that the discontinuous version was later than the continuous one. The situation with manuscripts of FóstbrceÒra saga is just as complex, with the saga being included as an addition (with augmented material) to the saga of Oláfr helgi in Flateyjarbók. All that we can say on the basis of this kind of evidence is that there is likely to have been a close relationship, as one would expect from their subject matter, between the evolving kings' saga and skald saga genres, one that may have led to frequent adjustment of versions between the two modes, continuous and discontinuous, during the course of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. As we shall see below, however, the literary evidence of the core sagas and the outliers suggests that the main narrative focus of the skald sagas took them away from the conceptual world represented in kings' sagas in several quite distinctive respects, so that even the poetic material that may have formed the basis of the prose narratives is likely to have been differentiated early in the development of the two genres. The evidence we can draw from the manuscript preservation of the skald sagas is thus slight but interesting. There are in fact very few surviving thirteenth- and early fourteenth-century Icelandic manuscripts that contain sagas of Icelanders, and they are mostly fragments. One can say that, of those that survive, fragments of Egils saga and a text of Gunnlaugs saga belong to the earliest group, while the skald saga is very well represented in that group of manuscripts that are dated to the mid-fourteenth century, principally because of their strong showing in Mòòruvallabók, the most comprehensive medieval Icelandic compilation of sagas of Icelanders in existence. Of its eleven existing texts (twelve were intended), four belong to the skald saga group, two being core and two outliers, namely Kormóks saga, Hallfreòar saga, Egils saga, and FóstbrceÒra saga. Although we cannot draw any firm conclusions from this material, it is perhaps sufficient to allow us to deduce that, at least among the

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early scribes and compilers, the skald sagas were individually considered to be significant examples of the sagas of Icelanders genre, whether or not they were thought by medieval Icelanders to constitute a distinct generic sub-set.

Literary and Conceptual Characteristics We are now in a position to define the skald saga in literary and conceptual terms. In the course of our plot analysis it has become obvious that the core sagas display great similarities of theme and structure, while the outlier group do so to a lesser extent and in a less concentrated fashion. Each outlier saga shows one or more significant discrepancies from the "recipe" of characteristics that distinguish the core group and in addition they contain other material that has no counterpart there. The basic defining quality of the core group is their particular representation of the poet in society, a representation which, as we shall see both here and in chapter 11 of this volume, is tied to a particular ideology about poets and poetry and a particular socio-temporal context. The basic plot type of these sagas, which displays a movement of the protagonist from Iceland to Norway and the wider Viking world, concluding with a return to Iceland in changed circumstances, serves to exemplify the sagas' underlying concern with the poet in society. Both in the basic plot type and in its concentration on the personal fortunes of a single individual, who has significant encounters with foreign kings, the core skald sagas are strongly reminiscent of the short Icelandic narratives called pœttir (sg. páttr), which typically trace encounters between young Icelanders of humble birth and the Norwegian king: "through wit, luck, or pluck, the Icelander pleases the monarch after falling out with him, and receives a reward that greatly enhances his social status" (Lindow 1993:661; cf. Harris 1976). Just as with some versions of skald sagas, so the texts of most pattir have been preserved in manuscript compilations of kings' sagas. We may then see both the skald saga andthe^áíír in a symbiotic relationship with kings' sagas, with whose subject matter they have necessary connections, both exploring the theme - to use modern marketing terminology - of the upwardly mobile young Icelandic male who travels abroad to better himself and passes the supreme test of personal worthiness in a society like Iceland without an established social hierarchy, namely recognition by a foreign king. For a detailed discussion of these patterns, see chapter 8 in this volume. The poets of the core sagas share a number of striking and in some respects puzzling characteristics. With the exception of Bjçrn Hitdœlakappi and possibly Gunnlaugr (Poole 1993b), all the poets have established reputations in Old Icelandic literature and tradition as court skalds, as do some of their rivals, yet the skald sagas pay scant attention to their courtly compositions, preferring

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instead to concentrate on the circumstances that led them to compose poetry based on personal circumstances far from a courtly environment. We have seen that the outlier sagas tend in the same direction. The emphasis of all these sagas is upon the poet's life in Iceland and the circumstances that led him to compose poetry there. Those circumstances can be summed up as sexual desire for and attachment to a particular young Icelandic woman and, when arrangements to continue that association are frustrated, the consequent aggression, both physical and verbal, which the poet displays towards other men who, for one reason or another, succeed in marrying the woman he desires. Thus the poets' circumstances inspire both heterosexual love poetry directed to the woman they long for and níóvísur, "verses of insult", directed at their male rivals. Frequently their verses combine these two dominant foci. Only Hallfreòar saga shows a significant departure from this pattern, and that is because this saga depicts a poet preoccupied by two powerful forces, love and religion. The theme of religious change is present to some degree in all the core sagas, usually bound up with the theme of the poet's attachment to the Norwegian king, but only in Hallfreòar saga does it become dominant. The poets of the skald sagas lead troubled lives. The difficulties and frustrations they encounter are partly of their own making and partly a consequence of their individual social circumstances. In some cases, Kormákr's in particular, fate is also seen to play a part in their misfortunes. Their internally-generated problems are represented as difficulties of temperament and sociability. All the skalds are men of great physical strength, poor judgement, a violent temper, and an inability to get on with other people. Most of them provoke their male rivals in ways that deliberately flout social conventions. Their character portraits link their temperamental instability with their poetic gifts in such a way as to imply that these are connected. The underlying hypothesis of the skald sagas seems to be that these men, being agressive by nature, are naturally disposed to composing poetry of an agonistic character. Such a hypothesis is not surprising when we consider that in Iceland, as in many oral societies (Ong 1982:42-46), all forms of poetry were socially engaged rather than the products of generalized contemplation. Judged by the particular cultural norms of medieval Iceland, the skalds are represented as composing in the two most socially explosive genres known to that society, mansçngsvisur, "love verses", and níóvísur, "verses of insult". We know from the Old Icelandic law code Grágás and comparable West Norwegian codes that practitioners of these two poetic genres were subject to severe legal penalties if a charge against them was upheld. In each case, the reason for the

Where man, as noted in the previous chapter, may originally have denoted a woman of nonfree or concubine status.

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social opprobrium rested on the perception that the poet had assaulted the honour of those men who were the subject of the libel or, if a woman was involved, those men, whether husbands, fathers or brothers, who guarded the family honour which her untarnished reputation was supposed to maintain. In the case of love verses, poetry about a woman which mentions her sexuality or physical attractions runs the risk, at the very least, of implying that the poet knew more than he should about the woman in question. If she was unmarried, the implication might be that she had been having an illicit affair with him; if she was married to another man, the suggestion would be that of adultery. All the core skald sagas, and most of the outliers, share the view that the poets' particular temperamental character has externalized manifestations, both physical and behavioural. The physical descriptions of the various skalds are stereotyped and, although there is some variation (dark or red hair, for example), most are described as dark, with prominent, ugly features. In these stereotyped portraits physical irregularity and ugliness point to the poet's particular character in Icelandic society. These physical and temperamental stereotypes seem to have been partly modelled upon the mythological example of the god Oòinn, god of war and poetry in Old Norse myth, who is represented as a being of supreme intellectual gifts, but one who is unreliable, untrustworthy, and given to stirring up conflict between men (Clunies Ross 1978). One of the key Norse myths involving Oòinn's acquisition of the poetic art also establishes a nexus between the god's theft of the mead of poetry from a giant, Suttungr, and his sexual adventures with the giant's daughter, Gunnlçô.8 Thus Norse mythology establishes a paradigmatic relationship between poetic and sexual prowess in male poets, just as we find it in the skald sagas. The poets of these sagas reveal the same combination of qualities as their divine prototype, and involve the same implicitly contrastive societal attitudes of fascination and disapprobation that typify mythological representations of the god Oòinn. Unlike the mythical Oòinn, however, the protagonists of the skald sagas are represented as young men living in the medieval Icelandic commonwealth at a particular time in its history. Their characteristically Odinic temperaments engage with the "real world" as it is depicted in their sagas. The "troublesome" character of the poet in this society has a set of manifestations that are specific as to time and place. First, with the exception of Egill (and Hallfredr on his father's side), all the skald saga protagonists belong to the fourth generation of

The social background to the articulation of the medieval Icelandic concept of honour which I mention here is discussed in greater detail in chapters 11 and 12 of this volume; on the social status of the mistress see chapter 7. The two main sources for this myth are the eddaic poem Hávamál w . 104-10 and Skáldskaparmál chs 82-85 within Snorri Sturluson's Edda. See Clunies Ross 1994:128-31, 151-52 and 214-18 for a discussion.

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Icelanders, counting the landnámsmenn, literally "men who took land", from whom they are said to descend as the first generation. Additionally, a number of the protagonists of skald sagas are related to one another. All the skald sagas, w i t h t h e exception of Fôstbrœdra

saga a n d Hallfreòar

saga, are associated in o n e

way or another with families that lived in the Borgarfjprôr area of western Iceland. The skald sagas' presentation of the troublesome poet type may then be described as a "Borg-centred one" (cf. Andersson 1993:24), distinguished by a biographical mode in which the poetic temperament follows a particular, Odinic model and suggests the likelihood of an underlying notion of the inheritance of poetic talent within a group of related families, among whose thirteenth-century descendants were Snorri Sturluson, Sturla ï>ôrôarson and Oláfr ï>ôrôarson hvítaskáld. Hermann Pálsson 1989 argues for a Borg connection between some of the skald sagas and Laxdœla saga. The protagonists thus belong to the period of transition between paganism and Christianity in Iceland, a time which is central to many sagas of Icelanders. In each case, these poets are touched by the new religion in advance of many of their fellow countrymen, because their profession requires them to travel abroad and to encounter conversion head on, if they are to make a name for themselves at the courts of Christian kings. Hallfreòar saga develops this aspect of the poetic vita in a thoroughgoing way, but it is present in all the core sagas. As Hallfreòar saga ch. 6 makes clear, the conversion to Christianity represented a particular challenge to Norse poets, whose traditional art was based upon an understanding of Norse pagan mythology and a conceptual world that presupposed it. The subject matter of Christian poetry was not "skáldligr", "appropriate to poetry" (1939:155) in the traditional sense, as HallfreÔr complained. It is not surprising, then, that Icelandic saga writers developed a literary interest in a small group of poets who were "on the cusp" of Christianity, as it were, rather than in the lives of later eminent Icelandic Christian skaldic poets such as Amórr Eóráarson jarlaskáld (whose father was Bjprn Hitdcelakappi's rival), Sighvatr Póròarson or Einarr Skúlason. In their generation the battle to preserve the status of traditional poetry while changing its subject matter in directions acceptable to the new faith had been largely won - and won in favour of Icelanders, who came to dominate the skaldic profession throughout Scandinavia. For all the poets of the core skald sagas the challenge of Christianity is implicit and the saga writers give us some indication of how it coloured their protagonists' lives. Most of these sagas reveal a desire to accommodate their characters to Christian frames of reference and show the poets' royal patrons as the vectors of Christianity, not only to the poets themselves but, by implication, to Icelandic society as a whole. I have argued elsewhere (Clunies Ross 1978) that the author of Egils saga is at pains to demonstrate how Egill's poetic powers have Christian resonances, while we find the author of Bjarnar saga representing his poet antagonists Bjprn and I>ôrÔr as moderating their aggression

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towards one another under the Christian influence of Óláfr helgi (chs 8 and 9). The same kind of moderating influence on HallfreÒr and G riss in ch. 12 of Hallfreòarsaga is attributed to Óláfr Tiyggvason. Bjçrn wears Oláfr's leggings-thongs throughout the latter part of his life and is buried in a churchyard with them: they miraculously resist corruption, as is shown when the body is dug up for reburial. The king's token is then reported to have been used as a cincture for a set of mass vestments at the church of Garôar on Akranes. We hear too that Bjçrn composed a drápa, on the Apostle Thomas, to whom he dedicated a church that he had had built. Margaret Cormack (1994:41) is doubtless right in assessing these associations with St. Thomas as a late fabrication but the fact that they are incorporated into this transitional skald saga is significant. References to Christianity are less prominent in Gunnlaugs saga and Kormdks saga. In the former, mention is made of the change of religion when Skapti l>óroddson the law speaker, first cousin of Hrafn, is introduced in ch. 5. In the latter, Kormákr's statement that he does not believe in sacrificial magic in ch. 22 and his general reluctance to involve himself with sorcery and pagan practices may be construed as a rather muted repudiation of pagan ritual in this saga. It is notable that all the protagonists of the skald sagas are young men, at least when their saga begins and for a good deal of its action. This is predictable enough, given the sagas' biographical mode, but there is a special point to the age and status of the protagonists of the skald sagas. Like many young Icelanders who are the heroes of sagas of Icelanders, the skalds are keen to achieve fame and fortune. We may compare the standard plot type of the skald sagas with that of Laxdoela saga, where two young men are rivals for the love of a woman, Gudrun Osvífsdóttir. The more promising of them, Κj art an, and the one Gudrun favours, decides shortly after he has been betrothed to her that he must go abroad to enhance his reputation. Gudrun is displeased, and from that displeasure grows her plan to spite him by marrying his rival Bolli. The plot of Laxdoela saga is very similar to that of Bjarnar saga and Gunnlaugs saga. In each case the young man has conflicting goals: to enhance his status in Iceland by marriage and to travel abroad in search of adventure and experience that will enhance his reputation. These two goals are not unusual for young Icelanders of the saga world, but they are incompatible, and from the tension created by their incompatibility springs frustration for the ambitious young man and deep resentment of the less successful rival who nevertheless capitalizes on his absence abroad to marry the young woman to whom the ambitious one had been betrothed. In spite of the similarities of plot between the three sagas mentioned above, there is a major difference between skald sagas and others of similar type. Whereas the Kjartans of the medieval Icelandic saga world had the choice of travelling abroad or staying home, those Icelanders who wanted to become professional skalds had to go abroad to win a reputation at the courts of foreign

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kings and earls, because there were no such institutions in Iceland. Thus the very desire to become a court poet was, in an Icelandic context, in a sense anti-social, given the natural desire of young men to woo and marry young women. In part, then, the skald sagas explore the difficulties that medieval Icelandic society placed in the way of young men who wanted to pursue the life of a Viking Age poet. But, as we have now seen, there was more to it than that, for the skald sagas represent the poetic temperament itself as to a considerable degree responsible for the difficulties these men encounter. If Kormákr had not behaved so aggressively towards one of Steingerôr's suitors, he would not have been the object of sorcery worked upon him by the mother of the man he had killed, sorcery that prevented him from marrying Steingerôr and led him into a series of jealous fights with other men who were able to enjoy her. If Hallfreôr had not been so ostentatious in his flirting with Kolfinna, her father would probably not have married her to Griss. If Bjprn had not been so injudicious in staying away from Iceland so long, I>ôrôr would not have been able to marry Oddny. And if Gunnlaugr had not been so unsettled and aggressive, Helga's father would probably have betrothed them formally and so made it more diffficult for Hrafn to pull the wool over her family's eyes. At the beginning of this chapter I promised to examine whether the phrase "sagas of tragic love" fits the subject matter of the skald sagas. The question of the nature of the love themes in the skald sagas and the possibility of the influence of foreign romances upon them has been one of the most hotly debated topics in the literary scholarship of the twentieth century. Chapters 9 and 10 in this volume investigate the location of the skald sagas within European literature, but, at the definitional level, we need to clarify the nature of the passions that these sagas represent their protagonists as feeling. A great deal of the inner feeling of Icelandic saga characters is typically conveyed through the verses they utter, and the skald sagas are no exception to this rule. It is significant then that, of the four core skald sagas, only Kormdks saga and to a much lesser extent Hallfreòar saga significantly support the theme of the poet's frustrated love for his woman in verse (Finlay 1995:150). Kormdks saga is also notable for a significant number of memorable verses of lyric quality in which the poet proclaims his love for Steingerôr, while there are fewer of these in the other sagas. On the other hand, there is much evidence in all the skald sagas, both in verse and in prose, for the interrelationship of themes of frustrated desire for the beloved and intense disparagement of the man who enjoys her sexually. The two themes often appear in the same verse, the poet moving from one to the other in an almost voyeuristic way, so that in his verses he creates a scene of sexual intercourse between his beloved and the other man, suggesting the other man's sexual incompetence, and then inserts himself - at least verbally - into the scene.

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Without here going into the complex issue of the relationship between the vene and the prose of these sagas, the topic of chapters 4, 5, 6, and 7 in this volume, the verses bear out the sense of the prose that the authors of the skald sagas are as interested in an exploration of male to male jealousy and rivalry over women as they are in the heterosexual passion of itself. Indeed, the one sharpens and intensifies the other, as Hallfreôr declares in a verse on his way to Norway (v. 4), having been denied his beloved, that he loves Kolfinna almost more than if she were betrothed to him. It may be that the authors of the skald sagas are trying to depict the poet in love as yet another manifestation of the poetic temperament. Unlike other men, they seem to be saying, poets gain greatest gratification, not from the untroubled enjoyment of a woman, but from the ceaseless longing for her that impels them to fantasize about their woman when they are away from her and, when they are near her, to engage in dangerous and reckless provocation of the men who "own" her, usually through the medium of niòvisur. They take greater risks and so suffer more than other men, while at the same time showing themselves to society at large as manifestly unsuitable as steady husbands. If the skald sagas represent tragic love, as most modern readers have agreed, the tragic element lies in this incompatibility between the poet's desire for access to his woman and his maladroit way of promoting it, along with society's impulse to keep him away from her.

Skaldsagas - RGA-E Band 27 - Seiten 50-74 ©Copyright 2000 Walter de Gruyter · Berlin · New York

The Dating and Attributions of Verses in the Skald Sagas B y KARI ELLEN G ADE

I. Introduction The age and authenticity of skaldic stanzas have proven to be a controversial issue for scholars in Old Norse studies. Whereas the stanzas inserted as historical evidence in the kings' sagas have prompted little debate, the lausavisur in the sagas of Icelanders are a different matter. Of thirty-four stanzas in Egils saga, for example, Finnur Jonsson declared four to be the work of later poets, while Eduard Sievers had his doubts about twenty-four stanzas, twenty-two of which Finnur held to be authentic (Egils saga Skalla-Grimssonar 1933:vi-viii). More recently Hans Kuhn maintained that Egill's lausavisur 10 and 37, which both Finnur (tentatively) and Sievers assigned to Egill, contain features that Kuhn found incompatible with the compositional techniques of the tenth century (1983:262). The issue of the authenticity of the lausavisur in the skald sagas is of particular importance because the narratives of these sagas are derived from and supported by the poetic material to a greater extent than we see in such later sagas of Icelanders as Njáls saga, Grettis saga, and Laxdœla saga. As a result, scholars who regard this literary genre as a thirteenth-century offspring of continental romance have also been forced to declare the stanzas products of thirteenth-century saga authors, whereas those who believe that the skald sagas represent an indigenous branch of Norse literature tend to regard the poetry as early. Controversy concerning the origin of the skald sagas and their stanzas came to the fore in the late sixties and early seventies and focused on Kormáks saga, the presumed oldest of these sagas. The stanzas of Hallfreòar saga, Gunnlaugs saga, and Bjamar saga have not been discussed to the same extent, but, supposing that the skald sagas were indeed a thirteenth-century phenomenon, it stands to reason that the love poetry in those sagas would likewise be later than the alleged dates of composition. At this point, a brief summary of the various arguments for and against authenticity may be useful (see also Frank 1985:172-75). In his book Skdldasögur (1961), Bjarni Einarsson argued that a thirteenth-century saga author influenced by Provençal troubadour poetry composed the stanzas in Kormáks saga so as to

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lend authenticity to a plot derived from the continental Tristan tradition. He maintained that thirteenth-century poets were fully capable of reproducing earlier poetic forms and that, in particular, the thirteenth-century grammatical and metrical treatises showed that poets like Snorri Sturluson and his nephew Oláfr Dóróarson were indeed aware of features characteristic of earlier poetry (1961:55-56, 66, 151, and 236). In a somewhat scathing review of Bjarni's work (1966), Einar OL Sveinsson countered that argument and claimed that the poetry in Kormaks saga contained archaic features (such as hiatus words, a high percentage of the expletive particle of, and internal a : p-rhymes) not found in the poetry of the Sturlung period (1966:175 and 177-78). He doubted that even the thirteenth-century g r a m m a r i a n s and students of metrics would have had the knowledge to actively reproduce poetry with "early" features, and concluded that, at least as far as the stanzas in Kormaks saga were concerned, they bore all the marks of early composition (1966:181-84). A similar view was held by Theodore M. Andersson, who maintained that most of the stanzas in Kormáks saga differed significantly, in both style and content, from contemporary Provençal troubadour poetry. He concluded that K[b]oth skaldic love poetry and the skald biography are indigenous Icelandic forms" (1968:41). In a reply to Andersson's article, Bjarni pointed out that even if thirteenthcentury poets did not have the knowledge to actively reproduce archaic poetic forms, they certainly could have used earlier poetry as a model and imitated oldfashioned words and forms (1971:21). He also expressed doubts about the validity of dating poetry on criteria based on data derived from the chronology in Finnur Jónsson's Skjaldedigtning, and claimed that "we have here a case of circulus vitiosus when statistical numbers and percentages partly based upon stanzas from the skald-sagas are used to 'prove' something about their age" (2223). This view was later repeated in his To skjaldesagaer, the 1976 Danish revision of Skdldasögur (118-20). So far, Bjarni's To skjaldesagaer constitutes the "last word" in the debate on the age and authenticity of the lausavtsur in the skald sagas. Although later scholars have expressed some doubts about the alleged thirteenth-century authorship of Kormákr's lausavtsur in particular and the lausavisur in the skald sagas as a whole (Kuhn 1983:288, 296-98, 300-01; O'Donoghue 1991:15), so far no one has attempted to reopen the debate and to examine the stanzas invoking metrical criteria that would allow us to settle the issue of date and provenance. It is the purpose of this chapter, then, to do so. Clearly it will not be possible to prove that all the stanzas in a given skald saga belong to the tenth and eleventh centuries or that their attribution to Kormákr, Bersi, Hallfreôr, Bjpm, I>óròr, Gunnlaugr, or Hrafn is correct. Rather, we shall attempt to shed light on whether the bulk of the poetry incorporated into the skald sagas is early (thus ensuring, as it would seem, a native tradition of Norse love poetry) or thirteenth-century forgeries concocted by saga authors influenced by classical or

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Provençal models. The following discussion confines itself to stanzas composed in dróttkvxtt metre (with the inclusion of stanzas in irregular dróttkvxtí).

Π. Earlier Criteria for Dating 1: Hiatus Constructions In Háttatal (ca. 1220), Snorri Sturluson mentions the poetic licence of having five syllables in a dróttkvcett line (instead of the normal six) if they are pronounced slowly.1 It emerges from his sample stanza (Ht 7) that this particular licence occurs in even lines containing compounds where the second element represents a contraction of a word that earlier would have been disyllabic, with two successive vowels in hiatus (Ht 7:4, 6, 8):2 hrses Jjjóóár raesacf. pld dreyrfá skjpldu sterkr járngrá serki

Kormlvl8:8 Eil Π, 5:8 Rdr 3:3 I>Kolb ΙΠ, 11:8

linns Jjjóóáar rinna cestr Jjjóóáar fnœstu meó dreyrfáar dróttir Ulfkell bláar skulfu

The second line of Snorri's stanza deviates from this pattern in introducing a word that had never been disyllabic: -hies in Ht 7:2 hva.tr Vindhlés skatna. Contraction of hiatus words appears to have started as early as the first half of the tenth century, as evidenced by such rhymes as Veil 35:3 Hdrs vilS Hpgna skúrir (not Haars: see Kuhn 1983:69), and even in the earliest manuscripts the words are consistently rendered monosyllabically. Snorri's comment and sample lines show, first of all, that such words were monosyllabic in the thirteenth century; secondly, that disyllabicity was no longer productive (as is evident from Snorri's second line); and, thirdly, that although Snorri recognized the feature as a poetic licence he did not make any connection between such words and archaic practice. As Einar Ol. Sveinsson pointed out, the stanzas in Kormaks saga contain several examples of hiatus words, and in the skald sagas as a whole we find the following examples:

1

Edda Snarra Sturlusonar 1848:608; see also Einar 01. Sveinsson 1966:173; Bjami Einarsson 1971:23; Kuhn 1983:69-70.

2

The lines are quoted from Skjaldedigtning Al-2 (abbreviated to Skj. throughout). The abbreviations of the names of skalds and poems follow the system of Finnur Jónsson 1931:xiii-xvi, with some minor adjustments so as to conform with the spelling and other usage adopted in the present volume.

The Dating and Attributions of Verses in the Skald Sagas

HolmgB 6:8 Korm lv 18:8 Korm lv 29:4 Korm lv 40:6 Korm lv 60:8 BjHit lv 12:4 BjHit lv 21:6

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Saurbce friendr auri linns {>jódáar rinna hornungr tváa moma angrlaust seeing gpngum Aurreks náar gauri linnbeds saeing innan vinnk bjórs Háars inna

Einar 01. Sveinsson (1966:173) believed that the presence of hiatus words in Kormákr's poetry was indicative of an early date of composition. Bjarni Einarsson (1971:23) pointed out, however, that if Snorri was able to reproduce such lines based on his knowledge of earlier poetry a similar "licence" could certainly have been applied by the author of Kormáks saga and, because all the manuscripts show monosyllabic forms, we cannot know whether the lines in Kormáks saga had disyllabic and consequently archaic forms or resulted from thirteenth-century poetic licence. Regardless of the phonetic status of earlier hiatus words, such forms were part and parcel of the poetic tradition from the ninth century on, and as late as the twelfth and thirteenth centuries we find the following examples (all monosyllabic in the manuscripts): Twelfth century Bkrepp 5:2 limsorg náar himni ESk Π, 2:2 serkrjódr Háars merki ESk Π, 2:6 ófátt séa knátti ESk XI, 3:8 Freys nipt bráa driptir Bjarni 1:2 fárverk bráa merki Od 8:8 margspakr gráum vargi

Thirteenth century Sturi VI, 2:6 fekksk tafn bláum hrafni

It would seem, then, that hiatus words could be reproduced at a time when disyllabicity was no longer productive and that the presence or absence of such words in dróttkvcett lines cannot be used as a criterion for dating. It should, however, be kept in mind that the hiatus words found in twelfth- and thirteenth-century dróttkvcett poetry (with the exceptions of Snorri's lines) belong to a limited group of words that were frequent from the earliest poetry onward, whereas a form like friendr (HolmgB 6:8) does not occur in later poetry.

2: Archaic Name Forms The earliest forms of such names as "I>órár," "torkell," "Úlfkell," and "HrafnkelT were di- or trisyllabic, respectively "Pórracír," "Porketill," "Ulf-

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ketiH," "Hrafnketill", and those are the forms attested in the earliest poetry: Rdr

1:1 vilid Hrafnketill heyra·, Hfr III, 16:8 sunds Porketill undan (see Einar Ol. Sveinsson 1966:176-77; Bjarni Einarsson 1971:21-22). In the skald sagas we find the following forms: Korm lv 35:8 HolmgB 8:8 BjHít lv 15:8 BjHit lv 6:4 BjHít lv 8:4 BjHít lv 17:1 fBjHít lv 21:2

sótt Porketils dóttur Pórreòr vinun óra styrr Pórreòi fyrri Pôrôr eimuni forôum ï>ôrôr vegsemi skorôu J)at vilk I>órÓr at frétti I>óròr skuld pngva vildak.

As early as the beginning of the eleventh century vacillation between earlier and later forms occurs: I>Kolb ΠΙ, 11:8 Ulfkell bláar skulfu Sighv I, 7:3 endr á Ulfkels landi Sighv ΧΙΠ, 21:8 Pórredr konung foròum Even as late as the thirteenth century, however, archaic and modem forms occur side by side in the same poem, as the following lines from Jómsvikingadrápa

show: Jóms 14:8 hœttr Porketils dóttur, Jóms 9:4 Porkell libi snjçllu. In the Third Grammatical Treatise, Oláfr ï>ôrôarson uses the older forms "Porketill" and "Pórreòr" as examples of "epenthesis" and "diereses" respectively (Edda Snorra Sturlusonar 1852:134 and 138), showing that an awareness of the longer forms obtained as late as 1250, although Olafr, like his uncle Snorri, did not appear to make the connection between the older forms and archaic practice. Einar Ol. Sveinsson uses the longer forms in Kormdks saga to indicate an early date for the poetry (1966:176-77), but, as Bjarni Einarsson points out, it is of course possible that such forms, as well as the hiatus constructions discussed above, could have resulted from a thirteenth-century skald's familiarity with earlier poetry.

Fora discussion of internal a : q rhymes, see Einar 01. Sveinsson 1966:175; Bjarni Einarsson 1971:24; and Hreinn Benediktsson 1963. Using such rhymes as a criterion for dating dróttkvuett poetry entails the same problem as using hiatus words and archaic name forms.

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3: Expletive of In 1929 two works dealing with the history and function of the expletive particle of were published independently by Hans Kuhn and Ingerid Dal. Although their conclusions differed in certain respects, they both agreed that the particle represents earlier prefixes that had been lost in Old Norse; that the incidence of of was higher in archaic than in later poetry; and that the environment in which of occurs shows chronological differences. In a more recent contribution, Bjarne Fidjestol made a statistical analysis of the correlation between age and the incidence of expletive of'm skaldic poetry from the ninth to the twelfth centuries (1989:56-57). He concluded that, although there is a clear positive correlation between age and the incidence of expletive of, the correlation is far from perfect, so that the relative incidence of of cannot be used as a criterion for dating individual poems (1989:58). Fidjest0Ps statistics are not restricted to stanzas composed in drôttkvœtt metre but include all types of poetry. On the other hand, he did not consider poetry composed after the twelfth century. If we look at the relative incidence of ofin dróttkvtett poetry over the entire period in which such poetry was being composed, we obtain the following picture. (Poetry from the fourteenth century is not noted separately, since it contains no unambiguous example of expletive of-Í Century ninth tenth eleventh twelfth thirteenth Total

% of lines 2.8 20.8 31.3 26.6 18.5 100

actual no. of of 24 96 60 25 15 220

expected no. of of 6 46 69 59 40 220

Proceeding from the assumption that the distribution of expletive of remained constant throughout the period (expected number of of), dróttkvcett poetry from the ninth and tenth centuries contains 400% and 209% more instances respectively of of than we should expect, whereas poetry from the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries has 87%, 42%, and 37.5% respectively. The

The use of the expletive particle of, urn as well as of prepositional/adverbial of, um in Old Norse prose is discussed by Peter Foote (1955:41-83). 5

The line from Grettissaga, v. 23:3 pjófr lêt hqnd ofhrífa (MSS: "|)iofr let honndum [hond ath] hnfa"; Skj A2:437), which Finnur assigns to the fourteenth century, comes from a stanza whose other characteristics suggest that it belongs to an earlier century (e.g., 23:2 bardéis ndargardi; MSS "bard els nxrr garde" ibid). So also Kuhn 1929:84.

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difference between the number of o/s in the ninth century (none of which come from lausavisur in sagas of Icelanders) and in the eleventh and the twelfth centuries is especially informative and shows that there was a sharp decrease in the usage of ofthat cannot be fortuitous. Furthermore, as both Kuhn (1929:22) and Dal (1930:191) pointed out, the combination of + noun, which occurs quite frequently in drôttkvœtt stanzas from the ninth century, ceased to be productive after the eleventh century. Consider the following examples: Ninth century (5):

Rdr 3:8 Haustl 1:6 Haustl 8:5 Haustl 16:1 Haustl 17:7 Htisdr 11:3

harma Erps of barmar trigglaust of far Jjriggja \>i varò I>órs of rúni jjyrmdit Baldrs of barmì trjónu trolls of nina Hildr en Hropts of gildar Tenth century (2): S£; A1:183, 9:8 lengr an illt of gengi seem eru J) ess of dœmi Eleventh century (1): Stúfr 8:6 sá red sins of hlyra Twelfth century (1): ísldr 17:5

The only example from the twelfth century comes from Islendingadrápa, and the suggestion has been made that the line was borrowed from an earlier stanza on which the Grettir stanza in Islendingadrápa was modelled (Kuhn 1929:33; Dal 1930:191). It seems, then, that not only the incidence of of but also the environment in which of occurs is relevant as a criterion for dating. The question is whether there are other features in the distribution of of in drôttkvœtt lines that allow us to draw conclusions about relative chronology. A look at the metrical environment in which the expletive particle occurs may help us towards an answer. Expletive of is always unstressed and always proclitic to the word it accompanies. Consequently, it can only occur in certain metrical positions in the drôttkvœtt line, that is, in position 1 with resolution in Types E3 Verbal and D2, in position 3 in Type E4, and in positions 2 or 4 in trochaic lines of Type A. The ensuing discussion of the chronological distribution of ofwithin these types of fillers will demonstrate that 1. usage of the expletive particle had in most cases ceased to be productive by the twelfth century; 2. imitation of earlier patterns containing of continued into the thirteenth century but was restricted to certain stereotyped patterns; 3. new uses of of developed in twelfth-century religious poetry, possibly under the influence of religious prose in translation. In the latter instance, ofcan occur in positions violating the metre.

6

For an overview of the metrical types and their fillers see Gade 1995:4549.

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In Type E3 Verbal, expletive of occurs in resolution with the first word of the line: Type E3 Odd Verbal: / / ί χ χ / / χ Ninth century (1): Audun lv 2:4 hvé of vélti J>at beiti Tenth century (3): Korm lv 48:7 hvat of kennum J) at henni Hfr Π, 2:3 hvat of dylôi f>ess hplàar Hfr V, 13:7 ek of hefnda svá okkar Twelfth century (2): ESk XI, 4:3 vel of hrósak Jjví visa Kolli 5:3 vel of hrósak Jíví visi The type clearly ceased to be productive after the tenth century, and the usage of o/in the two almost identical lines from the twelfth century, composed by two of Ingi Haraldsson's court poets, is incompatible with the aspectual functions of expletive of, being neither perfective nor potential (see Dal 1929; Kuhn 1929). In Type E4 Odd, of occurs in position 3, proclitically to a verb: Type E4 Odd: / / χ χ χ / / χ Ninth century (2): Haustl 3:5 Haustl 9:5 Tenth century (8): Eg I, 1:5 Eg lv 9:1 JÓr 4:7 Gróf7:5 Glúmr lv 1:3 Veil 11:3 Hfr V, 5:7 Skj Al:175,1:1 Eleventh century (2): Ótt Π, 14:3 GGullbr 1,1:3 Thirteenth century (4): Jóms 15:5 Jörns 34:5 Sí/O Π, 1:1 StjO Π, 7:5

margspakr of nam msela brunnakrs of kom bekkjar Aôalsteinn of vann annat Aleifr of kom jpfri upp angr of hófsk yngva vidlendr of bad vinda folkrakkr of vann fylkir {jrimlundr of jók ]>undi skplkving of jják skjalga Báradr of rístr báru allvaldr of getr aldar Áleifr of vinnr élum [stef\ gód sett of komr grimmu I>orleifr of vann Jjjokkva Geirviòr of nam greida Geirviôr of vá geiri

There are no lines of this type from the twelfth century containing of, and three of the four lines from the thirteenth century bear all the marks of being conscious imitations of earlier poetry attempting to accommodate disyllabic personal names in positions 1-2. In Type E4 Even, expletive of can occur proclitically to a noun in position 4, but the only example of such a combination comes from the ninth century:

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Type E4 Even: / / χ χ χ χ χ Ninth century (1): Haustl 1:6 Tenth century (4): Eg lv 8:8 Sindr 5:6 Eyv lv 6:6 Eil Π, 18:2 Eleventh century (1): Sighv VE, 5:8 Twelfth century (4): Rst 6:2 Rst 8:6 Ód 6:8 Ód 13:6

trigglaust of far Jjriggja Eyvindr of hljóp skreyja iôvandr of kom skiôum Eireks of rak geira heiôreks of kom breiôu Aleif of tók malum skotfróòr of nam rjóòa Aleifr of gait dala vígmóór of kom glóáum rjódendr of vann góóar

The four lines from the twelfth century belong to two poems commemorating Oláfr Tryggvason, namely Hallar-Steinn's Rekstefja and the anonymous Oláfs drápa Tryggvasonar, while Sighvatr's line relates to Oláfr helgi. Possibly the later occurrences represent conscious attempts to create a link with older poetry commemorating leaders with the name "Oláfr" (cf. such odd lines as Eg lv 9:1 Aleifr of kom jpfiri·, G G u l l b r I, 1:3 Aleifr of vinnr élum). The stereotyped group

of verbs in position 4, "koma," "nema," and "vinna", would seem to support that suggestion. Only one odd D2-line containing expletive ofis attested and it belongs to an anonymous stanza from the eleventh century: Skj Al:425, 6:3 pat of angraòi fiengil. There are no oddD2-lines from earlier centuries with a verb in positions 2-4 that would allow a proclitic particle in resolution in position 1, and the type did not emerge until the middle of the eleventh century, among the court poets of Haraldr haròràòi (see Kuhn 1983:311). Lines of Type D2 with a trisyllabic verb in positions 2-4 never became popular, but the one instance of such a line from the eleventh century with the expletive ofshows that (^constructions were still productive at that time. Metrically correct lines of Type A2k, which consists of the sequence / / χ χ XXX, could not accommodate the expletive of, and there are no such lines from the ninth, tenth, or eleventh centuries. In twelfth-century religious poetry we find the following two occurrences, both involving the sequence "mega" + of+ infinitive: ESk VI, 64:2 Has 2:8

hans veg megi of segja rammglyggs megi of hyggja.

Religious prose and poetry from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries show a marked fondness for ^constructions involving the auxiliary "mega" (see Dal 1929:58, 1930:206; Kuhn 1929:113). Dal suggested that this trend in religious literature could have been caused by imitations of Middle High German constructions with "magan" + ge-Infinitive (1929:62). It would appear, there-

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fore, that the two irregular A2k-lines from the twelfth century indeed resulted from a new period of productivity of expletive o/patterns in religious poetry, modelled on similar constructions in prose texts. Depending on the syllabic distribution (A 3 : S + S + S + S + SS; A ' : SS+S + S+SS; A 5 : SSS + S + SS), expletive qfcould be accommodated in positions 2 and 4 in Type A dróttkvcett lines. The chronological incidence in Type Al 3 is as follows: Type A l : / / + χ + / / + χ + XX Ninth century (1): Haustl 8:5 Tenth century (15): Eg lv 34:7 Graf 2:7 Eyv lv 13:7 Korm lv 26:1 Korm lv 41:7 Korm lv 49:1 Korm lv 50:1 Korm lv 58:5 HolmgB 1:3 Hróm 2:7 Húsdr 11:3 Ύίηάτ Hdr 9·.\ GSúrs 8:3 HfrV, 2:5 HfrV, 28:5 I>Kolb I, 3:3 Eleventh century (16): 5Kolb m, 1:7 I>Kolb lv 5:3 Sighv m, 19:3 Sighv ΧΕΙ, 6:7 Sighv x m , 8:3 Arn ΠΙ, 8:1 ï>orm lv 1:3 Hharô lv 3:3 I>jóóA 1,16:3 I>jóòA ΠΙ, 28:3 Bplv 1:3 Bjarni 5:7 Bjarni 7:3 Magri 6:7 Sveinn 1:3 ESk VI, 61:1 Twelfth century (6): ísldr 17:5 Has 3:3 Has 16:1 Has 57:7

{>á varó í>órs of nini síd man seggr of fœdask sunnr á sigr of hlynninn ítr Jjaers upp of rota hefk á holm of gengit lags á litt of hugsi hefk á holm of gengit hefk á holm of gengit vel hefr Vigr of skepta jjoll mun J>ann of kalla oss vas ádr of markadr Hildr en Hropts of gildar hrauô en Hroptr of nàôi Gauts J>ess's geig of veittak síd mun Surts of biâa veitk at vaetki of sytik aud an upp of kvxdi vangs á vatn of |)rungit enn hpfumk orkn of skeindan sett sem ádr of hvatti gôôs meguô gótt of ráóa orò J)aus oss of varôa vann Jjás Vinôr of minnir spng hpfum sár of fengit varò sús ver of gerôum hprö es heldr of oròinn hrings àôr hann of {>ryngvi holds vann hrafn of fylldan satts at sókn of veittir helt J)ví unz herr of spillti ár Jjats án of vxri fpls vid frost of alnar leyfôrs sás let of styfôan sá réô sins of hlyra mér garnis mitt of foeri hefr at hvern of rifjak hreggs at hjplp of J)iggi

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Kari Ellen Gade Ekúl I, 3:1 Thirteenth century (2): Likn 19:1 Likn 32:3

móttrs an menn of hyggi hvat megi heldr of grata lyôr ádr lausn of nseôi

The two thirteenth-century lines belong to Liknarbraut, one of them incorporating a mega-construction (Likn 19:1). There is a marked drop in the use of the expletive particle in Type Al 3 after the eleventh century, but the distribution shows that the type was still productive in the twelfth century. Type A2 3 : / / + x + x + x + / / x Ninth century (3): Bragi Π, 3:1 Haustl 14:1 Hornkl lv 1:1 Tenth century (1): GSúrs 21:1 Eleventh century (5): Sighv ΠΙ, 3:3 ï>orm lv 11:1 BjHit lv 20:7 Skúli I, 5:1 Magri 8:1

eld of J)ák af jpfri eàr of sér es jptna Hildr of red Jjvis heldu hverr of veit nema hvassan maôr of veit at msettak flestr of sér hvé fasta mér of kenndr í mundum margr of hlaut of morgin allt of frák hvé ehi

Type A23 is in general sparsely attested in dróttkvcett poetry, and there are no lines with expletive of after the eleventh century. Type A3 3 : x + x + / / + x + / / x Ninth century (1): Haustl 13:5 Eg lv 2:7 Tenth century (15): Eg lv 3:7 Eg lv 42:3 Korm lv 60:7 Korm lv 48:1 GSúrs 8:7 Halli 1:1 VGl 7:5 VG111:1 Veil 37:3 Veil 31:7 Éveil 1:7 H f r m , 6:7 Hfr ΠΙ, 19:1 Skj Al:178, 7:7 Eleventh century (7): Sighv Π, 9:7 Sighv Vn, 8:5 I>orm lv 5:3 Ótt Π, 17:5 Arn I, 2:3

¡>ats of fátt á fjalla illt hafiò bragò of brugdit vitum hvé oss of eiri mik hefr sonr of svikvinn drykk hefk yôr of aukit mjpk hafa troll of troôna Jjann lét lundr of lendan hvert hafiâ Gerôr of gprva liggr Jjeims hrafn of huggir illts á jprá of orâit jjat skyli herr of hugsa allt vann gramr of gengit jjanns viô rpgn of rignir margr là heggr of hpggvinn norôr eru pll of orôin meôan mér tvaer of tolla Yggs lét herr of hpggvit hans mun dráp of drupa pll es fremâ of fallin stpkk sem Jjjôô of Jjekkir styrk lét oss of orkat

The Dating and Attributions of Venes in the Skald Sagas Oddr Π, 1:3 Valgi, 6:3 Twelfth century (3): GullásJ) lv 2:3 Sjórs lv 3:5 Isldr 23:5 Thirteenth century (2): Ht 56:3 Skj A2:201,14:7

61

Odd hafa striò of staddan rétt vas yôr of aetlat jjinn hefr hpldr of hlannat jjat hefk hpgg of hoggvit valdr let fimm of fellda nema svát gramr of gildi ljóó sem trautt of trtSôak

Unlike Type A23, Type A33 is one of the most frequently found types of odd dróttkvatt lines, but there is a sharp decrease in the use of expletive of after the eleventh century. The two lines from the thirteenth century belong to Snorri's "Egils háttr" in Háttatal and to an anonymous stanza in Njals saga. Type A 3 Even: / / + x + x + x + xx Ninth century (3): Rdr 4:4 Rdr 8:6 Haustl 8:6 Tenth century (12): Eg lv 3:8 Eg lv 16:6 Eg lv 43:8 Hróm 2:4 Tjprvi 1:4 GSúrs 23:2 VG11:4 Veil 22:4 Hfr ΠΙ, 21:2 Hfr ΠΙ, 24:4 Hfr V, 25:4 Skj A1-.1S3, 9:8 Eleventh century (13): GDropl lv 1:4 GDropl lv 5:4 Sighv XII, 17:6 Sighv ΧΠ, 26:2 Sighv ΧΙΠ, 27:2 ï>orm lv 19:6 Ótt Π, 10:8 í>jóóA IV, 1:6 Bjarni 3:8 Bjarni 6:8 Stúfr 8:6 I>Skall 2:4 Skj Al:431,11:6 Twelfth century (1): ESk VI, 62:4 Thirteenth century (1): StjO Π, 4:8

hendr sem foetr of kenndusk hais en bpls of fyllda Jiungr vas Loptr of sprunginn pi J>ats Bàrôr of signdi nom til arfs of borna Blundr ek slikt of undrumk aôr né gaer of ràôinn áór á vegg of fáóa dis til svefns of visât garó an oss of varòi fpr til Sogns of gprva muni madr striò of bida sumr eòa brott of kumnum gramr ok jarl of framdan lengr an illt of gengi sunnr vas harmr of unninn endr siz vig of bendak I>róttr hinns framm of sótti dœgn of send at hendi erut of spprò ór Gpròum seggr skyli orò of foròask eldr ok reyk of beldir jprô muna Sveinn of varôa skjótt lézk Knút of sóttan jprò of fekk ór Gpròum seem eru J>ess of deemi hélt í tryggò of véltan yôr mun feigò of byrjuô dyggr an Jjjóò of hyggi hirò sás vprn of firôisk

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Type A 3 Even remained a high-incidence pattern over the entire period of dróttkvcett composition, but the sharp drop in the number of lines containing expletive of in the twelfth century suggests that o/constractions were no longer productive after the eleventh century. The lines from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries respectively belong to Einarr Skúlason's Geisli and the anonymous Stjprnu-Odda draumr (cf. Type E4 Odd, above). T y p e ΑΙ 4 : / / χ + / / + χ + XX Ninth century (1): Haustl 17:7 Eleventh century (3): EdàÔ 4:7 Ótt Π, 7:5 Valg 9:1 ESk XI, 10:3 Twelfth century (3): Rst 8:3

Ód7:7

trjónu trolls of runa virfils vitt of herjaâ hpfòu hart of krafdi dvpldu daprt of skilda fjprnis fagrt of skornir Jmndregns J>eim of vandak vpgnu vitt of eignaôr

Since only eleven Airlines from the ninth and tenth centuries are attested, the absence of (^constructions of this type in the tenth century is not surprising. Al'-lines increased in incidence in the eleventh century, and the three lines containing of from the twelfth century indicate that of might still have been productive. After the twelfth century there are no examples of the expletive particle in association with Type Al 4 . T y p e A2 4 : / / x + χ + χ + / / χ Ninth century (1): Q l v 2:1 Tenth century (4): Korm lv 29:1 Korm lv 32:5 Korm lv 56:1 HolmgB 3:5

lpgôis hefr of lagda gpngu vask of genginn trauôla mák of tœja visu munk of vinna glikan hefr of gprvan

Ninth- and tenth-century poetry contains a total of sixty-one A24-lines but although the type remained in use in the following centuries there are no further examples with expletive of Since all the tenth-century lines come from Kormaks saga, it is tempting to suggest that such constructions were characteristic of Kormákr's (and Bersi's) poetry. T y p e A3 4 : xx + / / + χ + / / χ Ninth century (1): Haustl 16:1 Tenth century (3): Eg lv 43:7 Korm lv 32:1 BBreiôv 4:1 Eleventh century (1): ÏOrm lv 1:5

¡Dyrmáit Baldrs of barmi máttit bpls of bindask mákak hitt of hyggja myndit Hlin of hyggja njergis hrafns of hefna.

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(^constructions in Type A3 4 were clearly not productive after the beginning of the eleventh century. The line from Kormákr's lausavtsa 32 seems to confirm the suggestion that such lines could have been characteristic of Kormákr's poetry (see the examples under A24 above). Type A 4 Even: / / x + χ + χ + xx Ninth century (5): Rdr 3:8 harma Erps of b armar Rdr 10:8 hringa j)eir of fingi Haustl 14:2 òtti let of sóttan Haustl 20:6 garôi {jaer of farôir Auôun 1:2 megja hverr of segja Eg VI, 1:8 hregna min of fregna Tenth century (9): Eg lv 13:6 grundar upp of hrundit Eg lv 34:2 silki drengr of fengit Leiknir 1:2 sjaldan hefr of faldit VG111:8 Gefnar mák of hefna VG1 3:4 vargi opt of borgit Veil 26:8 dróttinn fund of soni Veil 35:4 hléôut fast of séôir Bárcír 1:4 skyldak einn of halda gengit jarl of fenginn Eleventh century (5): Sighv 1,13:8 Hókr 2:6 hafdi jarl of krafda Arn V, 19:8 hrimi fast of limat E{>ver 1:8 Gestils klauf of festa Skj Al:430, -9:8 sveita urôr of heitin Mark ΙΠ, 1:4 aldar Kristr of valda Twelfth century (2): Has 58:4 saettir skjóls of vaetta. After the eleventh century, there are only two lines of Type A4 Even with the expletive particle. Both are from religious poetry and involve the construction "mega" + of + Infinitive: Mark ΙΠ, 1:4 [md] aldar Kristr of valda, Has 58:4 [megum] saettir skjóls of vtetta. We must conclude therefore that, with the exception of the new religious usage, o/constructions in Type A4 had ceased to be produttive by the end of the eleventh century. Type A 5 Odd: / / x x + χ + / / x Ninth century (2): Rdr 18:3 Haustl 19:7 Tenth century (7): Eyv lv 12:3 Korm lv 23:3 GSúrs 25:3 Veil 25:3 Veil 15:3 Eil ΠΙ, 19:7 Hfr ΠΙ, 10:3

hrakkviáll of hrokkinn stala vikr of stokkin birkihind of bundit gamdis vangs of gengna fjardar elgs of folgit f>r0ngvimeiâr of Jjryngvi herjum kunn of herjuô brautar lids of beitti fremra mann of finna

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Although odd lines of Type A5 were quite common throughout the period of dróttkvatt composition, there are no examples with expletive of after the tenth century, and it is clear that o/constructions in odd A5-lines had ceased to be productive by the eleventh century. Type A 5 Even: / / x x + χ + xx Ninth century (2): Rdr 15:4 Rdr 14:4 Tenth century (15): Eg lv 24:8 Eg VIH, 1:2 Eyv lv 8:8 Eyv lv 9:6 Gráf 4:4 Korm I, 6:6 Korm lv 14:4 Korm lv 49:4 Korm lv 50:4 GSúrs 8:6 VG1 5:6 Eskál Π, 1:4 Veil 9:4 Veil 26:6 Pdr 20:8 Eleventh century (6): Sighv Π, 4:4 Sighv XI, 13:4 Sighv ΧΕΙ, 17:2 Ótt Π, 16:4 ]>jóáA 1,14:4 ï>fisk lv 3:6 Twelfth century (2): ESk VIE, 2:4 6d 14:8 14:8 Thirteenth century (6):Jóms 1:6 Jóms 43:4 Sturi VI, 2:2 Skj A2.-142,18:4 Skj A2:204, 25:4

endiseids of kenndi jardar reist of freista undar bliks of fundinn varrar lungs of stunginn Mellu dolgs of folginn jptna dolgs of folginn grundar vprôr of fundinn vxgja kind of baegjask engisax of genginn annat sinn of rinna Jmdja sinn of kviâja grímu Drótt of sóttan J)jósti keyrôr of ljósta Rínar grjót of Jjrjóta rœkilundr of tœki Hprôa valdr of faldinn Ellu steins of bella Agôir nier of lagôan hplâa kytt of stytta dróttinrétt of sóttu ifla fold of goldit sunnudags of unninn virôum kunn of unninn Simon skalpr of hjalpask hingat nordr of orôinn Yggjar bjór of foera Yggjar lif of Jjiggja Hprôa valdr of faldinn Ingimundr of fundinn bylgju logs of fylgja

Again there is a sharp drop in the incidence of «^constructions after the eleventh century and yet, strangely enough, the poetry from the thirteenth century shows a higher percentage of expletive of m even A5-lines than that from the eleventh century. Two of the lines from the thirteenth century belong to Bjarni Kolbeinsson's Jómsvíkingadrápa and, as has emerged from the discussion of archaic name forms above, Bjarni's poetry does indeed display archaic features that are not in keeping with thirteenth-century practice (see also his odd E4lines, above). The same can be said of the anonymous stanzas from Stjpmu-Odda

The Dating and Attributions of Verses in the Skald Sagas

65

draumr, which are represented by one even A5-line containing o/(cf. 1:1 Geirvidr of nam graba, 7:5 Geirvidr of vd geiri, 4:8 hirò sás vprrt of firòisk). Of the remaining three lines from the thirteenth century, two belong to anonymous stanzas from Sturlunga saga and Njóls saga respectively, while the last line comes from Sturla Dóráarson's Hákonarflokkr and imitates a line from Einarr skálaglammr's Vellekla(d. Veil 26:6 Hprdavaldr offaldinri). Examination of the chronological incidence of expletive of in specific metrical environments has yielded the following results: 1. In most cases there is a sharp decrease in the use of the expletive particle after the eleventh century. 2. In some types (E4 Even, Al3, A33, A5 Even) «^constructions continued to be used after the eleventh century, in some instances in stereotyped contexts - for example, associated with earlier Oláfr-poetry (Type E4). 3. In eleventh-century poetry of occurs in patterns that in the ninth and tenth centuries were either non-existent (D2 Odd with a verb in positions 2-4) or extremely rare (Al*). In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries expletive of may occur in positions that entail clear metrical violations (A2k). 4. Religious poetry of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries displays a productive use of the expletive particle in the combination "mega" + of + Infinitive that appears to be modelled on a similar practice in religious prose. 5. Certain twelfth- and thirteenth-century poems display a higher percentage of of than would be expected ijómsvíkingadrápa, stanzas from Stjçmu-Odda draumr, and the anonymous Oláfs drápa Tryggvasonar), but the expletive particle mainly occurs in earlier high-incidence patterns (e.g., A5 Even). In those cases, we might justifiably speak of conscious archaicization or of poetry modelled on earlier stanzas displaying archaic features (cf. also Sturla's borrowing from Vellekla). The last point brings up the question whether a thirteenth-century skald would have been able to produce archaicized dróttkvcett poetry based on models from earlier centuries. The above discussion has indicated that dróttkvcett poetry that Finnur Jónsson assigned to the tenth century displays features consistent with ninth- to eleventh-century usage, but contains none of the features peculiar to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Although a poet like Bjarni Kolbeinsson could use archaic name forms and the expletive of m his poetry (consciously or unconsciously modelled on earlier usage), it is unlikely that a thirteenth-century skald would have been able, in a consistent and correct fashion, to reproduce metrical patterns with expletive of that were no longer productive after the eleventh century. Furthermore, we would expect such poetry also to display features consistent with thirteenth-century poetic conventions, that is, metrical types peculiar to later centuries. This latter possibility will be explored in more detail in the last sections of this chapter.

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ΙΠ. New Criteria for Dating 1: Lines of the T y p e brestr erfiòi Austra T h e earliest dróttkvcett poetry contains odd lines of Types Β and C with a preposition, verb, or connective in anacrusis. Consider the following examples: Type B:

Type C:

Rdr 8:5 Haustl 2:3 Haustl 2:7 Rdr 3:7 Rdr 8:3 Rdr 1:1

J)ás Hristisif hringa í gemlis ham gpmlum vasa Byrgityr bjarga J)ás hrafnbláir hefnôu til fárhuga fœra vilid Hrafnketill heyra

In Types Β and C , the first internal rhyme falls in positions 2, 3, or 4, and the word in anacrusis is always metrically unmarked. A t the beginning of the eleventh century, however, new types of B- and C-lines developed in which the first internal rhyme was placed in position 1 directly before the first alliterating stave. 7 These types, which here are designated as Types X B and X C respectively, first occur in the encomiastic poetry of Pórdr Kolbeinsson and seem to have originated in his attempt t o accommodate the place name "Hringmaraheiôr" in dróttkvcett lines (see K u h n 1969; 1983:111): Type X C : I>Kolb ΙΠ, 12:7 Sighv I, 7:5 Ótt Π, 9:3 Arn V, 24:3 Type X B : ï>Kolb m , 13:7 Sighv ΧΙΠ, 2:1 ÊjôâA IV, 19:1

rauô //ringmaraMôi stôô i/ringmaraAeiÔi rauô TfringmaraAeiÔi brestr erfiôi Austra gait iilmis lió ¿jaita hlyô minum brag meiôir slyngr /augardag /pngu

Types X B and X C gained popularity rapidly, and, as the following numbers show, they occurred quite frequently in eleventh-, twelfth-, and thirteenthcentury dróttkvcett:

For an exhaustive discussion of this metrical innovation, see Kuhn 1969. In his discussion of metrical types, Kuhn groups these lines under the categories B1 (our Type XB) and Ck3 (our Type X C ) respectively (see Kuhn 1983:92-93,14142, 145-46).

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The Dating and Attributions of Verses in the Skald Sagas

Century

Type Β

Type XB

%

Type C

TypeXC

%

Eleventh

21

11

34,4

163

39

193

Twelfth

9

5

35,7

101

29

20,9

Thirteenth

4

2

33,3

98

12

10,9

In comparison, dróttkvxtt poetry from the ninth century contains 38 C-lines and 7 B-lines: of these, only one line could possibly be construed as Type XB: Haustl 9:3 sás ellilyf ása. But given that Pjóòólfr in general avoids full rhyme in odd lines, it seems justifiable to regard the line as an example of háttlausa (lack of internal rhyme) rather than as an XB-line. The corpus of tenth-century dróttkvcett in Skj A l contains 9 B-lines and 209 C-lines. There are no examples of Type XB, but the following lines may be classified as Type X C (1.8% of all Clines): Type XC: Eg lv 37:1 VG11:5 Skj Al:186,1:3 Skj Al:177,1:3

nytr îllsQgull ytir verdr ¿ródrskotat AarÔla áÓr Síyrbjarnar stœài réô si konungr iiÖan

Two lines are anonymous, and Egill's line belongs to a stanza containing other features that led Kuhn to doubt its authenticity (1983:262). It is of course also possible that the initial rhymes in the two lines fromEgils saga and Víga-Glúms saga are coincidental. There is no evidence that later skalds regarded lines of Types XB and X C as a recent development, and given the fact that such constructions occur as early as the beginning of the eleventh century, there is no reason why they should have. As far as the skald sagas are concerned, none of the sagas whose action is set prior to the eleventh century contain verses with examples of Types XC or XB, whereas sagas such as Bjarnarsaga and Fóstbraeòra saga, whose constituent verses were allegedly composed after I>óròr Kolbeinsson's Eiriksdrdpa (1014), contain the following examples: BjHit 13:7 Dorm lv 3:3s I>orm lv 22:7

J>ats nersóka feiti varar ¿ógliga hvcrju fekk ¿enjjiôurr Makkan

In the thirteenth century, Snorri used XB- and XC-lines quite frequently and without comment in his Háttatal: Ht 11:3 laetr gylôis kyn gáti Ht 13:3 lytr ¿wágjafa /trum

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Kari Ellen Gade

Ht 40:5 Ht 52:1 Ht 52:3

veldr ¿ertogi ¿jaldri sxr sèjpldungs nidr ífcúrum hrindr gunnfana grundar

If the distribution of Types XB and XC remained relatively constant throughout the skaldic period and if the drèttkvœtt poetry in the early skald sagas indeed were composed later, we should have expected those stanzas to contain at least some examples of internal rhyme in anacrusis. The poetry of Kormaks saga, for instance, contains 26 C-lines and should, according to the percentages given above, have contained 5 lines (eleventh century), 5.4 lines (twelfth century), or 2.8 lines (thirteenth century) of Type XC.

2: Irregular Even Lines of Type E3 Even lines of Type E3 consist of the metrical sequence / / χ χ χ / / x, in which the word in position 4 is a monosyllabic verb, adverb, substantival pronoun, or bimoric nomen. Because of syntactic and metrical restrictions, that position cannot be occupied by a form word (preposition, proclitic particle, connective), and lines of the eddaic type Vsp 38:3 Nástrpndo á can therefore not be accommodated in dróttkvcett metre.8 Dróttkvcett poetry from the ninth century contains no even E3-lines in which position 4 is occupied by a preposition or a particle, and in the tenth century we find only one line, namely Hast 2:8 vdrs fundar til skunda. In later centuries, however, when metrical constraints began to relax, such lines became more frequent, as the following examples show: Eleventh century: *BjHit 9:2 sviptr auôi ok giptu (MS "suiptur aud og giptu": Skj Al:302) *BjHit 17:7 hafviggjar fyr hneigi (MS "hafni qer iyrer hneigi": Skj Al:303) *BjHit 24:4 skólkynnis at jólum (MS "skol iat iolom": Skj Al:305) Grett lv 9:6 griòa tóku at idrask tjóòA I, 3:6 sannrádinn frá láói Bplv 4:2 bprd renndusk at jprôu Magri 10:2 Sveins fundar til stundum Twelfth century: ESk VI, 6:8 himins vistar til kristni Rv 2:8 Bjprgynjar til dynja Arm 1:4 élstoerir at fœra Máni 1:2 Bjprgynjar til mprgum

The eddaic line from Vqluspá is quoted from Edda 1962. On the metrical rule see Kuhn 1983:122; Gade 1995:41-42.

The Dating and Attributions of Verses in the Skald Sagas

ísldr 15:2 Ekúl 5:6 PI 33:8 PI 55:2 PI 55:8 Thirteenth century: Jörns 10:2 Ltkn 33:8 Ltkn 35:8 Skj A2:147,47:2 Skj A2:203,24:2

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einvigis til hreina sins hjarta til bjanir sverôhriôar til vida fóstrlanda til stranda Langbarôa til jardar Danmarkar til styrkir lifs hafnar til stafni óvenju til spenjast heims myrkrum fra jjeima dómreynir til sòma

Although Type E3 is one of the most common fillers of even lines in tenthcentury dróttkvcett stanzas, the verse in the skald sagas contains no lines in which position 4 is occupied by a form word. The three examples from Bjgrn's poetry all represent conjectural emendations on the part of modern editors, where the original text is beyond reconstruction.

3: fyr and fyrir According to Finnur Jónsson, the older monosyllabic form of the preposition fyr was replaced in the twelfth century by the disyllabic fyrir (1933:46-47). Consequently, we should expect the new disyllabic form to occur as a disyllabic filler in dróttkvíett lines from the twelfth century on. The only positions that could accommodate this disyllabic form of the preposition were positions 3-4 in even lines of Type A2k ( / / χ χ χ χ χ). Dróttkvcett poetry from the ninth and tenth centuries has no A2k-lines containing/ynr, but in later poetry we find the following examples: Eleventh century:

Háv 6:8 ï>jôôA IV, 1:2 Twelfth century: Biarni 3:2 Od 19:8 Skj Al:592,4:4 Thirteenth century: Lkn 44:8

gunnbliks fyrir runnum gein haus fyrir steini hauôrgjçrô fyrir borÔum jarls rád fyrir hjarli landgardr fyrir bardi vist lyôs fyrir pislum

Possibly Finnur's dating of the change may be a little late, since the disyllabic form of the preposition began to be used as early as the eleventh century. Notwithstanding, none of the A2k-lines from the ninth and tenth centuries in Skj Al contains disyllabic fyrir, despite the fact that Type A2k was the most frequent filler of even dróttkvcett lines in the tenth century (294 lines). '

See Bjamarsaga 1938:144,162, and 198 and chapter 4 in this volume.

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IV. Dating of drotikvaitt poetry: a test case The above discussion has shown that dróttkvcett stanzas found in the skald sagas display features consistent with the practice of early poetry, that is, a high incidence of the expletive particle of as well as of occurring in metrical environments that were no longer productive after the eleventh century. Conversely, with the exception of the eleventh-century stanzas from Bjarnar saga and Fóstbraeòra saga, the corpus of stanzas as a whole fails to exhibit features that we would expect from poetry composed in later centuries (XB- and XClines; irregular even Type E4 lines; disyllabic fyrir). The question is whether these circumstances are coincidental and whether the criteria outlined above in reality are valid for determining the relative chronology of dróttkvcett poetry. A look at the extant portions of three longer dróttkvcett poems from the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth centimes may shed some light on that issue. The poems in question are Hallfreôr's Erfidrápa Oláfs Tryggvasonar (Hfr III: 29 stanzas; 210 lines), Sighvatr's Erfidrápa Oláfs Haraldssonar (Sighv XII: 28 stanzas; 206 lines), and the anonymous Oláfs drápa Tryggvasonar (Od: 28 stanzas; 218 lines), which in Bergsbók is attributed to HallfrecSn "er Halfredr orti vandrseda skald" (Skj Al:573). The results of the examination can be summarized as follows: Expletive of: Tenth century:

Hfr ΙΠ, 6:7 Hfr m, 19:1 Hfr ΠΙ, 21:2 Hfr ΠΙ, 24:4 Hfr ΠΙ, 10:3 Sighv ΧΠ, 17:6 Sighv ΧΠ, 26:2 Ód 6:8 Ód 13:6 Ód7:7 Ód 14:8

margr là heggr of hpggvinn norôr eru pli of oròin muni maòr striò of bída sumr eòa brott of kumnum fremra mann of finna I>róttr hinns framm of sótti doegn of sent at hendí vígmóór of kom glóòum rjóòendr of vann góòar vpgnu vítt of eignaôr hingat norôr of orôinn

Ódll-.b Ód 28:5

lét ófáum ytis J>vít skyranna skreytir

Irregular E3-lines Eleventh century:

Sighv ΧΠ, 2:2

o$s neista ok |>ar reisti

Fyrir Twelfth century:

Ód 19:8

jarls ráó fyrir hjarli

Eleventh century: Twelfth century:

Type XC Twelfth century:

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As far as expletive ofis concerned, the relative distribution of the particle in the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth centuries would lead us to expect the following percentages: H f r ΠΙ, 2.72% (actual % 2.39); Sighv XII, 1.13% (actual % .97); Ód .55% (actual % 1.83). Thus the percentage of of va Hallfreòr's and Sighvatr's panegyrics is slightly below the expected range, whereas the incidence in Od is above average. However, when we look at the metrical environment in which the particle occurs, the picture changes somewhat. Hallfreòr's poem contains an odd A5-line with of in position 4 (Hfr ΙΠ, 10:3 fremra mann of finna), a construction that ceased to be productive after the tenth century, whereas two out of four examples from Od (E4: Od 6:8 vigmóòr of kom glóòum, 13:6 rjóòendr ofvann góÒar) contain fillers peculiar to "Óláfr"-panegyrics and a third line, Od 14:8 hingat noròr of oròinn, echoes H f r III, 19:1 noròr eru pll of orèin. Conversely, Od displays features consistent with the poetic conventions of later centuries, such as two lines of Type XC and one occurrence of disyllabic jyrir. Sighvatr's poem contains an irregular E3-line, with resolution in position 4. We may conclude, then, that although twelfth-century skalds could certainly have imitated archaic constructions that were known to them from older poetry, they would not have been able to reproduce consistently patterns and fillers that had ceased to be productive one or two hundred years earlier. Furthermore, twelfth- or thirteenth-century poets had learned to compose within the framework of contemporary conventions, so that their poetry would necessarily mirror the characteristics of their own period, as was the case when the anonymous creator of Oláfs drápa Tryggvasonar composed a poem that later ages attributed to Oláfr's court poet, "Hallfreôr vandraeóaskáld".

V. The Poetry in the Skald Sagas The dróttkvcett poetry contained in the four skald sagas Kormáks saga, Hallfreòar saga, Bjarnarsaga, and Gunnlaugs saga displays none of the features associated with the poetry of later centuries. Furthermore, the stanzas in Kormáks saga and Hallfreòar saga, in particular, are characterized by a high incidence of the expletive particle of: Korm Korm Korm Korm Korm Korm Korm Korm

lv 14:4 lv 23:3 lv 26:1 lv 29:1 lv 32:1 lv 32:5 lv 41:7 lv 48:1

engisax of genginn gamdis vangs of gengna hefk á holm of gengit gpngu vask of genginn mákak hitt of hyggja traudla mák of toeja lags á litt of hugsi mipk hafa troll of troöna

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Kari Ellen Gade Korm lv 48:7 Korm lv 49:1 Korm lv 49:4 Korm lv 50:1 Korm lv 50:4 Korm lv 56:1 Korm lv 58:5 Korm lv 60:7 HolmgB 1:3 HolmgB 3:5 Hfr V, 2:5 Hfr V, 5:7 Hfr V, 13:7 Hfr V, 25:4 Hfr V, 28:5

hvat of kennum }>at henni hefk á holm of gengit annat sinn of rinna hefk á holm of gengit Jjriôja sinn of kvidja visu munk of vinna vel hefr Vigr of skepta drykk hefk yôr of aukit Jjoll mun j>ann of kalla glikan hefr of gprvan siö mun Surts of bida skplkving of J>ák skjalga ek of hefnda svá okkar gramr ok jarl of framdan veitk at vaetki of sytik

Kormákr's poetry contains one odd A5-line with expletive of (Korm lv 23:3 gamòis vangs ofgengna), a filler that, as we have seen, never occurs in drôttkvœtt poetry from the eleventh through the thirteenth centuries. The incidence of expletive of in Kormákr's stanzas is higher than expected (3.25%), whereas in Bersi's stanzas it is slightly lower (1.92%). Hallfreòr's lausavísur contain almost exactly the same percentage of the expletive of as his Erfidrápa (2.35% versus 2.39%). The lausavísur attributed to I>óròr Kolbeinsson andBjprn Hitdœlakappi contain two instances of expletive of (t>Kolb lv 5:3 enn hpfumk orkn ofskeindan; BjHit lv 20:7 mér of kenndr í mundum) and, in addition, Bjprn's lv 13 contains an XC line, indicating a date of composition after 1014 (the presumed date of t>órár's Eiríksdrápa). The one hundred and twenty dróttkvcBtt lines attributed to Gunnlaugr and Hrafn in Gunnlaugs saga have no examples of the expletive particle of. The lausavísur in Bjarnar saga and Gunnlaugs saga present problems with regard to both interpretation and dating. First of all, several of the stanzas are corrupt, and the various attempts at "restoration" by modern editors usually entail violations of metrical and syntactic patterns (cf. the lines from Bjamar saga mentioned above). Secondly, the poetic corpus in both sagas is comparatively small (I>ór5r Kolbeinsson: 80 lines; Bjprn Hitdœlakappi: 173 lines; Gunnlaugr ormstunga: 96 lines; Hrafn Qnundarson: 24 lines), and will consequently be less apt to display low-incidence features characteristic of later centuries such as irregular E3-lines and disyllabic fyrir. Thirdly, in addition to blatant borrowing (lv 29 in Bjarnar saga and lv 27 in Eyrbyggja saga·, lv 20 in Gunnlaugs saga and lv 3 in Kormaks saga) some stanzas in Bjarnar saga and a great number of stanzas in Gunnlaugs saga echo lines from earlier poetry, a fact

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that could11speak in favour of late dates of composition.10 Consider the following ι examples: (Nauma) nídleiks (Nauma) niôbrands GSúrs 15:2 ara steikar skarar landa átt mun fyròa frétta BjHít 22:3 ógn hefk fyrda fregna GSúrs 21:3 gótt ór hverjum draumi BjHít 22:7 heim ór hverjum draumi GSúrs 18:4 austr af unnar hesti Gunnl 5:7 austr fyr unnar hesti Eg lv 8:7 rœkik litt })ótt leiki Gunnl 6:1 roekik litt {sótt leiki Hróm2:5 bvarfat aptr áór erfdan Gunnl 4:5 hverfkak aptr ádr arfl Veil 13:1 ár Jjótt eigi vaerak Gunnl 6:7 ord at eigi veròak GSúrs 29:3 litt mun halr enn hvíti Gunnl 8:5 litt sá hgldr enn hvíti Hfr V, 17:1 nús mágrennir minna Gunnl 10:7 Jjvís menryri minni VG19:7 Gunnl 12:7 lands til Lysigunnar Korm lv 18:7 Lysigrund í landi Gunnl 13:5 hér varó mgrg í morgin Skj Al:425,6:5 nú sér mçrg í morgin Gunnl 12:6 svçrt augu mér bauga Korm lv 6:1 svçrt augu berk Sága friôr í fçgru biódi Hrafn 1:3 vasri brúdr í biódi GSúrs 29:7 fadmr jjinn rodinn mínu Hrafh 1:4 beör Jñnn rodinn mínu GSúrs 29:8 lind ofroekdar bindask Hrafn 1:8 linn hçggdreyrga binda Hfr V, 19:8 regns sínum vin fregna Hrafn 3:8 Jjegns hugrekki fregna GSúrs 37:4 (Hrafn 3:5-8 echoes GSúrs 37:1-4 as to content) áttgódrar mér tródu I>orkell 1:2 arms góóa mér tródu Hfr V, 3:6 bliks hardara miklu I>orkell 1:8 bliks fungara miklu Brúsi 1:8 hrynjeld at J>at brynju Skj Al:428,1:4 hrynfiski mik brynju Gráf%:2 Skj Al:428,2:1 roôit vas sverò en sverda Hfr V, 11:1 eitt es sverò Jjats sverda sverdaudgan mik gerdi Skj Al:428, 2:2 Sverôrçgnir mik gerdi Hfr V, 11:2 BjHit 20:2

The echoes of earlier poetry in the stanzas of Gunnlattgs saga are too numerous to be fortuitous. Admittedly, there is scholarly uncertainty about the early dating of the verses attributed to Gísli Súrsson (see chapter 6 in this volume). Also, we cannot exclude an early poetic tradition attached to Gunnlaugr, since Snorri cites one half-stanza attributed to Gunnlaugr in his Skaldskaparmól (Edda Snorra Sturiusonar 1848:410; Gunnl lv 12:1-4). Nonetheless, it is tempting to agree with earlier scholars who tend to regard most of the stanzas in Gunnlaugs saga as spurious (see Björn M. Ólsen 1911:46-49; Poole 1981). Leaving the possibility open that most if not all of the dróttkvcett stanzas in Gunnlaugs saga (and perhaps a portion of the later stanzas in Bjarnar saga) are the work of later skalds, we must conclude that the lausavisur in Kormáks saga and Hattfreòar saga bear all the marks of having been composed prior to 1014. That is not to say that each and every stanza in Kormáks saga is authentic but,

On this question see further chapters 4 and 5 in this volume.

See also Bjarnar saga 1938:xlvii and n. 2.

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bearing in mind the large corpus of lines (616) that show few traces of later metrical and linguistic developments, we must conclude that the poetry in the oldest skald saga was not composed by its thirteenth-century author. Whatever the impetus behind the composition of the first skaldic biography might have been, the bulk of the poetry on which the saga narrative was based antedated the earliest Provençal troubadour lyric by almost two hundred years.

Certain stanzas in Kormdkssaga contain syntactic and metrical constructions that cast doubt on their authenticity, such as v. 57:7 styrôu ei d mik Steingeròr (the late negation "ei" and a disyllabic compound in the cadence); v. 19:3 Itknsynirrnérlúka (position 4 in an odd E3-line occupied by a pronoun); vv. 52:8 sonr Qgmundar skaldit and 57:3 vid skulum dalkinn dàla (suffixed enclitic articles). See also Einar 01. Sveinsson 1966:173-74.

Skaldsagas - RGA-E Band 27 - Seiten 75-124 © Copyright 2000 Walter de Gruyter · Berlin · New York

The Relation between Verses and Prose in Bjarnar saga Hitdœlakappa By EDITH MAROLD

Preliminary Remarks An investigation of lausavisur in a saga must satisfy two requirements. On the one hand, it must consider the function of the stanzas, in the context of a genre that exploits the tension between prose and poetry and at the same time also makes use of the different possibilities of these types of discourse. On the other hand, due regard must be paid to the fact that the voices of two and perhaps even more authors are heard in the type of prosimetrum found in the sagas. In contrast to Latin prosimetrum, for instance, the stanzas and the prose can originate with different authors. A fundamental assumption is that the inset stanzas came to the saga author primarily from literary tradition, though naturally the possibility that he himself also composed stanzas cannot be excluded. Consequently the stanzas can be examined in two principal ways. These, borrowing terminology from linguistics, I shall term respectively synchronic and diachronic.

1. The synchronic approach We adopt a synchronic approach when we inquire into the relations and functions of the stanzas in their prose context. In contrast to the kings' sagas and other historical texts, where stanzas and poems are cited predominantly as a source of documentation and thus are to be categorized as a quotation within the narrator's discourse, stanzas in the sagas of Icelanders predominantly represent discourse at the level of the characters. In doing so, they stand side by side with direct and indirect speech. It is the role of a poetological investigation to inquire into the functions of this character-oriented discourse in the saga.

See further the discussion in chapter 6 of this volume.

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Relatively few theoretical discussions are available to assist us in discussing this aspect. Russell Poole (1989) identifies content functions such as characterization or stereotypic treatment of a saga personage; discourse functions such as point of view, narrative retardation, and creation of climaxes; and finally tropological functions that hinge upon the figurative language used in the verse. Guórún Ingólfsdóttir (1990) refers to four functions: content, which includes the intensification of character portrayal; point of view, which includes creation of reader rapport with the characters (e.g., in the love verses); narrative technique, which includes heightening of suspense through the use of verses describing dreams and premonitions; and finally ornamentation and entertainment, which include the use of natural descriptions, satirical stanzas, and virtuoso pieces. To add in some further considerations, first and foremost the communicative situation can be made explicit. Who are the speaker and addressee? In some cases, they may be characters participating in the action or even an anonymous audience but stanzas can also be thought of as monologues or soliloquies. As to the content, it is important to note how the stanzas can be used to bring in themes and aspects of the action within the narration so as to place them in a particular perspective. Dialogue stanzas can contribute effects of retrospection or foreshadowing and, like other speeches, can of course also can be used as a means of characterization, by virtue of the attitudes and values they express. In pursuing a synchronic approach, of course, we must not overlook the fact that considerable discrepancies between stanza and prose context sometimes occur. Where such contradictions arise, and they are definitely a feature of Bjarnarsaga Hitdoelakappa, we should avoid assuming incompetence on the part of the saga author (since he could readily have adapted his context to fit the stanza) or even his ability to comprehend the stanza but instead begin by accepting that the principal function of the stanza does not he in total conformity to the prose context. Obviously, though, the stanzas cannot be viewed exclusively as simple, versified speeches on the part of characters. The function of the stanza must be examined in each individual case, which in certain instances may lead vis to the conclusion that only a single aspect of the stanza is relevant to the narrative treatment, while the remaining discrepant elements are more or less ignored.

2. The diachronic approach When the sagas of Icelanders expressly present their characters as historical personages, an impression is necessarily created that stanzas spoken by these characters originate at the time the story takes place, i.e. the tenth and early eleventh centuries. Until comparatively recently, that was largely taken on faith,

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although even so conservative a scholar as Finnur Jónsson rejected some socalled "spurious" stanzas. Scepticism concerning the authenticity of the verses is much greater nowadays, yet conclusive arguments still remain elusive. In this respect metrical and stylistic analysis can offer a measure of assistance (see chapter 3 in this volume). In principle, however, the stanzas of a saga can originate in one of three ways: with the saga author, or with the historical personage depicted in the saga, or with an anonymous author who placed the stanza in the mouth of the historical personage, so that it was transmitted to the saga author as an element in (oral) tradition. To elaborate on the second of these possibilities for a moment, attributions of verses to a named poet in the sagas of Icelanders will always be subject to uncertainties about their "authenticity". Among the other questions to be asked, were the lausavisur, insofar as they genuinely represent independent stanzas, composed as impromptu pieces, as they are presented in the saga dialogue, or did they originate within narratives of some kind? If the latter, was the combination of narrative text and verse a form of some antiquity that played a part in establishing the lausavisa genre? Add to this that research on various saga lausavisur has repeatedly come up with the conclusion that they were not originally independent stanzas but in reality belonged to extended poems of the flokkr or visur type. The most cogent arguments in this respect are those based on cohesion of content and on repetition of stylistic and possibly also metrical and lexical features. It is also indicative if stanzas that cohere in terms of content are placed within a very sketchy or obviously fabricated prose context or one which is at variance with the content of the verses. At the same time, the ability to reconstruct these extended poems in no way guarantees that they are the work of the historical skald whose name is attached to them in the saga narrative. Like the lausavisur, they might well have been composed later. Another question we need to take up concerns the genealogical relationship between the stanza and its prose context. Here we ask ourselves what material the saga author had at his disposal and how he availed himself of it. Even if a definitive answer cannot always be found, the results may shed light on the relationship between tradition and authorial invention. Where this genealogical relationship is concerned, then, the following array of possibilities can be envisaged:

That such modes of treatment existed was already assumed by various scholars and demonstrated for a few poems, in the first instance the verses of Torf-Einarr (see chapter 5 in this volume, also von See 1960, 1977 and Poole 1991). In all these cases the original context of the poem has been effaced and a new context established for each individual stanza, understood as a statement or comment from a person in a given situation. This can be regarded as an adaptation of the poem in respect of both content and function.

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1. The stanza (or, possibly, complete poem) was composed together with the saga text. In such a case it will generally correspond closely to the prose context and discrepancies are scarcely to be expected. 2. The stanza is anterior to the saga text. Here we need to reckon with a further set of possibilities. 2.1. Stanza and narrative context have been transmitted together. It must be borne in mind, of course, that the context may already have undergone modification in transmission. In this case the saga author could adopt the narrative context transmitted to him, or change it according to his needs, or incorporate the stanza in a different existing context, or create a wholly new context for it. 2.2. Stanzas are transmitted without context. In reality, it is hard to imagine such a contingency in the case of single stanzas, except where used to provide illustrative material in Snorra Edda or similar literary treatises.3 In such a case the saga author could either insert stanzas into a context already available in the saga or invent a new context by inference from the content of the stanzas. 3. The stanzas derive from a poem anterior to the saga context. 3.1. When a poem is inserted into the saga either entire or in part, the same possibilities hold as with single stanzas. In reality, poems are very seldom incorporated in this way. Presumably that ties in with the fact that sagas do not tend to use stanzas or poems as quotations but rather as speeches integrated into the action (cf. von See 1977:76). 3.2. The saga author may (as noted above) treat the individual stanzas of a poem as lausavisur, with the result that a new prose context must be created for each stanza. We see, then, that each stanza stands at the intersection of two different lines of inquiry, each of which has its own legitimacy. In summary, from a diachronic perspective we ask, "What was the original context for the stanza?" From a synchronic perspective we ask, "What are its poetic functions in the context created by the saga author?"

For arguments to the contrary see von See, who argues against conventional assumptions concerning Begleitprosa, "accompanying prose narrative", chiefly by pointing to erroneous interpretations of verses in the extant saga prose (1977:61). In my opinion, however, a distinction should be drawn between a fixed, literary prose frame and an informal, easily modified accompanying text.

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3. Overview of the verses of Bjarnarsaga Httdœlakappa Textual transmission

Bjamar saga Hitdœlakappa (henceforward referred to as Bjarnarsaga) contains a total of thirty-nine stanzas, of which twenty-seven are attributed to Bjprn and the remaining twelve to his rival t>órár Kolbeinsson. While further poems and poetic fragments by ]>óròr are extant (Belgskakadrâpa, Gunnlaugs drápa ormstungu, and Eiríksdrápa), nothing by Bjprn survives outside Bjarnarsaga. The textual transmission of the saga is rather shaky. The main witness (AM 551 D a 4to), a seventeenth-century paper manuscript, lacks the opening chapters and also has a lacuna between chs 14 and 15. From its fourteenth-century exemplar (AM 162 F, fol.) two folios are extant. In modern editions the lost beginning, including the verses, is supplied from the episodes relating to Bjprn in the Bajarbók version of Olafs saga helga (AM 73 fol.). A further manuscript, Rask 28, from the second half of the eighteenth century, was consulted for the Islenzk fornrit edition, but the occasional superior readings it offers are to be explained as due to later scribal "improvements" (cf. Bjarnar saga 1938:xcvii). Interpretation of the verses has proved extraordinarily difficult, thanks to the poor state of the witnesses, and the various modern editions differ considerably amongst themselves. Here the editions to be found in Skjaldedigtning and Bjarnarsaga 1938 have been used as a basis. The distribution of stanzas in the saga is very uneven.4 At one extreme, some marked clusters of stanzas occur: notably the exchanges of insulting stanzas (culminating in the nibstçng episode), stanzas about the fighting at Beruhraun, and stanzas connected with the death of Bjprn. At the other end of the scale, some stretches of text, notably the opening chapters, are conspicuously barren of poetry. While it could be tempting to attribute that to the fact that the opening is extant only in Bajarbók, we find that where the two texts run in parallel elsewhere in the saga the number of verses is identical.

4. The diachronic view Adversarial poems

In the course of the saga it is mentioned repeatedly that the two rival skalds assail each other not merely with individual stanzas but apparently also with entire poems. One of these poems is expressly cited in the saga, while others can be inferred.

For a synopsis of the saga see chapter 2 in this volume.

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4.1. Grámagaflím Ch. 20 of the saga mentions two poems that Bjprn and I>óròr direct against each other, respectively Grámagaflím and Kolluvisur. Whereas nothing from Kolluvisur is cited and its content is not described,5 with Grámagaflím we are in the happy position of possessing both a detailed description and also some citations of stanzas. Indeed, this is the sole instance in the saga of a stanza being introduced as a narratorial citation, a point that is underlined by the prefatory formula: "En jpetta er í flíminu", "And this is in the lampoon." The poem consists of coarse slander against the opponent, whose birth is attributed to his mother's consumption of a putrid fish,6 while in point of courage he is likened to a nanny-goat.7 A striking feature of the poem is the use of runhent, a stanza-form characterized by end-rhyme. Only two runhent works are extant from before Bjprn's time: Egill's Hçfuèlausn for Eiríkr blódox and a poem by Gunnlaugr for Sigtryggr silkiskegg (see chapter 11 in this volume for further information about these poems). Where skaldic poetry is concerned endrhyme is a somewhat alien form Attention has rightly been drawn to the connection of both poems with rulers who at the time had their kingdoms in the British Isles, and it is likely that the special form has its inspiration in the Anglo-Saxon cultivation of Latin poetry.8 Bjprn's own associations with England are vouched for by the saga when it tells of his stay with Knútr inn riki. It is also possible that he came to England in the train of Eiríkr jarl, as Hofmann (1955:27) suggests, although the saga is silent on this point. At the same time, these English contacts cannot account for the vise of endrhyme in a low-life satirical poem of the kind we see in Grámagaflím. The

Authorities differ as to the vowel length in flim/fltm. Here I follow the íslenzk fomrit orthography (see Bjamarsaga 1938:168). Thereferencesto the poem in the text as "vísuna" and "hana" leave us uncertain whether it contained one or several verses. See Bjamarsaga 1938:170, n. 1, where the suggestion is made on the basis of a single instance that visa can refer to a poem consisting of more than one verse. The motif "pregnancy through the consumption of a fish" is international (cf. Dehmer 1927:104), occurring throughout Europe and also in India and Africa (Bolte-Polivka 1918:1.534-35). It is noteworthy that only in Icelandic folktales does the motif extend to the devouring of the entirefish.While elsewhere the motif is attached to the birth of a hero, in other words carries positive connotations, here it appears in a negative context. That may represent no more than a special case, but perhaps has a wider distribution, since an Icelandic folktale (Rittershaus 1902:13) contains the motif of the birth of an ugly black cat as aresultof the consumption of a black fish. 7

See Finlay 1991:171-72, also Dronke 1981, on the nid implications of comparisons with female animals. Possibly also connected are the experiments with end-rhyme in Old English poetry, evidenced by The Rhyming Poem (cf. Stefan Einarsson 1954, Hofmann 1955:27-28).

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divergence from the standard metres, fornyròislag or dróttkvcett, must have had a striking effect. If Bjprn himself actually composed the poem - a supposition which possibly gains support from the use of runhent, since it was a popular metre at this time' - it is natural to ask what contribution the special verse form would have made to the satire. Conceivably t>óròr is being mocked as a poet who himself essayed this fashionable new metre. ï>ôrôr, like Bjprn, may have seen action with Eirikr in England: certainly he mentions the earl's battles in his Eiríksdrápa (w. 8-13). A slight hint of his westerly associations is provided by an otherwise unmotivated remark in the saga: having robbed t>óróróarson jarlaskáld, could in that case be traced back to the father. The saga author also seems to have considered I>ôrôr an educated man: "var hann jafnan útanlands vel viròr af meira háttar mpnnum sakar menntanar sinnar", "he was always held in good esteem overseas by men of high standing because of his education" {Bjamar saga 1938:111) - which might argue for his receptivity to Anglo-Saxon poetic innovations. If the distinctive end-rhyme form is intended as mockery of a poet who aped English innovations, the content might likewise reflect negatively upon him qua poet. In three stanzas elsewhere in the saga Bjprn denigrates I>órór's poetic abilities. In v. 11 he describes him as "rusilkvaeâr", "someone who makes rubbishy verses".10 Similarly, in v. 8, where Bjprn reminds I>ôrôr of his defeat in Praelaeyrr, it seems reasonable to associate the statement "bart optsinnum hlut minna" with the syntactically connected phrase "jíótt allvel ortir" and not with the earlier description of the robbery. Possibly what we have here is a reminder of some kind of poetic contest in which Bjprn enjoyed a series of triumphs. In this way Bjpm's reminder of his martial victory would be complemented with one of his poetic victory (Vogt 1921:29).

There is also a runhent half-stanza by Sighvatr (SkjaldedigtningA.h275). It cannot be assigned to a definite context, but in any case his Vestrfararatsur and Knútsdrápa show that he had a variety of connections with England. Subsequently Pjóáólfr Amórsson uses this verseform in a poem on Haraldr harâràôi, within which several extant stanzas speak of a victory overthe Wends at Laes0 (Skjaldedigtning A l :368). The western influences in the work of this poet, who first came to England with his lord Haraldr hardrádi and fell with him at Stamford Bridge, could derive from Amórr Poröarson, who was active at Haraldr's court at the same period and had lived in the Orkneys for a long time. He was moreover the son of Bjpm's rival and enemy I>óròr. Related words are rusa (Finnur Jónsson 1931:s.v.) and modern Icelandic rusull "careless" (Blöndal 1920-24:663); less cogent, in my opinion, is the explanation in Bjamar saga 1938:144, which assumes a connection with rausa "speak volubly, boast" and related words.

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The t h i r d stanza (v. 32) comes as a retort t o a stanza just spoken by I>ór• POEM). Offerer of the ice of the attack (->• sword -»• warrior = MAN), guilty of the crime (of seduction), I made a stanza about you. The principal subject of contention here is the poetic ability of the t w o opponents. Invoking the ancient m y t h of poetry, Bjprn contrasts his o w n accomplished recitation with Póròr's talentless screeching. 13 We can conclude f r o m w . 8,11, and 32 that side by side with the allegations of homosexuality and cowardice perennial in nib poetry went denigration of the

Bjarnar saga 1938:190 conjectures "ógnar en ortak" for the manuscript reading "okr an ortak" and connects "ógnar" with "ísbjóór", "offerer of the ice of the battle" (-•sword -•MAN). Although this is a good solution, in terms of kenning formation, it is unsatisfactory from the point of view of metre and content. I would delete "en", so that the conjecture "ógnar" corresponds to manuscript "okr an". The word "visu" would then need to be tacitly supplied in line 5. For the seriousness of this accusation, cf. Vpluspav. 39, where severe penalties are stipulated for kindred offences. The noun skratt "laughter, screeching", although not otherwise exemplified in Old Icelandic, can be inferred from cognates and derived words such as skratta "laugh", "screech"; for earlier interpretations, which are problematic on syntactic and metrical grounds, see Bjarnar saga 1938:190.

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adversary's poetic gifts.14 These points lend support to the notion that the runhent form in Grámagaflím is a meaningful component in the satire. The content of Grámagaflím may also relate to the rival's poetic gifts. A simple interpretation of the "miraculous" pregnancy is that its end-product is as repulsive as the fish that started the process. Possibly, however, Bjprn is also alluding to an anecdote about the skald Sighvatr ]>órdarson. As a youth Sighvatr is said to have gained his extraordinary talent by devouring the head of an extraordinary fish." Correspondingly, l>órór owes his birth to his mother's having eaten a fish - but this fish stank and so too, allegedly, do Dórdr's poetic abilities. 4.2. Eykyndilsvtsur In ch. 23 the two rival skalds meet at a hestaping, "horse competition" at Fagraskóg and each in turn recites a poem to entertain the crowd. I>órór starts proceedings by delivering a poem called Daggeisli. The saga tells us that these verses deal with t>órdís, Bjprn's spouse, and that I>órór refers to her as Landaljómi throughout. Bjprn listens attentively and responds with a poem that he calls Eykyndilsvtsur. Despite the lack of explicit indication, it is fair to assume that his poem deals with Oddny, Póròr's spouse. That the audience has well and truly grasped what is going on in the two poems is shown by the reaction of t>óràr's two sons. Arnórr, ï>ôrôr's own son, is furious, whereas Kolli, Bjprn's illegitimate son by Oddny, takes a more judicious attitude, finding the two works well matched. Their responses, combined with the rivals' conduct in the hestaping proper, suggest that these effusions were not well received by their respective husbands, who disapproved of this kind of attention being paid to their wives. In the absence of specific citations from either poem, one can only speculate as to their content. Given that the saga contains a series of matching stanzas and poems where the two rivals trade insults, we can deduce that these two poems likewise corresponded in content. Kolli's response indicates as much: "mér f)ykkir jafnskapnaár, at verki komi verka á mót", "it seems fair to me that one work should match the other." The poetic names for the two wives are also equivalent: Eykyndill, "island candle" is a skaldic variation of Landaljómi, "land radiance", where ey "island" corresponds to land "land" and kyndill "candle" Cf. Finlay: "he [i.e. the author] attempts to present I>ór5r's physical cowardice as a literal reflection of the ergi alleged in symbolic form by the hero's satires" (1991:177). The motif that the consumption of a fish leads to special intellectual abilities is less widely distributed. Versions of it, other than in Iceland, are documented only in Ireland (cf. Thompson 1932-36:B162.1), which possibly indicates a specific cultural context.

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corresponds to Ijómi "radiance". Both names can be described as periphrases for "sun". Although, strangely enough, the skaldic corpus seems to contain no attestations of sun kennings of this type (for the attested types see Meissner 1921:103), we find the line "sòl er landa ljómi", "the sun is the light of lands" in the Norwegian Rune Poem (the Icelandic counterparts differ here). "Sim" would of course in itself be a perfectly decorous epithet for a woman. While I>órár's poem, as noted, is beyond reconstruction, the case is different with Bjprn's. It happens that Bjarnarsaga features a series of lausavisur in which Oddny, PórcSr's wife, is called Eykyndill. These stanzas are quite widely dispersed in the narrative but we should contemplate the possibility that once re-assembled they might prove to represent the constituent parts of a single poem, perhaps the very Eykyndilsvisur named in the saga. We would then have to assume that either the saga author or anterior oral tradition assigned the constituent stanzas to different contexts during the formation of the saga. A noteworthy aspect of the stanzas that contain the name Eykyndill is that by and large, like many other lausavisur in. the saga, they fit the context poorly. That suggests that they no longer stand in their original context. In what follows I shall elaborate on this claim and demonstrate that the stanzas combine to create a unified context of their own. In making these points I shall distinguish between an extrinsic context, supplied by the saga prose, and an immanent (or intrinsic) context, the latter being the product of inferences from the poetic text. In citing the text I have followed my recent edition of the relevant stanzas (1999). First stanza In ch. 4 of the saga we learn that while in Garôariki with king Valdimarr Bjprn received serious wounds in a hólmganga against Kaldimarr and was left in a tent to recover. There he speaks the following stanza: H é r myndi nú handar, hœft skiljum brag, vilja liki fpgr sem leika Lofn, "'Eykyndill, sofna,

"Eygló", "island glow" is given as the giants' term for the sun in Alvíssmál v. 16 and listed under the "tungls heiti" in the Pulur (Skjaldedigtning Bl:674). Another possible gloss for eygló might be "constantly gleaming" (cf. Finnur Jónsson 1931:s.v.). The compound seems to have had a traditional place in Icelandic poetry, since Blöndal cites it as a poetic expression for "sun" (1920:155). Cf. Finnur Jónsson 1912, Vogt 1921, and Sigurôur Nordal in Bjarnarsaga 1938:lxx.

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ef hprskorôa heyrôi harÔla naer at vaerim, gerôumk fraegr, meó fjóróa fleina vald í tjaldi. (v. 1) Hér myndi nú vilja sofna sem leika, líki fpgr Loin handar, Eykyndill, - hœft skiljum brag - ef hprskorda heyrôi, at vaerim hardla naer í tjaldi med fjóróa fleina vald - gerôumk fraegr. Here the Lofn of the hand (-+ WOMAN) with the beautiful form, Eykyndill, would sleep as my lover - 1 present a proper poem - if the support of linen (-> WOMAN) heard that we are close by in a tent with three possessors of spears (-• MEN); I create fame for myself. If we put together the indications as to context given in the stanza, it expresses the longing of a poet who is separated from his lover and passing the night with three comrades in a tent within easy reach of where she lives. The woman, of whose love he is apparently confident, knows nothing of his proximity but if she did would come and spend the night with him. This suggests an earlier stage in the story where the poet has made his way to somewhere near his beloved. We could suppose that the speaker is prevented from going to her and she to him, which in turn suggests that their relationship is forbidden. By contrast, the extrinsic context in the saga narrative has Bjprn severely wounded and awaiting recovery in a tent somewhere in Eastern Europe. Oddny for her part is in Iceland. The saga context therefore sets thousands of kilometres between them, so that the only theme in common to both contexts is that of longing for the lover.18 Incidentally, the parentheses, "hœft skiljum brag" and "gerôumk fnegr", with their metapoetic content, are not typical of lausavisur and tend to suggest that the stanza is part of a poem.

2nd stanza The next stanza is attested in two manuscripts (AM 551da and AM 73 fol.) and the interpretations hitherto proposed are unsatisfactory. The interpretation offered here is based upon AM 73 fol. and does not involve emendation (cf. Marold 1999):

18

Bjami Einarsson (1991:237) reconciles the stanza with its context by interpreting the relevant clause as hypothetical (so that Bjpm is actually not in the vicinity). But the subjunctive " vaerim" does not signal a hypothetical state; rather, it is required because governed by "heyrôi" (cf. Nygaard 1905:§314).

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86 Hristir handar fasta - hefr drengr gamans fengit - hrynja hart á dynu hlpôr Eykyndils vpôva, meôan (vins) stinna vinnum (veldr npkkut jjvi) klpkkva - skeiô verôk skrids at beida (skorâa) pr á borôi. (v. 2)

Hlpôr Eykyndils vpôva hristir handa fasta, hrynja hart á dynu, hefr drengr gamans fengit, meôan vinnum stinna pr klpkkva á borôi - skeiô verôk skrids at beiôa - skorôa vins veldr npkkut J>vi. He who burdens Eykyndill's muscles (-+ husband) shakes the fire of the hand ( > gold pieces), they fall hard on to the bedding, the man has received pleasure, while we flex the stiff oars on board the ship (i.e. row so vigorously that the oars bend). I must impel the ship to swift motion; the support of the wine (-»· the woman) has some part to play in that. The first helmingr of the stanza seems to imply that t>óròr owes his victory over his rival to his wealth, conveyed by the image of his showering gold pieces on to the bed where he achieved his victory. A comparable image occurs in Hlçdskviôa v. 13: Mun ec um J>ik sitjanda silfri maela, enn ganganda J)ik gulli steypa, svá at á vega alla velti baugar. (Hervarar saga ok Heidreks 1956:57) I shall measure around you with silver as you sit and shower you with gold as you walk, so that rings roll around on all the roads. The stanza plangently evokes the contrast between the rival's purchased sexual gratification and the poet's disappointment in love and consequent adoption of a Viking livelihood. At the same time the stanza is an attack upon I>óròr. The abusive kenning "hlpôr Eykyndils vpcSva" compares with kennings used by Hallfreòr in his similarly gross stanzas satirizing Griss's relationship with Kolfinna and implies that t>óròr achieves his sexual gratification against the will of the woman. What kind of context does the saga supply for this stanza? In ch. 5 we learn that ]>ôrôr has announced Bjprn's death and his own impending marriage to Oddny. Informed of this, Bjprn decides not to return home and spends the

See chapter 5 in this volume. For further parallels see Bjarni Einarsson 1961:253-54.

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following winter with Eirikr jarl. At this point the saga simply states, "and as they lay at Hamarseyrr, Bjprn composed the stanza." A more appropriate context would be right at the time of his decision not to go to Iceland (cf. Bjarni Einarsson 1961:238). The verse makes I>órdr's wealth the crucial factor in the marriage settlement with Oddny. A degree of support for this can be found in the following sentence in the saga: "ok halda menn, at Oddny sé nú betr gift en fyrr hafòi til verit aetlat, bsecSi til fjár ok burâar ok annars sòma", "and people considered that Oddny was now better married than was previously the plan, in terms of wealth, birth, and status alike" {Bjamarsaga 1938:125). The kenning used in v. 12, "Rindr mundar", "goddess of the bride-price" (-• WOMAN), doubtless points in the same direction, as we shall see later. The saga prose differs from the verse in making Póròr act more reprehensibly, from a moral point of view, bribing merchants to bring news of Bjprn's alleged death and procuring the marriage through deceit.20

3rd stanza Considerably further on in the saga (ch. 12) we find the third Eykyndill stanza: Snót biôr svein enn hvita svinn at kviar innan, reid esa Rínar glóòar ranglpt, moka ganga; hardla nyt, sus heitir, Hlpkk miôs *vita *Rpkkva, sprund bidr út at andar, Eykyndill, mik skynda. (v. 3) Svinn snót bidr svein enn hvita at ganga moka kviar innan, esa ranglpt reiô Rínar glóòar; sprund, harôla nyt Hlpkk Rpkkva miôs vita, sus heitir Eykyndill, biòr mik skynda ut at andar. The acute woman bids the pale lad to go and muck out the cow stall; she does not speak unjustly, the wagon of the Rhine's glow (-• W O M A N ) . The woman, the highly capable valkyrie of the sea-fire (-> W O M A N ) , w h o is called Eykyndill, bids me to hurry out by the front door.

If we look at Bjprn's stanza in isolation from the prose context, the situation implied is obviously a lovers' tryst whose disclosure the woman quick-wittedly prevents by telling her husband to muck out the stall, so giving her lover the

The saga shows a general tendency to depict Póràr in an unfavourable light: cf. Finlay 1993.

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opportunity to escape by the front door. This is the reason for the poet's praise: she is "svinn" and not "ranglpt". Praise for the wife is accompanied, as standard in this genre, by abuse for the husband (cf. chapter 12 in this volume). When, as on some other occasions, Bjprn uses the expression "sveinn enn hviti" for I>órÒr (cf. the next stanza, where he addresses him as "litill sveinn"), he is presumably casting aspersions on I>órcSr's masculinity, subsequently enacted in Bjprn's raising of the niöstpng.21 Comparable would be Hallfreôr's insulting kenning for Griss, "enn hviti Hpdr hjal mg rands", "the white Hpâr of helmet damage" (Skjaldedigtrting Bl:160, v. 17); though correctly formed, the kenning betrays its author's malice in the selection of the base word Hpôr (the god whose unlucky shot killed Baldr). The saga has a different context, where the stanza is spoken as part of a husband and wife dispute about the housework during Bjprn's stay with ]>ôrôr. I>órdr commands Oddny to remain at home and to milk the sheep, a task she is not accustomed to. She replies in kind: "There I see the man most suited to muck out the cow stall, and that you should do." This so infuriates t>óròr that he boxes her on the ear. Hearing the dispute, Bjprn composes the stanza. Whereas in the stanza ]>óròr's activities in the stall serve to keep him busy at the back of the house, allowing the lover to make good his escape, in the prose they are the occasion for a row. Hence the omission in the prose of the summons to Bjprn to leave the house, which would be unmotivated in this context of a mere marital dispute.22 In sum, the intrinsic and extrinsic contexts differ considerably. The situation in the stanza is the typical one of the lover whom the woman helps to escape through her presence of mind. The stanza accordingly praises her quickwittedness. The situation in the prose is a quarrel between a married couple who try to lumber each other with uncongenial chores, prompting the skald to react with a stanza of insult.

4th stanza The next Eykyndill stanza, like the previous one, is spoken during Bjprn's visit to ï>ôrôr's homestead:

On this point see Ström 1973:14-15, who interprets the depiction on the nidstçng as a humiliation of the sexually passive partner (I>ôrôr) and adduces a series of parallels from elsewhere in Old Icelandic literature. See also Finlay 1991:159. Bjarni Einarsson's suggestion (1961:238) that Oddny a a s as she does to avoid Bjprn's witnessing their conjugal discord is not convincing. Bjpm is already aware of it and purportedly has made it the subject of a verse.

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Eykyndill verpr pndu orôssell ok vili masía, bniÔr hefr baztar rœôur brekspm, vid mik nekkvat; en til Jarôar orôa plreyrar gengr heyra litill sveinn ok leynisk launkárr ok sezk fjarri. (v. 6) Orôsaell Eykyndill verpr pndu ok vili maela nekkvat viô mik - brekspm brúdr hefr baztar rœôur; en litill sveinn gengr heyra til plreyrar Jarôar orôa ok leynisk launkárr ok sezk fjarri. The celebrated Eykyndill sighs and wants to talk with me a bit - the passionate woman gives the best speeches; but the little lad goes to hear the words of the earth of the beer reed (drinking horn -»• WOMAN) and conceals himself insidiously and seats himself at a distance. This stanza is apparently on the subject of a tryst that is overheard. The "little lad" here is once more ï>ôrôr, already referred to as "sveinn inn hviti". The woman, knowing that she is being eavesdropped on, does not speak but merely sighs. The context in the saga is adequate, though it does involve a circuitous explanation that Bjprn must first warn Oddny that they are being overheard. This, then, is the complete set of stanzas in which the name Eykyndill occurs. If we look at the stanzas in uninterrupted succession, disregarding the arrangement in the saga, the close thematic relationship between them immediately becomes apparent. Throughout, the focus is upon a forbidden relationship: the skald's longing for the woman, her loss to his rival, the prompt contriving of an escape at the tryst, and the jealous husband's eavesdropping. In fact if we re-sequence the stanzas slightly in the order 2,1, 3, 4, a complete story emerges. First we have the loss of the woman to the rival, creating a "love triangle" (cf. chapter 10 in this volume). The speaker presents a situation where the beloved woman has entered into marriage reluctantly, because of the munificence of the bride-price, while for the time being he occupies himself with a Viking expedition. But later he returns. The idea that he is lying in the tent could be explained on the basis that he has just made landfall and, as was customary, avails himself of this accommodation overnight. During the night he yearns for the woman, confident that she would come to him if only she knew of his presence. The next two stanzas both portray a tryst between the two lovers. In the first one the woman quick-wittedly helps her lover to escape and in the second she notices that they are being overheard by her husband and breaks off the conversation. The result would be a poem that encapsulates the most important stages in the relationship of the skald to I>órár's wife. More

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such stanzas could easily have existed, since the basic theme allows scope for any number of variations. If we now return to the contest between the skalds, we can postulate that Bjprn countered Póròr's poem with one alleging that I>ór5r won the woman through his wealth and conjuring up the possibly fictive description of the lover's secret return, along with a series of farcical situations in which I>ôrôr is depicted as a cuckolded and outwitted husband, with implications of his impotence ("sveinn inn hviti"). What might the content of ï>ôrôr's poem have been? The implication of Kolli's comment, quoted above, and the correspondence between the two female names, Landaljómi and Eykyndill, is that the poems were related in substance. The title of Ï>ôr5r's poem, Daggeisli, "Day's ray", provokes speculation. Could this ray be those of the rising sun, forcing I>óròr out of the bed he has shared with Bjprn's spouse? Could the poem represent an adaptation of the troubadour alba, or dawn song, to serve a new function? The classic central motif in this genre - the man being woken up by a mistress who is another man's wife - is carried over intact, but instead of representing the lovers' emotions on the occasion the poem becomes a vehicle for satire and slander against the rival, augmenting the dispute. That both poems existed prior to the saga is suggested by the considerable discrepancies between the intrinsic and extrinsic contexts. But that does not in itself establish that the verses are the work of Bjprn and t>óròr. They could have been composed later than the beginning of the eleventh century and been put in the mouths of Póròr and Bjprn by a subsequent poet. The subject matter of Eykyndilsvtsur, like that hypothesized here for Daggeisli, points to western European inspiration. The cuckolding of the husband is a standard motif in fabliaux, which were widely disseminated in oral tradition. The cooption of such a motif into "high" literature, which Bjprn's treatment of it in the demanding dróttkvcett form seems to entail, has parallels within Anglo-Norman literary culture, probable instances being the early stages of the Tristan tradition

Finlay (1991:174) doubts that the poem Daggeisli in fact existed. One might comment that it existed about as much or as little as the Kolluvtsur. As a general tendency in the saga, I>órcSr is made to speak far fewer stanzas than Bjprn. It is difficult to say whether that arises as part of the negative depiction of ï>ôrôr, or by accident, or through faulty textual transmission. Bjprn is given more opportunity to attack his rival in poetry. On the other hand, it is likely that no biographical background exists for Daggeisli (Finlay 1991:174) and indeed that both poems are fictitious, composed with the sole objective of portraying the rival as a deceived husband. Moreover, the verses are not spoken to the wife, as Finlay supposes (ibid.), but about her {Bjarnar saga 1938:174). The Eykyndilsvtsur for their part represent a reply in kind ("jafnskapnaôr": 175) and the verses included at this point are likewise spoken about the woman rather than to her, in other words exactly fit with the indications in the prose as to the nature of the poem.

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or the lays of Marie de France. Conceivably the Eykyndilsvtsur were created by a poet who had come into contact with this new literature. To say this is to raise the difficult question of the relationship of medieval Scandinavian love poetry to European love poetry, a topic on which the last word has yet to be said. At first glance it might appear improbable that such subject matter was current in Scandinavia as early as the beginning of the eleventh century. But scattered pieces of evidence such as v. 12 in Sighvatr's Austrfararvisur, which shows the women watching from their houses as the men come riding by in their splendour, or even v. 15, where Sighvatr describes the eyes of an Icelandic woman who sent him abroad, caution against hasty assumptions.

4.3. Flokkar Two groups of stanzas that appear in separate contexts in the saga can be consolidated into a pair of flokkar, which I shall call respectively "Bjpm's premonition of death" and "I>ôrôr's triumph". The justification for postulating a prehistory for these stanzas as unified compositions whose constituent parts were only at a subsequent stage assigned to different contexts lies in the close correspondences in content between the stanzas, along with the apparent dependence of the prose context upon them.

4.3.1 Bjpm's premonition of death This flokkr would comprise w . 30, 34, 35, and 36. The first two stanzas in particular are clearly connected, even though widely separated in the prose narration (chs 26 and 32 respectively). Both are reminiscent of the dream stanzas in Gtsla saga, where mythical women appear to the skald tormenting him with scenes of his death but also promising him solace in the afterlife. The first of Bjprn's two stanzas (v. 30) is such a dream, in which he experiences the failure of his sword in battle and his own bloody death. According to the saga context, Bjprn addresses this stanza to his sister at Knarrarnes, where he stays for three nights. Nothing more is known about this sister (Bjamarsaga 1938:178, n. 2) and she might well have been invented to account for the apostrophe "Nauma Niôbrands skarar landa" in the verse. The stanza describes his death, clearly expressed in the parenthesis - Yggr, i.e. Οθίηη, will bring the poet to the

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sword's edge24 - and in the second helmingr, with its images of blood.25 Strangely enough, there is no reaction to the report of this dream in ch. 26. The woman makes no attempt to hold him back (a popular motif that has just been used in the previous chapter, where Bjprn again stays three nights at a woman's house and likewise has bad dreams) nor is it said that Bjpm now sets out in defiance of the premonitions (another popular motif). The dream motif appears again in ch. 32 (v. 34), and this time the motifs of warning and defiance are brought into the narrative. He addresses v. 34 to his wife and when she tries to hold him back he heroically rejects her warnings. This second stanza also has heathen motifs, though with Christian overtones: the prophetic disir utter warnings and a valkyrie (helmet-wearing woman) of the Lord of Heaven (most likely the Christian God) bids him welcome in each dream. The second dream stanza is like a response to the first one. The first supplies a narration of the dream, the second gives the interpretation ("It would be a wonder if the disir are not warning me in the dream"), with the conclusion that an attack is imminent- "ógn hefk fyròa fregna." The next two stanzas (w. 35 and 36) express defiance of these warnings. In v. 35 Bjprn declares that he means to venture forth without fear of hostility (i.e. of the imminent attack), accompanied by a small retinue, and not flee as long as he can hold a sword. In my opinion the saga author and modern interpreters alike have misunderstood this stanza. Ut gengk meó lió lítit, litt sék hers vid viti; sverò fylgir menmyrôi mitt ok skjpldr enn hvíti; enn fyr einum runni aîgis dyrs, o f M y r a r ,

This parenthesis, with its heathen content, fits poorly with Bjpm's alleged links to Óláfr helgi, his church-building, and the fact that he is credited with a drápa about St. Thomas. Should we see this as an indication that these stanzas are not the work of Bjprn himself? I have adopted Boor's suggested interpretation of "mseringr* as a heiti for "man" and would supplement his arguments with two further points. For one thing, it is unlikely that Bjpm should carry two swords in his final battle; for another, a reddened sword is more naturally a symbol of victory than of the defeat which Bjprn (to judge from the parenthesis in the first helmingr) foresees in his dream. Vogt (1921:55) has likewise registered the extraneousness of the stanza to the prose. He is of the opinion that the stanza has become separated from the other dream stanza (v. 34) and assumes that it was placed in its present context because it mentions the battle and the wounding of Bjprn. In my view, the reverse might equally well obtain; when the prose mentions Bjpm's wounding it is in fact prompted by the stanza, which mentions bloodstained hands. It is noteworthy, however, that the motif of the shattered sword is not picked up at the same time.

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vpndr skal hjalts ór hendí hrekkva, fyrr an st0kkvak. Gengk út meó lítit lió; sék litt viô viti hers; mitt sverò ok enn hvíti skjpldr fylgir menmyrôi; hjalts vpndr skal hrekkva ór hendi, fyrr an enn stakkvak fyr einum aegis dyrs ninni of Myrar.27 I go out with a small retinue, I have little fear of the retribution of the war-band; my sword and the white shield28 accompany the destroyer of neck rings (-»• MAN). The branch of the hilt (-> SWORD) will fall from my hand before I flee before a tree of JEpi's animal (= sea god ship -• Viking MAN) over Myrar (perhaps better "over the swamp or water").29 When the skald states in the first helmingr that the sword and the white shield accompany the warrior, he is not referring to some person to whom he has lent these items, as the saga narrative presupposes. Instead what we have here is a clarification of the irony in the first line: his small retinue is expressly limited to his sword and his white shield (cf. Vogt 1921:54). Such an interpretation is much better suited to the heroic spirit of the stanza. The next stanza has suffered badly in transmission and received conflicting interpretations. I would explicate it as follows. Tveir erum, vprôr, en vprum, vápneirar, mun fleiri ("Opt *vas *skald und skildi) *skólkinnis, *at jólum; enn *hraustgedi á hausti (hoddlestis) kom vestan (sveit vasa *seggja litil snarfengs) meó lió drengja.

MS MS MS MS

Bjamar saga 1938:197 construes the second helmingr differently: "en fyrr en ek stekkva of Myrar fyr einum segjs dyrs runni, skal hjalts vpndr hrakkva ór hendi", "and before I flee from Myrar before a tree of the beast of /Egir (-»• ship -* Viking), my sword must fall from my hands." As a sign of peaceful intentions: for the white shield as a token of peace, cf. Finnur Jónsson 1931:510 and Fritzner 1883-96:s.v. skjpldr. Bjprn has no reason to flee from the people of Myrar, being one of them himself: see the conclusion of the saga, where they undertake his eptimueli. Also, stekkva of cannot mean "flee before someone" but only "flee across something". A possible indication that the saga author understood the verse in this way is the subsequent explicit statement that Bjprn and his companions had to cross the Hitará "skamt frá J>ví, er hon fellr ór vatninu", "a short distance from the point where it falls from the lake" {Bjamar saga 1938:198).

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Erum tveir, vprâr vápn-Eirar, en vprum mun fleiri at jólum; opt vas skald und skildi skólkinnis; enn hraustgedi kom vestan á hausti med lid drengja; seggja sveit snarfengs hoddlestis vasa lítil. There are two of us, guard of weapon-Eir (= goddess ->• Valkyrie -»· WARRIOR), but we were much more numerous at Yuletide; - often was the poet under the shield of the "wolfs cheek" (outlaw, i.e. he was persecuted by all)30 - but the courageous one came from the west in autumn with a company of men - the band of warriors of the swift destroyer of treasure (-> WARRIOR) was not small. This stanza refers, in my opinion, to I>orsteinn Kuggason's stay with Bjprn. On his way to a Yule celebration with Dálkr, ÎOrsteinn got lost and rode to Bjprn's place instead, stayed on there, and made a pledge of friendship with him. This fits with the statement in the second helmingr that he - "enn hraustgecSi" refers to Porsteinn (Vogt 1921:54) - came from the west. The very precise description of the route in ch. 27 shows that Porsteinn travelled by way of Klifsdal, which takes one from the west to Bjprn's residence at Hólmr. In this passage we are also told that Bjprn had thirty able warriors with him. These four stanzas can be consolidated into the form of a single flokkr that centres on the motif that the hero nobly issues forth despite ominous dreams and his wife's warnings. Two stanzas are devoted to the dreams, two to the heroic dismissal of the warnings. Of the latter pair, the first expresses the speaker's confidence in his weapons and his bravery, while the second perhaps voices his hope of support from Porsteinn Kuggason.

30

In the list of beiti for "wolf* in the Pulur we find skólkinni (Skjaldedigtning Bl:670), which in terms of its formation could be analysed as a so-called Bahuvrîhî compound, "having a wolf's cheek", parallel to kampiiromkampr"mo\istiche". Finnurjónsson 1931:512 confuses •an and -jan stems in his analysis of this word. It would therefore not denote the wolf itself but someone who had wolf-like characteristics, such as an exile or outlaw ([vargr). Possibly parallel is the early English legal term wulvesheved (Jacoby 1974:58); cf. wulßeafedtreo (= "gallows") in Exeter Book Riddle 55 (Liebermann 1905). Kristnisaga reports that before his outlawry Bishop Friòrekr dreamt that wolf's hair grew on his head (1905:77). The expression "wolf's cheek" in this sense could then be linked with "under the shield" to mean "persecuted by everybody" - which would fit excellently with the context. With vera und skildi compare the expressions fijóna undir skildi or vera eins skjaldar, all meaning "belong to the same party" (Fritzner 1883-96:3.361).

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4.3.2 Pôrôr's triumph This flokkr comprises three stanzas, w . 33, 37, and 38. The latter two are placed in close proximity by the saga author in ch. 32. He nevertheless presents them as spoken in two different contexts, the first directly after the killing of Bjprn, when I>óròr has hacked off the head of his enemy, and the second as I>óròr rides over Klifsand and sees some ravens flying. Here a poetic motif - the address to the ravens - has obviously been used in a literal-minded fashion, often seen elsewhere, to provide the occasion for a speech. Both stanzas proclaim ]>óròr's triumph. Along with the triumph "Lóskat33... at jjann mordvandan bitu sverò, myndak verôa bani hans", "That did not go amiss ... that the swords pierced the man seasoned in battle, I was to become his killer" - the first stanza attempts a justification. Two reasons are put forward: the robbery and the rival's alleged "hugpryôi". It is conceivable that the allegation of "hugpryôi", perhaps implying Bjprn's excessive complacency in his own courage, relates in particular to the ntdstçng and its associated verse,34 along with a whole series of accusations of cowardice and un manliness in Bjprn's verses. Bjprn's decapitation probably also comes as retaliation for the nid: in Njdls saga a comparable fate overtakes Sigmundr Lambason, who has composed offensive verses about Njáll and his sons (cf. Finlay 1991:162) and there too the head is sent to a woman, Hallgerôr, who of course was known to have instigated the ridicule. In Póròr's summation, the killing happened "fyr sanna spk", "on account of a justifiable grievance". The second stanza, with its address to the ravens, evokes the image of the slain opponent who now lies at Hvitingshjalli and is stripped of his flesh by the ravens. The stanzas are thus based on the logical linkage between guilt and vengeance. To this pair of stanzas a third (v. 33) might be added as prelude. It contains a call to the gods entreating vengeance, and so has clear motivic connections with the other two. As the text of the stanza is damaged and has been the

Vogt comments on the perfunctory fashion in which they are introduced into the narrative and the partial contradiction in content between the verses and the prose (1921:53). Cf. von See (1977:59), who remarks that the literalizing interpretation of topoi and stereotypic content in the verses probably provides the essential stimulus towards the fragmentation of skaldic poems and verse sequences and placement in a series of different contexts. Here, against Bjarnarsaga 1938:203,1 adopt Finnur Jónsson's emendation (Skjaldedigtning Bl:209). Whereas ljúgaske-m is attested in the meaning "let somebody down"(Fritzner 188396:2.549), there is nothing to suggest that intransitive liggja could be used reflexively. See further the discussion in chapter 12 of this volume. E.g. "sveinn inn hvíti" in vv. 3, 6, 7, and 11, together with the accusations of cowardice in w . 8, 9,10, 24, and 28 and of affectation in v. 9.

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subject of numerous emendations, I shall here present my own tentative interpretation: Qllungis bidk aliar atgeirs eòa [ ] (rétt skilk) rammar véttir *randóps,3é \>XTS hlyrn skópu, at *styrbendi standi stálgaldrs, en *ek valda, blóòugr prn of Birni bràôrauôr hpfuòsnauòum.37 Qllungis bidk aliar rammir véttir randóps, J>«ers hlyrn skópu, eòa atgeirs [...] rétt skilk - at blóòugr prn, bràòrauòr, standi of hpfuòsnauòum Birni, en ek valda styrbendi stálgaldrs. Urgently I entreat all the mighty spirits of the shield's outcry (-> war WAR GODS3 j who created the heavenly bodies and (other gods?)3 of the spear - it is right, what I utter - that a bloody eagle may stand, reddened by flesh, over Bjprn, beheaded, and I inflicted (it) upon the causer of the incantation of the steel (-*• battle WARRIOR). Linking this stanza and w . 37 and 38 are the following features: 1. The claim to have acted justly: "rétt skilk" (v. 33) and "fyr sanna spk" (v. 37), which in each case sums up the justification given in the stanza. 2. The motif of the corpse torn apart by ravens (w. 33 and 38). 3. The insistence that I>óròr in person carried out this act of vengeance: "en ek valda" (v. 33) and "myndak venía bani hans" (v. 37). Supposing that these three stanzas originated in a flokkr proclaiming t>óròr's triumph, one might venture the guess that the verb of the first helmingr was originally preterite, i.e. "*baòk" instead of "biòk". The train of thought in the flokkr would then be as follows: "I called upon the gods; it has come to fulfilment; ravens, sate yourselves on the corpse." The saga author, in devising a series of discrete scenes from these stanzas, changed preterite to present so as to

36

Cf. Bjamarsaga 1938:193.

37

This line exactly reproduces the manuscript reading: Bradraudurhofudsnaudum. Cf. Kock 1923-44:§591.

38

· . · Bjamarsaga 1938:193, n. ad loc., rightly compares with the ritual oí gala undrandir "singing beneath the shields", spoken of by Óóinn himself in Hávamál v. 156.

An attempt on the part of Bjamarsaga 1938:193 to supply the missing text of this line.

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create an invocation of the gods, which he added in a rough and ready fashion40 to a conversation with Kálfr and Dálkr. The second stanza he presents as spoken beside the corpse and the third on the way home, when the speaker is encountered by ravens.

Verses in dialogue form The saga contains a series of stanzas that are conspicuously matched in both form and content. These are for the most part stanzas in which the adversaries speak in alternation and obviously refer to each other. The question arises whether what we have here are actual duels of words between the two skalds or rather poems composed in dialogue form. One piece of evidence that might speak for the existence of such poems is the so-called senna, "dispute, flyting", which has been postulated as a genre in its own right in heroic and mythological poetry (cf. Bax and Padmos 1993). Equally, a contest between two hostile speakers might have been couched in flokkr form.

The dispute in Pórár's house A set of four stanzas (w. 4,5, 14,15) found grouped in two pairs in the section "Bjprn's stay with ï>ôrôr" can be brought together on the basis of marked formal commonalities. Not only are the stanzas composed in the simple fornyròislag metre, in contrast to the other poetry in the saga, but the stanza pairs also correspond to each other in content, sometimes line for line (here indicated by italicization of parallels): Út skaltu ganga; illr Jjykki mér gleymr ]pinn vesa viô gúókonur·, sitr J)ú á pptnum, es ver inn kómum jafnauôigr mér út skaltu ganga, (v. 4)

Hér munk sitja ok hptt vel kveda, skemmta fnnni Jjjódvel konu. |>á mun okkr eigi til orôs lagit emk heill í hug, hér munk sitja. (v. 5)

The three men leam that Bjpm has only a small following at home and begin to plan an attack, "ok á {jeim stundum hafdi fórór ort visu {jessa", "and at that time t>órár had made up this verse". The stanza follows, and finally the challenges from Kálfr and Dálkr are given in indirect speech. In other words, the saga author has placed the invocation of the gods here as Póròr's contribution to the deliberations.

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Út skaltu ganga; oss selduô mjçl rautt aliti, rúg sagdir {)ú, en Jjegar's virôar vatni blendu, vas {)at aska ein, út skaltu ganga, (v. 14)

Kyrr munk ήήα komk á hausti, hefk fornati mçr fiditi keyptan; feld gpfuò mér fagrrpggvaôan, kappsvel drepinn, kyrr munk sitja. (v. 15)

Out you must go! I think your clamour with the maids deplorable; you sit there in the evenings as showy as me when we come in. Out you must go!

Here I will sit and indeed chat loudly, entertain your wife in style. Then the two of us will incur no reproofs, I am sincere in my intentions. Here I will sit.

Out you must go! To us you sold flour, red to look at, rye you said, but when the people mixed it with water, it was nothing but ashes. Out you must go!

Calmly I shall sit, I came in autumn, I paid the full price for old fat; a coat you gave me, with a fine woollen fringe, very well beaten (felt cloak?). Calmly I shall sit.

The order to leave, at beginning and end of the first pair of stanzas, is met by a refusal. Furthermore, "gleymr viò griòkonur" in v. 4 corresponds to "hptt kveôa jjjóòvel konu" in v. 5. In the second pair of stanzas, the sale of bad rye is matched by that of old lard. This altercation - to judge from the immanent context of the stanzas - takes place between the indignant master of the house and an uninvited and wanton guest, who enjoys himself noisily with the women of the house. The next stage is mutual accusations regarding fraudulent trading. It is scarcely conceivable that ï>ôrôr should command Bjprn to leave the house when he has expressly invited him (and Bjprn does not leave, either). Moreover, the prose context contains nothing to motivate the accusations: to the contrary, the quarrel there erupts over the tending of the horses and dogs that Bjprn has brought with him. The exchange of verses would better fit a situation where t>óròr seeks to oppose an unwelcome visit on the part of the young rival. Broadly comparable would be the episode in Eyrbyggja saga where Bjprn Brei0rör, vegsemi, skorôu; ér á Oddaeyri undan mínum fundi brúar und bakka lpgum Brenneyja lpguô, skreyja. Bjprn: "I declare it avenged that you came into possession of this support of the land of the thorn (= cloak-pin cape W O M A N ) ; your honour, ]>0rör, keeps shrivelling away; to evade a meeting with me at Oddaeyrr you lay under the low bank by the bridge at Brenneyjar, coward." (v. 10) Sátt viô, sveinn enn hviti, sviptr auôi ok giptu, àôr vask odds viô hríáir, pfund, í Sólundum, J)ás raungetinn reyttak, rusilkvaeôr, af J)ér bseôi, heldr vas gráleikr goldinn gauri, knprr ok aura. Bjprn: "You guarded yourself against envy, pale lad, robbed of wealth and happiness - beforehand I was in storms of arrows (->· fights) in the Sólundir 43 - ,

Bjarnarsaga 1938 takes the adverbial phrase "í Sólundum" with the verb "sátt" but it can equally well be placed within the parenthesis, as here.

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when I, the tried and true, robbed both ship and money from you, maker of rubbishy verses; the scoundrel was thoroughly repaid for his deceit." (v. 11) The word muna "remind" and its cognates play a significant role: v. 7: "Muña mun Bjpm"; v. 8: "Pat munjîér eimuni"; v. 9: "Muña mátt hitt." In this group, only one verse is by I>óròr and the rest are by Bjprn. This conforms to the overall ratio of verses in the saga, in which only thirteen stanzas are ascribed to frôrôr as compared with twenty-four to Bjprn. The key factor here is not vagaries of transmission but the overt partisanship of the saga author with Bjprn (cf. Finlay 1991:177 and 1993). In addition to casting Póròr unequivocally in the role of scoundrel, who abuses his friend's trust, defrauds him of a ring, and bribes merchants to spread false reports of his death, the author shows I>orär finally forfeiting every vestige of humanity in his vengeance, when he throws Bjprn's mother the head of her slain son. Of the insulting stanzas that volley to and fro between the skalds, only those directed against Pórór (Grámagafltm and the nieI verse, v. 20) are quoted. While admittedly Bjprn's Eykyndilsvisur are not quoted under that name or in the form of a unified poem, they do appear to be used piecemeal in the course of the text, whereas PórÒr's Daggeisli and Kolluvisur are not cited in any form. The dialogue begins with I>órór's reminder that Bjprn forfeited the beloved woman to Pórór (v. 7). In the saga, Bjprn responds to this with a series of three stanzas that all refer to his revenge (w. 8-10). His account takes in not merely the victory on the Brenneyjar but more particularly Pórár's cowardice, exhibited in his escape and self-concealment. Then, as the climax, the third stanza states: "Hefnt telk J>ess, at Riessa jjornteigar (skoròu) gekkt eiga." According to the prose narrative, all three stanzas were recited on the one occasion. After the first stanza we are told, "Eigi var langt at bida", "There was not long to wait", and after the second: "Ok enn jjykkir Birni eigi fullgprt í mót t>ví, er Dórór minnti hann á um sakarnar", "And as yet Bjprn did not consider full reprisal to have been made for ï>ôrâr's reminder about the grievances" (Bjarnar saga 1938:143). By contrast, the final stanza (v. 11) is placed by the saga author at some distance in time. He prefaces it with the following words: "Nú er Jjetta kyrrt, ok Jjykkir nú hvárumtveggja verr en àôr. Eitt sinn kvaô Bjprn visu Jjessa", "Now a Itili occurred in hostilities, and the situation seemed worse than before to both men. On one occasion Bjprn spoke this verse." Depending on how the verse is interpreted, this temporal remove for the recitation may be accompanied by a shift in setting for Bjprn's revenge to the Sólundir, islands off the coast of Sogn in Norway. One possible inference is that this stanza came to

For the possibility that it too should be spoken by Bjprn see chapter 10 in this volume.

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the saga author by way of a different tradition.45 Both Brenneyjar and Sólundir were reputed to be Viking haunts (Bjarni Einarsson 1961:239), so that the story could perfectly well have been associated now with one setting, now with the other. That would mean, however, that at least one of the variant traditions could not have originated with Bjprn himself. Another possibility is that in mentioning the Sólundir Bjpm is harking back to some earlier battle in which he took part during his sketchily chronicled Viking career, not necessarily one connected with ï>ôrôr. In the circumstances we cannot be categorical about the place of the final stanza in the postulated flokkr. The battle at Beruhraun The four stanzas spoken in connection with the ambush at Beruhraun could be combined into a further dialogue poem, since they are closely interconnected. Two stanzas are spoken by each protagonist. Bjprn's stanzas are straightforwardly linked, insofar as the second stanza depicts the outcome of the first. Veitat * k ú a kneytir 4 6 (kom drengr v i à styr lengi), hinns of eyki *annask prmplugr J) at gprva, hvar bpôserkjar birki (beit egg í tvau leggi) trauôr es aetna eyôir einvígis - laetk hníga. Qrmplugr kúa kneytir, hinns annask of eyki, veitat Jsat gprva - drengr k o m lengi viô styr - , hvar laetk bpáserkar birki hníga; x t n a eyôir es trauôr einvígis; egg beit leggi í tvau. (v. 21)

Bjarni Einarsson (1961:239), working on the assumption that all the verses in the saga stem from the saga author, tries to explain this discrepancy on the basis that the author was imprecise in his handling of the place names in his narrative. That, however, is hardly a convincing explanation, especially bearing in mind that these venes follow in close succession and the author has already gone to the trouble in ch. 7 of identifying traelaeyrr and Oddaeyrr as two spits in the Brenneyjar. The manuscript reads kona kneyter. Skjaldedigtning (Bl:280-81, v. 16) emends to "kona knytir" but without explaining the meaning of this phrase. Bjamarsaga 1938:159 conjectures "kvenna kneytir" and explains it as a sexual reference. I propose the conjecture "kúa kneytir", "tetherer of cows", in the light of the clause "hinns of eyki "'annask", "who busies himself with draught animals". Both expressions are to be understood as references to tasks customarily assigned to servants.

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The garrulous tetherer of the cows who busies himself with draught animals does not know exactly where I toppled the birch of the battle shirt (-> WARRIOR) the warrior came a long way in the battle. The destroyer of edibles (-+ the gluttonous MAN) is reluctant to join single combat. The sword sliced the leg in two. 5 at vilk ï>ôrôr at fretti (J) ess unnum bçr Gunnar), ops *búinn veik frá veiti vaegja sucir meó aegi, at J)ars *einir hittumsk (jókk tafn í dag hrafni) *hafviggjar fyr hneigi hnigu tveir viòir geira. Vilk at l>óròr fretti |>at - ops búinn veik sudr meó segi frá veiti vaegja - J)ess unnum Gunnar bçr -, at tveir geira viôir hnigu fyr hafviggjar hneigi, [jars hittumsk einir; jókk hrafni tafn í dag. I want I>órór - all set to flee, he turned southwards alongside the sea away from the offerer of the sword (-> WARRIOR) - I do not begrudge this to the tree of Gunnr (= valkyrie = war ->• WARRIOR) -, to learn that two trees of spears (-»• WARRIORS) fell before the bender of the sea stallion (-> ship -• VIKING) when we met on our own; today I added to the raven's booty, (v. 24) In the first stanza (v. 21) of this exchange Bjçm says that I>ôrôr, reportedly hesitant to join in single combat, does not know precisely where his following had fallen. That is an indication that I>ôrÔr has fled. One of the kenn i η gs used of ï>ôrôr depicts him as a peasant busy with cows and steers, while complementarily the other, "aetna eyôir", parodies warrior kennings of the type "destroyer of weapons". The skald thereby denies I>órár honour as a member of the dominant social class, for whom flight was felt to be ignominious. The contrast between the steadfast heroic warrior and the cowardly peasant or thrall is a standard topos, seen for instance in the opposition between Hçgni and Hjalli in Atlakviòa. Bjçrn's second stanza (v. 24) is directly linked to the first one: I want I>ôrÔr to learn (after all, he was not present at the scene) that I killed two people when we were on our own - again an indication that Î>6rôr avoided the battle. In this verse, as well, reference is made in the parenthesis to Pôrôr's cowardice: he was ready to flee his assailant. ï>ôrôr's two stanzas make a feeble attempt at self-vindication.

See the comments on this line in chapter 3.

104

Edith Marold Hvestum tolf, en tvistir társ *hyr 48 gefendr vpru Leifa vegs, í *Laufa4' laungpgl Beruhrauni; ofláta sák ítran àâr sték fljótt á grjóti (hafa yildu \>á hplôar herôimenn) í gerôum. Hvestum tolf Laufa társ laungpgl í Beruhrauni, en Leifa vegs hyrgefendr vpru tvistir; sák ofláta ítran í gerdum - sték áár fljótt á grjóti; J)á vildu hplôar hafa herôimenn. We twelve whetted the retributive geese of the tears of Laufi (=Bjarkr's sword • blood ->· ARROWS) at Beruhraun, but the givers of the fire's way of Leifi (-• sea king -*• sea - • gold ->• MEN) split up into two (i.e. they parted company); 50 1 saw the haughty one splendid in armour before I swiftly clambered on to the boulders; then the men (we) wanted to have the hard men (i.e. Bjprn and his following), (v. 22)51 t>orns *veitk at berr Birni Baldr rógspgu skjaldar (neytr Jjykkisk sá nytir nadrbings) an mér adra, Jjat er Jpcetti betri Jjpgn élviôum Hpgna nú's eldskerôir orâinn eggleiks bani tveggja.

48

The manuscript reads tarsmyr... Meissner (1921:337) incorporates this into the kenning "Leifs vegs myr-gefendr", where myr might be emended to hyr or myln "fire", giving "the givers of fire of the road of Leifi" (sea-kings -*• sea gold MEN).

49

This emendation of manuscript lauffe seems questionable, since it involves a three-fold division of the line, but no other solution is available unless "Beruhrauni" can be accepted without governing preposition. Kock's suggestion (1923-44:§589), "Í laufi Leifa vegs [i] Beruhrauni", "in the leaf of the road of Leifi [in] Beruhrauni" (Leifi = giant -*• mountain stones) avoids the tripartite line but violates the rules of kenning formation.

50

The prose narrative also contains an account of how the two kinsmen refuse to lie in ambush for Bjprn as part of a twelve-strong posse. Pôrôr seizes the opportunity to withdraw from the action (ch. 18). Bjarnarsaga 1938:160, n. ad loc., explains "tvistir" as "silent". An alteration to the singular (as in Skjaldedigtning) is unnecessary, since the attack involved several people: cf. Kock 1923-44:§1107.

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Veitk at Baldr {>orns skjaldar berr Birni adra rógspgu an mér - sá nytir naôrbings Jjykkisk neytr -, J)at er J>œtti betri {>pgn Hpgna élviôum. Nú's eggleiks eldskerôir orôinn bani tveggja. I know that the Baldr of the thorn of the shield (-• sword -* WARRIOR) has one battle report on Bjprn and another one on me -, this possessor of the snake's bed (-• gold ->• MAN) considers himself valiant -; regarding this,52 silence seemed better to the trees of the storm of Hpgni (-• battle WARRIORS). Now the notch causer of the fire of the swordplay (->· battle -» sword WARRIOR) has become the killer of two. Pordr begins his self-vindication with a description of the events in v. 22: "We lay in ambush and prepared arrows, but we were in two groups." That is to say, he exonerate himself for his absence from the fight with Bjpm by claiming that the other group was the first to attack, although he had hastened on his way ("sték fljótt á grjóti"). In the second stanza he switches to a counter-attack: certainly he is aware that Bjprn has put forward a different story about the battle, but his rival would do better to remain silent, because he has now killed two men. I>óròr does not make good on the threat, however Bjprn and his relatives have pronounced the assailants ineligible for compensation, on account of the ambush (ch. 18), with the result that no eptirmeeli, "prosecution undertaken on behalf of a murder victim", takes place. Placed in the order posited here, the stanzas exhibit a clear progression. In Bjpm's two stanzas the chief allegation against I>ôrôr is one of cowardice and running away from battle. t>ôrôr begins by objecting that he and his men were separated and that despite swift pursuit he obviously did not arrive in time and ends by threatening his rival on the count of having killed the men. The saga altered this sequence by splitting up Bjprn's stanzas in such a way that a new scene is created for each verse. It has Bjprn speaking his first verse directly after the battle. Then it builds a separate mise-en-scène for Póròr's two verses: on his arrival home, someone asks I>órÒr how he has fared and he replies with a verse. In this way, the prose narrative converts his retort to Bjprn's stanzas into a report to an anonymous person at the house. His second verse follows immediately afterwards: "Ok enn kvaò t>óròr aôra visu", "And I>ôrâr spoke a second verse." Bjprn's second stanza is then moved to the end of the episode, with a perfunctory formula of introduction: "Ok um dag orti Bjprn ]?essa visu", "And during the day Bjpm made this verse" (Bjarnar saga 1938:160-62). I retain manuscript/wi er (with Kock 1923-44:§1108) but interpret differently from him: "This [meaning "the entire business, matter"], concerning which silence would appear preferable." The first kenning in the stanza "Baldr Jjorns skjaldar" may well also refer to Bjprn and therefore conceivably to his verses.

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Individual stanzas Bjç>rn Hitdœlakappi and Bjçrn Breiôvikingakappi A diachronic view of the lausavùur in Bjarnarsaga must necessarily take a stance on the much discussed question of the relationship between w . 12 and 29 and two stanzas attributed to Bjçrn Breiôvikingakappi in Eyrbyggja saga (w. 27 and 28). The stanzas in the two sagas both deal with the outcome of adultery, namely the wife's illegitimate son. A comparison of the different versions establishes that the relationship between them is not one of simple borrowing in either direction. The stanzas are to be considered as variants and - more than that, as I propose to show - as adaptations. The first problem lies in the fact that previous interpretations of these stanzas have not proved satisfactory. Here I present a tentative interpretation which is also designed to clarify the relationship between the stanzas and to trace the direction of adaptation. The interpretation of Bjarnar saga v. 29 proposed here is based on that put forward by Björn M. Olsen and extends the same logic to Eyrbyggja saga. In the comparison below discrepant readings are italicized; Bjarnarsaga v. 29 (1938:171-72)

Eyrbyggja saga v. 27 (1935:108)

Leitk hvar rann hjá runni runnr dçkkmara Gunnar oegiligr í augum *iògliki mér, víka, *sega preyjendr Jjeygi J) at barn vita Mçrnar heiti humra brautar hlunns sins fçôur kunna.

Sdk, hvar rann ι runni runnr ferais at brunni oegiligr í augum, záglíki mér, bríkar, lata {jeygi prjótar J>at barn vita Mçrnar hesta hleypi rastar hlunns, άηη fçôur kunna.

Leitk, hvar víka dçkkmara runnr rann hjá Gunnar runni, oegiligr í augum, idglíki mér; Jjreyjendr hlunns segja J>at barn Mçrnar vita humra brautar J>eygi kunna heiti fçôur sins.

Sák hvar Fenris bríkar runnr rann í runni at brunni, oegiligr í augum, idglíki mér; Jjrjótar lata J>at barn Mçrnar vita rastar J>eygi kunna fçôur sinn, hleypi hlunns hesta.

Björn M. Ólsen (1902:206-08) proposed the following interpretation for the Bjarnarsaga version: "hlunns *J>r0ngvar '"segja ^eygi {jat barn humra brautar vita *Njarnar kunna heiti fçôur sins." I have discarded a few conjectures as unnecessary.

The Relation Between Verses and Prose in Bjamar saga Hitdaehkappa I saw where the tree of dark horses of the bays (-• ship -*• Viking -> M A N ) ran by Gunnr's tree (= valkyrie = war WARRIOR), with fearsome eyes, resembling me. Controllers of the ship's roller (i.e. Vikings -> MEN) say the child of Mprn of the fire of the lobster's path (-»-sea -• gold -> WOMAN) does not know its father's name.

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I saw where the tree of the board of Fenrir (-»• sword -»• MAN) ran in the bushes to the spring, with fearsome eyes, resembling me. Those scoundrels claim that the child of Mprn of the fire of the sea current (->· gold -> W O M A N ) does not know his father, the one who makes the horses of the ship's, roller run (-> ships -> VIKING).55

Remarks o n interpretation T h e first helmingr of the Eyrbyggja saga stanza is explained by an event reported in the prose. A t an assembly at Haugabrekkar violence flares up and a man is killed. Duriòr's s o n runs u p to his corpse, which is lying in the bush, and reddens his axe i n the man's blood. This incident is not firmly tied t o the narrative context and gives the impression of having been devised ex postfacto in order t o account for the verse (cf. Björn M. Olsen 1902:206). Moreover, it probably rests o n an incorrect understanding of the stanza. If the second line is transposed f r o m the manuscript order, so as t o give us "runnr Fenris at brunni", the phrase "runnr Fenris" can be combined with "brikar" t o f o r m a kenning "tree of the board of Fenrir". "Board of Fenrir", "sword", can be explained w i t h reference t o the mythological scene where Fenrir's jaw is held open by a

Notes on the text: 1. idgliki: The manuscripts read at gltki, but this is metrically unacceptable because of the shortness of the initial alliteration-bearing syllable and must be replaced by idgliki, the reading found in Eyrbyggja saga. 2. sega·. The manuscripts read kveòa, but that is unacceptable because of the shortness of the accented syllable. Probably it represents a later substitution (metrically unproblematic after lengthening of short vowels) for sega, which has been conjecturally restored by various editors (see Skjaldedigtrting Al:304 and Bjamar saga 1893:48 for references). Bjamar saga 1938:171-72 retains kveòa, however. 3.preyjendr. this is the reading of 28, as against fireyndgir in 551. Various scholars have used the latter reading as a basis forthe emendationfirengpar,which is equally possible and does not alterthe sense. Preyjandihere has undergone the same development in meaning as beidir (see Finnur Jónsson 1931 s.v.). 4. fenris at brunni·. These two words are transposed from the order in the manuscript; see the discussion below. 5. idgliki mérbríkar: This line has been the subject of various attempted emendations. Gering (1912) conjectured "idgliki ""menbrikar", "just like the board of neck-rings ( -* WOMAN)". But Björn M. Ólsen rightly objected that the similarity invoked here is not with the mother but the father and that "runnr* would remain outside the phrase as an unacceptable half-kenning (1902:205). See Finnur Jónsson 1931:647. 6. Prjótar. The contextual links of this word remain unclear. A combination of this word with "gold" would run counter to normal word usage and complicate interpretation of the stanza.

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sword." "Runnr bríkar Fenris", "tree of the board of Fenrir" would then be a correct warrior or man kenning. This would leave the remainder of the sentence as "Sák hvar rann í runni at brunni", which would mean that the boy has merely run to a spring (not a corpse) and we would not be obliged to assume the strange and obscure kenning "runnr bríkar". The helmingr would then be interpreted as follows: "Sák hvar runnr brikar Fenris rann í runni at brunni", "I saw where the tree of the board of Fenrir (-• sword man) ran in the bushes to the spring." This presupposes that the author of Eyrbyggja saga misunderstood the stanza, perhaps through his failure to recognize the rare kenning type "sword" = "staff of Fenrir".58 Instead he brought "Fenris" and "brunnr" together as a kenning for "blood" and devised an appropriate explanatory narrative. In any reconstruction of the original version of the stanza, I see the kenning "runnr brikar Fenris" as a sounder point of departure, since, with a simple transposition of the two words, it opens the way to an unexceptionable interpretation. In the second helmingr, we find two kennings that have their beginning in the seventh line and are not adequately explained by existing interpretations: these are "Heita hlunns humra brautar" [Bjamar saga) and "hleypi hesta hlunns rastar" ( E y r b y g g j a saga). Both are problematic in terms of the norms of kenning formation. The person designated, a "sea-faring warrior", is common to both, but in both cases "hlunns" creates difficulties. In the version found in Eyrbyggja saga, the kenning would be entirely adequate if "hlunns" were omitted. "Horses of the ship's rollers" would be a complete ship's kenning, which, with the addition of "hleypi(r)", would form a correct sea-farer kenning. Despite this, most previous interpretations have construed "hlunns" in association with "rastar" to form a kenning for "sea", qualifying "hesta".59 But "rastar hlunns", "way of the ship's roller" cannot be accepted as a satisfactory kenning for "sea" (cf. Björn M. Olsen 1902:207), unless we assume gradual development of a use of "ship's roller" as pars pro toto for ship, for which we have no evidence. But even Cf. Eyvindr skaldsaspillir, lv. 6: "Fenris varrar sparii", "sword". As does the interpretation of the stanza in Eyrbyggja saga 1935:108. Despite the attempted explanation in the note ad loc., "runnr brikar" is not a regularly constructed kenning. Dronke (1981:67) went so far as to speculate that some kind of allusion to the child's illegitimacy might be involved. The word brtk specifically denotes the partition board between beds, so that a kenning "brikar runnr" could signify a child conceived across that partition, but even this suggestion does not dispose of the irregularity of the kenning formation. Björn M. Ólsen (1902:206), assuming that here Bjamar saga preserved the original text, speculated that someone who had forgotten the final words in lines 2 and 4 simply added "at Fenris brunni" as a filler. That seems implausible, since then the story of the boy reddening his axe in blood, which Björn himself regards as improbable, would be primary. Cf. Bjamar saga 1938:108. In Skjaldedigtning (Bl:281) the stanza is dealt with only in relation to Bjprn Hitdcelakappi.

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then the kenning would not be problem-free, because it would already contain the concept "ship*. The difficulties become still more acute with Bjamarsaga. The manuscripts offer "heiti ("heiti" in 28) humra Brautar hlunz". In Skjaldedigtning Finnur Jónsson rejects these variants, substituting the corresponding line from the Eyrbyggja saga version (Bl:281, v.19). The editors of Eyrbyggja saga (1935:108) attempt to adhere to the manuscript with a conjecture, "*Heita hlunns humra brautar", but in so doing are obliged to add the emendation u *sinn" for "sins", yielding "the Heiti ( = sea king) of the ship's roller of the path of the lobster" (->• sea -> ship sea king of the ship). Here the ship kenning "hlunnr humrar brautar" is in itself irregular, although "tree", "trunk", or "stick" do occur as base words in ship kennings (Meissner 1921:221). Considerably more problematic is the name of a sea king used as base word in a man kenning, since then the meaning of the kenning as a whole would already be denoted by the base word. In these circumstances an attractive alternative is to keep to the manuscripts and interpret the subordinate clause as follows: "... segja jjat barn J>eygi kunna heiti fpôur sins." But that still leaves "hlunns humra brautar", and "ship's roller of the path of the lobster" (-•? of the sea -*• sea-farer) would be highly irregular as a man kenning. It is true that "hlunnr", while uncommon, does occur as a base word in man kennings (cf. Meissner 1921:266f.), but in this case "sea" would not be a correct defining word. Meanwhile Björn M. Olsen (1902:209) suggested that "hlunns" in Bjamar saga should be connected with "Jjrengvar" to form a kenning for "Viking" (a possibility that also applies to "J>reyjendr"). The sea-farer would then be described as someone who burdens, i.e. actuates, the ship's roller. The remaining "humra brautar", a straightforward sea kenning, he combines with "vita" in line 6 to form a gold kenning, which he takes as qualifying "Mprnar". This analysis produces a regular kenning for "woman", which in turn he connects as a genitive with "bam". The result would be an attractive interpretation of the helmingr. "The Vikings say that the child of the woman does not know the name of its father." But, not seeing it as possible to use the name "Mprn" in a kenning for a beloved woman, since it is normally used of a giantess, Björn prefers to emend to "*Njarnar", genitive of Njprun, a goddess. Against this emendation is the fact that all the manuscripts, of Eyrbyggja saga and Bjamar saga alike, have "maumar". Any substitution of "marnar" for "*njarnar" would

Cf. Meissner 1921:263, who states that names of heroes and kings are rare in such kennings. Only one appears among the examples he adduces: "Beimi byrjar J>rafnar." The present stanza also contains the sole attestation of the name Heiti outside the Pulur, where its inclusion may in any case be influenced by this stanza. We therefore cannot say for certain if Heiti is the name of a sea king.

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have to have occurred at a previous stage and could not be explained, after Björn, as resulting from a misreading of m for nj. As it happens, it may after all be possible to show that the "giantess" base word is appropriate in context. The attestations of mçrn in Lexicon Poeticum (Finnur Jónsson 1931:420) can be classified into two groups, one denoting a giantess and the other a demon, possibly one that causes diseases. If we concentrate on the giantess group, as more pertinent to skaldic poetry, the sum of our knowledge about Mprn is that her father was said to be the giant I>jazi (Haustlpng w . 6 and 12). This I>jazi we also hear of as the father of a daughter called Skaôi. Now Skaòi is a familiar figure in mythology, being the aggrieved wife of Njprôr, whom she married as an element in the reconciliation with the ALsir that followed the killing of her father. Additionally, Skadi is known as an enemy of Loki." Supposing that Mprn were an alternative name for Skadi, its use in the stanzas under discussion could be neatly accounted for. This mythological figure has some points in common (from the male speakers' perspective, at any rate) with Oddny and Duriôr, the two women referred to by the kenning. They do not love their husbands and their husbands are wealthy. As to t>óroddr skattkaupandi, Eyrbyggja saga (1935:77) explains how he came into property and its role in the marriage settlement. Likewise with ï>ôrôr's marriage, we have seen reason to believe that property was a decisive factor. For his part, Njpròr is of course, among other things, the god of wealth (see Gylfaginning ch. 23 and SkMdskaparmál ch. 7). If this tentative interpretation is correct, the use of the base word Mçrn in the woman kenning would imply that the woman so designated is married to a rich man whom she does not love. In order to establish the priority of the stanzas, let us look at the two versions together once again (with italicization used as above).

Cf. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar, Gylfaginning ch. 22. The motif is found in a stanza by the eleventh-century skald I>ór5r Saereksson (Skjaldedigtning Bl:303-04, v. 3): "nama snotr una ... goôbrûôr vani", "the shrewd god-bride got no joy from the scion of the Vanir." Snorra Edda, Gylfaginning, ch. 49; Skáldskaparmál chapters 1 and 16. If the obscene jest described here represents the enactment of an emasculation of Loki, there might possibly be a link with the enigmatic Mçmir mentioned in VpIsapdttr.

The Relation Between Verses and Prose in Bjamarsaga Hitdœlakappa

Bjarnar saga v. 29

Eyrbyggja saga v. 28

1. Leitk, hvar rann 2. runnr dçkkmara vika 3. hjá runni Gunnar 4. œgiligr í augum, iôgliki mér 5. segja (kveda) 6. preyjendr hlunns 7. j)eygi J>at barn 8. Mçrnar vita humra brautar 9. kunna heití sins fçdur

Sdk, hvar rann runnr Fenris brikar í runni at brunni œgiligr í augum, iâgliki mér lata prjótar J)eygi {»at barn Mçrnar vita rastar kunna sinn fçdur

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First to elaborate on some points of interpretation: Line 1. "Sák" and "leitk" can be explained as variants arising when a word is not fixed by rhyme or alliteration. Line 2. Variation here affects the defining element in the kenning. Possibly Eyrbyggja saga should be accorded priority, since a substitution in Bjamarsaga might be attributed to inability to understand the kenning "Fenris brik". Line 3. The author of the Bjamarsaga variant evidently decided not to adopt the motif of the child running in the bush, in contradistinction to the author of Eyrbyggja saga, who makes it part of the scene. In Bjamarsaga the idea is that the poet has a clear view of the child running, which leads naturally to the verse. To remove the obstructive scenery, the saga author pressed the first "runni" into service as base word in a man kenning and replaced "at brunni" with "Gunnar", which became the defining element in the kenning. Once again, the Eyrbyggja saga version appears to have priority, since a skald of any talent would hardly have used the same base word in two man kennings within a single stanza. Yet another supposition could speak for this direction of development. Even if the child's run, according to the above interpretation, no longer takes him to a bleeding corpse but just to a spring, the story is still short on motivation. For an explanation - admittedly a highly speculative one - we might look to the Old Norse term hrisungr "person conceived in the bushes, in the forest", this being the legal term for the issue of an outlaw and a free woman (Gulapingslçg 104; cf. Finnur Jónsson 1931:285). The term would be accurate as applied to the child of Bjçrn Breidvíkingakappi and ÏHiriôr, since Bjçrn had incurred a three-year outlawry for the killing of Périr's sons (ch. 29). The "boy in the bush" motif in the stanza may arise from some kind of wordplay or paronomasia on the term, in the form of hris ungr "bush-boy" or "bush-newborn". Literal-minded interpretation of this wordplay could then have led to the scene in Eyrbyggja saga.

Lines 5-9. In my view, the variation of "kunna heiti sins fçôur" to "kunna sin fçdur" is the key change here and the other variants are consequent upon it. The

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kenning in apposition to "sinn fçâur" was jettisoned and "rastar", "sea current", replaced by the kenning "humra brautar". Meanwhile "hlunns", with a new base word in line 5, was linked to a man kenning that replaced "Jjrjótar". That in turn probably led, for reasons of rhyme, to the substitution of "*segja" for "lata". But what motivated the principal variation? We can begin by noting that each variant fits neatly with its saga context. In Eyrbyggja saga we are told that the boy does not know his father - which is understandable, since the latter had been overseas for three years. Bjçrn Breidvíkingakappi and his brother had just returned when they met the child at Haugabrekkar, where purportedly these stanzas are spoken (1935:107). In Bjarnarsaga the situation is different. Bjçrn has not been overseas but living near ï>ôrâr and Oddny. This was potentially awkward for the saga author, who therefore modified the stanza so as to say that the name of the father was unknown to the child. If this surmise is correct, it would add to the claims of Eyrbyggja saga to priority. At the same time it would furnish interesting and instructive testimony as to how a saga author on occasion not merely adapted the narrative context to fit lausavisur but also the reverse. The second stanza in Eyrbyggja saga is treated as a direct continuation of the conversation, answering a further question from Bjçrn BreiÒvikingakappi's companion: "Hvat mun t>óroddr nú til segja, hvárr ykkar eiga mim sveininn?", "What will I>óroddr say now, as to which of you two must have the boy?" {Eyrbyggja saga 1935:108). In Bjamar saga, the corresponding stanza is placed separately from the first of the stanza pair, several chapters earlier and in an entirely different context. It clearly marks the end point of a series of disputes in versified form. We are told that one evening Bjçrn sat beside Oddny and "laid down yet another stanza", that is, on top of the immediately preceding ones in which he had issued a fourfold reminder of his revenge. The narrator follows the stanza with the comment that this poetic dispute has ended. Here too the versions in the two sagas vary markedly. Bjarnarsaga

v. 12 (1938:145)

Pi mun Jjunnrar blaeju Jjçll - vestarla und fjçllum Rindr *vakôi mik mundar manns jjins getu s anna ef gaeti son saeta sunnu mars vid runni - vçn *hétk réttrar raunarriklunduâ mér glíkan.

Eyrbyggja saga v. 28 (1935:108-09) M mun fxjll en mjóva ï>ôrodds aôalbjôra, fold unni mér fçldu fannhvit, getu sanna, ef àttgçfug ietti auôbrik sonu glika, enn emk gjarn til Gunnar gjalfrelda, mér sjplfum.

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M mun Jjunnrar blaeju J>pll sanna getu manns J)ins (mundar Rindr vakôi mik vestarla und fjpllum), ef ríklunduó saeta gas ti son mér glíkan vid runni sunnu mars (hétk vpn réttrar raunar).

I>á mun en mjóva adalbjóra J>pll sanna getu í>órodds, - fannhvít fpldu fold unni mér, - ef áttgpfug audbrík setti sonu, glíka mér sjplfum; enn emk gjarn til gj al freída Gunnar.

Then the spruce of the thin coverlet (-» WOMAN) will confirm the suspicion of your husband (Rindr of the bride-price (-+ WOMAN) woke me to the west under the mountains), if the proud woman bears a son resembling me to the tree of the sun of the sea (->• gold -*• MAN) (I promise the prospect of a true verification).

Then the slender spruce of the splendid wall-hanging (-*· WOMAN) will confirm I>oroddr's suspicion - the snow-drift-white earth of the head finery (-»• WOMAN) loved me - if the board of wealth fortunate in her lineage (-»• WOMAN) had sons resembling me, and I covet the Gunnr of the fire of the sea tumult (-> gold WOMAN).

Let us look at the changes.63 The sentence structure is a constant: Bjamarsaga J>pll Jmnnrar blaeju

manns J»ns Rindr mundar vakôi mik vestarla und fjpllum ríklunduó saeta gaeti vid runni sunnu mars vpn hétk réttrar raunar

In common J)ámun [THE WOMAN] getu sanna [OF THE MAN] [THE WOMAN LOVES ME] ef [THE PROUD WOMAN] [HAD/GOT] son/sonu glíka(n) mér

Eyrbyggja saga en mjóva aòalbjóra Ml I>órodds fold Fpldu unni mér fannhvit áttgpfug auôbrik aetti + sjplfum enn emk gjarn til Gunnar gjalfrelda

The Bjamar saga version can be viewed as a deliberate alteration of a version essentially corresponding to that n o w seen in Eyrbyggja saga. Once again, to take the variants one by one: 63

Skjaldedigtning and Bjamarsaga 1938 concur on the emendations vakdi and hétk, replacing MS vekur and hiet respectively.

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1. Eyrbyggja saga "en mjóva, fannhvíta aáalbjóra Jjpll" versus Bjamar saga "Jjunnrar blaeju Jjpll". Where the focus of the woman kenning in Eyrbyggja saga was splendid outward appearance, Bjarnar saga introduces the motif of the "blzja", "coverlet", so highlighting the idea of a sexual liaison. The word blceja often has connotations of the marriage relationship; the kenning element "aáalbjóra" also denotes a kind of "covering", but in the sense of a wall hanging displayed on festive occasions. Bjarnar saga shows the use of sexual innuendo to vex the eavesdropping spouse. 2. Eyrbyggja saga "I»órodds" versus Bjamar saga "manns Jpíns". Here the dialogue set-up is changed: in Eyrbyggja saga the conversation takes place between Póròr blígr and Bjprn Breidvikingakappi, whereas in Bjamar saga the stanza is ostensibly addressed to Oddny, beside whom Bjprn is sitting, but the prose indicates that it is intended for í>órór's ears, as an attempt to outdo the revenge stanzas. 3. Eyrbyggja saga "fold fpldu unni mér" versus Bjamar saga "Rindr mundar vakôi mik vestarla und fjpllum". I would construe the statement in Bjamar saga not as an awakening to first love (as in Bjamar saga 1938:145), but rather as a hint of a night spent together. Where the woman kenning in Eyrbyggja saga is neutral and represents a familiar type, the kenning in Bjamar saga alludes to the liaison. The base word "Rindr" refers to an Oöinn myth in which the god woos Rindr in the hope of spending a night together but initially is rejected and made a laughing stock by her. Finally, however, he overpowers her through magic (cf. de Vries 1957:§395). The "magic" that Dôrôr employed in order to secure Oddny was of course property and that is invoked in the unusual defining element in the woman kenning: "mundr", "the bride-price" - serving to confirm the interpretation of v. 2 presented above. 4. Eyrbyggja saga "áttgpfug auôbrik" versus Bjamar saga "riklunduô saeta". The stanza in Eyrbyggja saga singles out the woman's social status for praise; she is a wealthy woman of noble lineage (being the sister of Snorri goöi). By contrast, the kennings for Oddny in Bjprn's stanzas point up her physical and psychological traits: "líki fpgr" (v. 1), "svinn, esa ranglpt, harôla nyt" (v. 3), "orôsaell, hefr baztar rœâur, brekspm" (v. 6).65 That could have to do with Oddny's not belonging to a noble family, but equally the author of the stanza may have regarded these qualities as quintessentially feminine and modified the kenning accordingly. 5. The two parentheses differ completely as to content, and yet each fits its context. Thus Bjprn Breiâvikingakappi, speaking at a time when the boy is

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The motif is standard in courtly lyric: cf. the Aubade genre. This lends support to the theory that Póròr's poem Daggeisli likewise centred on the motif of the lovers waking together. The same applies to ï>ôrôr's v. 7, "snerriláta snót, mjór kona".

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already a few years old, says, "and I love this woman." Bjpm Hitdœlakappi speaks at a time when the child has not yet been born, during his first stay with ]>ôrôr, which according t o the saga lasted just one winter, and accordingly he says, "I promise the prospect of true verification.*' There is n o r o o m for doubt that this stanza was revised by a writer w h o wanted t o fit it into a pre-ordained context, and the same claim can be made, though on slighter evidence, concerning the first stanza. These revisions point t o what was presumably a wide-spread practice of adapting existing stanzas t o suit the purposes of the saga author. The stanzas lent themselves t o this use, since the narrative situations in the t w o sagas are in fact closely parallel (cf. Bjarni E i n a r s s o n 1961:247). B o t h B j p m Breiövikingakappi and B j p r n Hitdœlakappi are shown as engaged in liaisons with married w o m e n whose husbands are helpless t o do anything about it. That the t w o stanzas were originally associated with Bjprn Breiövikingakappi is further indicated by the role of the child in the t w o sagas. The author of Bjamar saga has only limited use for him - for example, at the hestaping (as we have seen) and in the concluding battle, where Bjprn averts father-son combat by dropping a hint as t o their kinship. At the ensuing legal proceeding? he disappears from the action and altogether he has little significance for the narrative. T h e case is very different with Eyrbyggja saga, where the corresponding child - Kjartan of FróÓá - plays a central part in the plot.

The majority of scholars believe that the stanzas in Bjamar saga are modelled on those of Eyrbyggja saga (e.g. Finnur Jónsson 1912:44-45). Sigurôur Nordal contends that the variant forms have developed during the course of oral transmission (Bjamar saga 1938:lxxiii-iv). Einar Ol. Sveinsson is in general agreement (Eyrbyggja saga 1935:viii), but does not commit himself concerning the attribution of the stanzas. It is not really possible to trace the exact process of adaptation. The model cannot have been Eyrbyggja saga proper, but perhaps instead an independent story of Bjprn Breiövikingakappi, as Vogt (1921:57) seeks to show, citing the account of the shared nickname kappi. Bjarni Einarsson (1961:248-50) argues for the indebtedness of Eyrbyggja saga to Bjamar saga, but on vague grounds. He points out that connections also existed between Eyrbyggja saga and Kormákssaga and attempts to establish a link between Eyrbyggja saga v. 29 and Bjamar saga v. 1, but this is not very specific and only applies to the second helmingr. His theory that Eyrbyggja saga is the borrower in each of these cases depends upon the notion that this work belongs to a later and more developed stage of the sagas of Icelanders (1961:251). Cf. Dronke 1981: "Structurally the scene and the verse appear more necessary to the story of Bjprn Breiövikingakappi" (68), whereas in Bjamar saga "the theme of the lover's son constitutes a divergence from the traditional pattern of the love-triangle story" (69) and above all the illegitimate son plays a dramatic part in Bjprn's final combat. For Dronke, though, the key argument for the ascription to Bjprn Breiövikingakappi is "the scaldic dignity of Bjprn's recognition verse", which does not harmonize with the crude satire of Grâmagaflim and Kolluvisur, although it certainly has the theme of paternity in common with them (the fish as father, Bjprn as father of the calf) and may in this way have been

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Significant in the same direction is the arrangement of the stanzas, which makes more sense in Eyrbyggja saga. First comes the question of what attitude Bjprn takes to the child after the revelation of paternity and then the natural corollary - how will the woman's husband feel about it? In Bjarnar saga the stanzas, especially the second one, sit awkwardly in their context. The first (v. 12) is cited as an additional insult addressed to I>6rdr in a dispute, the second (v. 29) appears in a short chapter sandwiched between two major episodes. The two stanzas may well have originated in a unified poem. While certainly they seem at home in their prose context in Eyrbyggja saga, there are grounds for disputing their dependence on that context. We have seen that v. 27 in Eyrbyggja saga can be explained on the basis that the "boy in the bushes" motif is a play on the word hrisungr. If that is accepted, it follows that the two stanzas may have originated independently of the saga context, which would represent a secondary development, and maybe formed part of a longer poem relating to Bjprn Breidavikingakappi. A further corollary of this reasoning is that the use of the poem in Bjarnar saga may have come about independently from that in Eyrbyggja saga, which would eliminate the need to determine priority between the two sagas. That leaves the question of what motivated the author of Bjarnar saga to separate the two stanzas as he did. A plausible reason would be his desire to add a poetic dimension to the first conflict between the two adversaries. The second stanza, once appropriately modified, provided a natural climax in revealing that the woman at the heart of the dispute would shortly have a son resembling the rival. But the companion stanza could not be inserted at this point, since it presupposes that the son is by now in existence. For this reason it was placed at an appropriate chronological distance, in a context where the dispute has escalated into outright physical combat, making the contrasting reactions of I>óròr's sons to the Eykyndilsvisur understandable for the listener or reader.

The lausavisur in their prose context As already noted in the introduction, the purpose of this section is to consider the contribution made by the stanzas to the saga as a whole. With, as we have seen, the single exception of the Grámagaflím, they are all presented as speeches on the part of the characters. Such speeches can be couched in either dialogue or monologue form. They qualify as dialogue if an addressee is clearly indicated by the surrounding prose or by the wording of the stanza itself. The lausavisur in dialogue form are as follows: w . 4, 5, 7, 8, 9,10,11, 12, 13,14,15,19,22,23, 25,

attracted into Bjarnar saga.

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29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, and 36. Of these w . 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 14, 15, 19, and 32 contain second-person pronouns or verb forms. The remaining stanzas can be regarded as monologues: w . 1, 2, 3, 6,16,17, 18, 20, 21, 24, and 35 (spoken by Bjprn) and w . 37,38, and 39 (spoken by I>órÒr). The overwhelming majority of stanzas therefore enter into the dialogue. The stanzas ostensibly in monologue form have a variety of discourse functions. Of the four stanzas of the Eykyndilsvtsur (w. 1, 2, 3, and 6) the last two (w. 3, 6) are spoken in I>órér's presence and cause him discomfort. Similarly in the cases of w . 16 and 18, when Bjprn sees or hears of l>óròr in a compromising situation and gives it poetic treatment, the assumption is that his stanzas get disseminated to a wider circle, although no explicit statement is made to that effect.70 The use of the niò stanza (v. 20) is comparable. So far as can be determined, given the fragmentary state of the text, it implicates t>ór5r in its description of the homosexual couple and the saga implies that Bjprn speaks it as one of a group of people who are discussing the ni&stçng - meaning that once again the stanza is used to subject ]>ôrôr to public ridicule. Presumably w . 21 and 24, which deal with Pórcir's part in the ambush in Beruhraun, are spoken to a audience of some size as well and serve as a public indictment of I>6rdr for his cowardice. For four of Bjprn's monologue stanzas, by contrast, there is no indication of an audience in the saga. Listeners are not mentioned by name for either the stanza spoken in the tent (v. 1) or the one on board ship (v. 2). Here it is as if we are dealing with monologues in the full sense of the word, revealing the inner life of the character, and in fact Bjprn is heard musing on his love for Oddny and the consequences for him of t>ór5r's now possessing the desired woman. Similar observations apply to v. 17. In the prose narrative a somewhat implausible situation is contrived, where Bjprn is to marry the daughter instead of the mother - indeed the stanza even speaks of two daughters. That is totally bizarre, chronologically speaking, since the daughter would be at most eight or nine years old. Who could be the addressee of this stanza remains unclear. It sounds more like a soliloquy in which, starting from a given situation, Bjprn voices expectations about the future. So too with v. 35: while certainly Bjprn has a companion - in the shape of a boy - when he leaves his homestead, the stanza is not addressed to him. It is better seen as a soliloquy, in which the poet

"En eigi góó Jjótti I>órói visan, ... en [>ó var Jjat nú fyrst kyrrt", "And the verse did not please t>órár... but there was a lull for the time being"; "X>ôrôi hugnar eigi viô Bjpm um kvedskapinn, en J)ó er nú kyrrt", "X>órár was not happy with Bjprn about the poetry, but now there was a lull." That can be said with certainty of v. 18; Bjpm speaks it while with a group of people but it also comes to Dórdr's attention.

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comes to terms with his situation and confronts it with characteristic courage and resoluteness. Of Bjprn's eleven stanzas in monologue form, then, only four are monologues in the strong sense of communicating the speaker's inner life. The other stanzas are not addressed to any individual, whether explicitly in the stanza or as part of a dialogue in the prose, but rather to the community at large, as an audience before whom ]>órór is represented in a disadvantageous situation. The stanzas are therefore Bjprn's weapons in a war of words with his opponent, subjecting him to social degradation. They must have been spoken with the intention of reaching a wider audience. Of t>ór5r's stanzas only three can be classed as monologue, these being his two triumph stanzas (w. 37 and 38) and the stanza expressing distress at his wife's illness (v. 39). For v. 37 the saga author created a vivid context: I>órór speaks as he steps between the head and trunk of his decapitated foe, so that the attainment of vengeance is given a concrete realization. He has people with him but the stanza is not addressed to them. V. 38 is likewise assigned a scene of its own, built on the raven motif in the stanza. Although addressed to the ravens, it can be classed as a monologue on the part of the victor, who once again calls to mind the image of his enemy, now being stripped of his flesh. The concluding stanza, on his wife's illness, has in its context, as the final verse in the saga, the symbolic function of underlining the speaker's total failure. After Bjprn's death, t>óróròr's invitation to Bjprn so as to create the opportunity for the two enemies to dispute face to face. The invitation is in itself improbable; what man would take such a risk with a rival over whom he has just gained an advantage by fraudulent means? The pretext for his magnanimity is equally contrived. In short, it makes sense only as a means of setting the scene for the poetic conflict between the two opponents. The four chapters that describe Bjprn's visit are made up of numerous smaller episodes which (with few exceptions serve to lead up to a lausavisa. In the cases where ostensibly the stanza is a monologue describing a given situation, the saga author has created that impression by drawing on the content of the stanza for details of the preceding action, which has the effect of simultaneously providing an occasion for the stanza, examples being w. 3, 6, and 16. The saga author put careful planning into his arrangement of the stanzas, and that accounts for the various transpositions of stanzas in relation to the order postulated for the hypothetical original flokkar. Analysis of this arrangement reveals a clear, incremental three-part structure: 1.1. Secret tryst with Oddny (v. 3) 1.2. Attempted eviction plus refusal to leave (w. 4, 5) 1.3. Secret tryst with Oddny (v. 6) 11.1. I>óròr reminds Bjprn about having forfeited the woman (v. 7) 11.2. Bjprn issues reminders of his revenge (w. 8, 9, 10, 11)

The only episode to fall outside this pattern concerns the quarrel about Bjprn's animals, but its function might be to prepare the way for v. 13.

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ΙΠ.1. Bjpm announces that Oddny is expecting a child by him (v. 12) ΙΠ.2. Attempted eviction plus refusal to leave (w. 14,15) ΙΠ.3. I>óròr refuses Oddny access to the conjugal bed (v. 16) Here v. 16 can straightforwardly be linked with v. 12, given the continuity of content. It then becomes apparent that the saga author has interrupted two poems, "Secret tryst" and "Expected child", by interpolating a pair of stanzas into each from the poem "Attempted eviction". At the mid-point we find Poem II, which could be called "Betrayal and revenge". The result is an interweaving of four poems to form a symmetrical pattern, with the stanzas "Betrayal and revenge" at the centre and the stanzas "Secret tryst" and "Expected child" f o r m i n g an "envelope" around them. These for their part fall into a second symmetrical pattern, with the insertion of a pair of stanzas from "Attempted eviction" at the middle point of each poem. The creation of this symmetrical pattern might well have provided the incentive for splitting up the latter poem. As to content, the stanza sequence depicts an escalation from the lovers' tryst to I>óròr's attempt to make good his rights, the latter countered by Bjprn with numerous stanzas that all refer to his success in obtaining vengeance. The climax of the dispute is reached when Bjprn announces that Oddny is to have a child by him. î>6rôr can scarcely reply to this other than by issuing a complaint about the unrest in his house, making a second futile attempt to evict his guest, and finally perhaps taking his vengeance on Oddny with a stanza that is greeted with ridicule by Bjprn. As far as one can tell, bearing in mind the gap after ch. 14, the lausavisur continue to determine the movement of the plot. Clear examples are the pair w . 18 and 19, because the ridicule contained in them leads to the disruption of everyday farming and fishing life and ultimately to the niÒ stanza.

3. Dominance of the action in the battle scenes But at this point there is a change not only in the two rivals' behaviour, as they move from poetic to physical combat, but also in the mode of narrative. The prose no longer serves merely to lead up to the lausavisur at the end of the episodes, but becomes self-sufficient; the action is no longer constructed from the content of the stanzas but goes beyond it. Nevertheless, the stanzas are still

This verse is the only one to disrupt the order indicated above. It is also conceivable that this verse originally had a different function, namely to point out Pórár's incapacity for a normal marital relationship. If that is the case, the verse would most naturally be placed prior to the announcement that Oddny is about to have a child by Bjprn, the rival. As the verse is currently placed, it has to be seen as a consequence of this announcement, which makes it less appropriate as a satire on Póròr.

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tied in to scenes as far as possible. Thus the first of the Beruhraunvisur (v. 21) is directly linked to the killing of ï>ôrôr's two kinsmen and the second (v. 24) is spoken by him "um dag", "during the day" at home. I>óròr's stanzas (w. 22 and 23), in reality a somewhat lame self-vindication against reproaches of cowardice, are incorporated into his homecoming, as a response to a stereotypical question about his success in battle. If a reason is sought for the splitting up of Bjprn's stanzas, when manifestly they belong together,76 it could have been in order to follow up I>óròr's self-vindication with a renewed statement of the true version of events. Here for a second time we encounter the phenomenon that the sequence of lausavisur taken in isolation creates a second narrative level with its own structure and meanings.

4. Adherence to chronological order The result of our diachronic investigation was that the stanzas in common between Bjamar saga and Eyrbyggja saga are closer to the original in Eyrbyggja saga, in respect of both wording and stanza order. When the stanza carrying the revelation of paternity became coopted into the dispute between Bjprn and I>óràr, it was forcefully adapted to the new context. But that, as we have seen, left its companion stanza stranded and it was inserted, along with a few lines of prose to establish the context, in a very short chapter of its own. One explanation for this placement might be that the encounter with the "npkkura vetra gamall... (sveinn)" was called for at precisely this point if narrative interlace (a topic we shall return to presently) were to be reconciled with chronology. Add to this that the next chapter but one (23) would be unintelligible if one did not know that Kolli is Bjprn's son. Another possibility, however, is that the stanza - along with its accompanying prose - functions to keep alive themes that would otherwise be eclipsed by the battle scenes, in a parallel fashion to w . 1 and-2.

Bjprn's dreams O n three occasions Bjprn is tormented by ominous dreams. The first occurs during his stay with I>orbjprg, a woman not characterized in detail, who interprets his dream as involving t h e f y l g j u r . The second is during his stay with his sister at Knarrarnes. The third and final dream is at home with his wife.

76

"Veitat..." (v. 21): "Jjat vilk I>óròr at fretti" (v. 22).

77

O n the function of lausavisur as a second narrative level, cf. Wolf 1965.

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Following each dream he is ambushed; on the first two occasions Bjprn succeeds in defending himself but he succumbs on the third attack. These three narrative sequences are structured through an incrementation of stylistic effects: Dream stanza Dream stanza Dream stanza

Advice from the woman to take a less direct route No reaction from the woman Warning from the woman

Skirmish with I>órdr and his men Bjprn escapes wounded Bjprn falls

A natural inference would be that the saga author dispersed these dream stanzas in such a way as to create an incremental pattern. An additional objective may have been to develop a structure for the finale. After the meeting at Fagraskóg, where the two skalds lambast each other with poems about their respective wives, we see three attempts to kill on ï>ôrôr's part, in a pattern of escalating violence. On the first occasion Bjprn sends the two assassins back in fetters, on the second he kills two men and escapes, and on the third he kills two men and escapes wounded. At this point is placed the dream stanza in which Bjpm's death is visualized for the first time. In that way the stanza not only marks a climax in the series of attacks but simultaneously foreshadows the end of the saga. Dorsteinn Kuggason's attempt at reconciliation then forms a kind of retardation. Hopes for peace are dashed by w . 31 and 32, a pair of stanzas where the skalds turn from their customary focus upon substantive themes to a disparagement of each other's poetic abilities. If it is correct that v. 33, the invocation of the gods, originally belonged with t>óròr's triumph stanzas, its reworking in the present tense and placement in the chapter describing the conspiracy can likewise be seen as serving to intensify the suspense and heighten the tone of the narrative. From this point we can imagine an arc extending over Bjprn's last stanzas, which speak of his ominous dream and his unwavering courage, to Póròr's next triumph stanza, with its decisive "lóskat", "that did not fail". Anticipating chapter 6 in this volume, we can conclude that the saga author's arrangement of stanzas exhibits an interlace technique. Similar patterns have been pointed out in the structure of the opening chapters. This technique is essentially identical to the interlacing of plot lines seen in various saga narratives, including Eyrbyggja saga.

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Bjçrn's premonition of death Dream of death.

Dörflas triumph

Collapse of mediation attempt. Call to the heathen gods for help. The dùir are right, they invite me. Although I have little support, I am not afraid and I do not flee. There are only two of us, but perhaps help is coming. Success: I have killed Bjçrn in a just cause. Ravens, fetch your booty. In sum, we now see two of the most important principles underlying the treatment of verses in the saga narrative. First, pre-existing poems (flokkar) are broken up into individual stanzas. For each of these stanzas a scene is devised, in most cases one elaborated from the poetic text. Then these stanzas are used to create a thematic and narrative structure within the saga. As part of this process the different stanza sequences are woven together in an interlace pattern, analogous to the more familiar entrelacement of plot strands in prose texts. The interlace technique engenders effects of expectation and suspense by virtue of links in content and theme between the stanzas.

Skaldsagas - R G A - E Band 27 - Seiten 125-171 © C o p y r i g h t 2000 Walter de Gruyter · Berlin · N e w Y o r k

The Relation between Verses and Prose in HallfreÒar saga and Gunnlaugs

saga

By RUSSELL POOLE

Gunnlaugr kvad J)á visu jiessa: "Munat hádvQrum hyrjar..." "Setta er vel ort," segir Hallfreôr. {HallfreÒar saga 1939:85-86)

HallfreÒar saga and Gunnlaugs saga are prosimetra, in other words exhibit a form where prose and verse combine into an aesthetically integrated whole. Yet good reasons, parallel to those advanced in the previous chapter, exist for investigating the verses as entities independent of the prose. In this chapter I shall discuss the verses both as they relate to the prose and, more hypothetically, as they relate to each other. The exercise, like Marold's, could be described as one in textual stratigraphy, since, somewhat after the approach of an archaeologist or geologist, my endeavour will be to determine whether a close examination of the verses can help us to discover compositional stages and strata within the different redactions of the saga text. Some of the potential pitfalls in this stratigraphie approach will be discussed by Preben Meulengracht Serensen in the following chapter. I shall deal with HallfreÒar saga first and more fully.1 Verses in HallfreÒar saga Let us begin by quickly itemizing the verses to be found in HallfreÒar saga and noting how they are used If we assemble the verses from all extant redactions (which will be reviewed presently) we reach a total of thirty-four. V. 1. This anonymous verse celebrates the amatory achievements of Ingólfr Porsteinsson; its first helmingr also occurs in Vatnsdoela saga. V. 2. Hallfreôr compares his opponent, Mar Jçrundarson, evidently a selfconfessed heathen, to a dog. Here and throughout I shall follow the enumeration of the verses that is given in the íslenzk fomrit editions, respectively Vatnsdoela saga 1939; Borgfirdinga saga 1938; and Snoni Sturluson, Heimskringla 1941. My text of these verses, where cited, will follow these editions except where otherwise signalled.

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V. 3. Hallfreôr announces his love for Kolfinna and also reckons with the claims of a rival. V. 4. Hallfreôr describes a rough voyage and reiterates his love for Kolfinna. Vv. 5-6. Hallfreôr and a mysterious visitant, later revealed as king Óláfr Tryggvason, exchange verses. V. 7. This stanza is an excerpt from Hallfreôr's Erfidrápa, "memorial ode" for Óláfr. V. 8. Hallfreôr commemorates the king's gift of a sword without scabbard. Vv. 9-13. Hallfreôr presents his views to king Óláfr concerning conversion to Christianity. V. 14. In a second sword verse, Hallfreôr asks for the present of a scabbard. Vv. 15-17. Hallfreôr recounts his vengeance upon an adversary in heathen Gautland. Vv. 18-20. Hallfreôr ridicules his beloved Kolfinna's husband Griss. V. 21. Hallfreôr reports a rebuke from Kolfinna for these insults. V. 22. Hallfreôr boasts of fearing no attack so long as he can sleep with his beloved. V. 23. Hallfreôr gloats that he would be in trouble if people knew the reason for his cheerfulness. V. 24. Hallfreôr describes the women returning from the hills and incites his men and himself to sexual opportunism V. 25. Griss enquires what has distressed his wife. V. 26. Hallfreôr directs another insult at Már. V. 27. Hallfreôr seems to foreshadow a hólmganga, "ritual duel". V. 28. Hallfreôr describes Kolfinna walking with a group of women. V. 29. Hallfreôr expresses reluctance to pay Griss compensation for his insults. V. 30. Another excerpt from the Erfidrápa for Óláfr Tryggvason. V. 31. A fragment of a poem by Hallfreôr praising Óláfr's worst enemy, Eirikr jarl. V. 32. Hallfreôr complains of a rough sea-voyage in which he is injured. V. 33. Hallfreôr predicts that his beloved will grieve if she hears that he has died at sea. V. 34. Hallfreôr foreshadows his own death. This will seem a heterogeneous, perhaps even nondescript, series of verses, and, in at least some cases, the prose will naturally sound like an authentic record of the circumstances that gave rise to their composition. I certainly do not want to spoil this illusion or to be grudging about the aesthetic attractions of the mixed prosimetrum f o r m Eloquent appreciations of this type of saga art could be cited from different methodological vantage points, but I shall here particularly mention Laurence de Looze, who speaks of the "skaldsaga text as profoundly hybrid, juxtaposing the two discourses of prose and poetry in a wellwrought artistic whole" (1989:125), and Preben Meulengracht S0rensen, who

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notes that verses and prose need to be treated as a unity in any discussion of reception aesthetics (1993:277). As Meulengracht Sorensen also points out, however, these aesthetics- and reception-oriented approaches do not preclude a stratigraphical investigation of the text, they merely distinguish it as a separate type of activity that should not supplant other modes of investigation (see also chapter 6 in this volume). It is important to recognize that when we say "Hallfredar saga" this name is in reality a loose designation for a motley array of differing redactions, the general heterogeneity of which is veiled in the various translations and even to some degree in standard editions such as Islenzk fornrit. To gain a better perspective on the paradosis (i.e. the complete array of versions as they have come down to us within the manuscript tradition) it is essential to consult the edition prepared by Bjarni Einarsson, in which the two major redactions are printed side by side, to facilitate comparison, and in whose introduction the relationship of these redactions to each other and to further outcrops of the Hallfreör tradition is thoroughly canvassed. It emerges from detailed comparison that the versions of the saga now extant must all represent decided modifications of one or more earlier versions that we have reason to postulate. Broadly the contrasts can be made if we say that the Môdruvallabâk version preserves the saga as an entity but severely abridges it. The Oláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta version, for its part, sacrifices the integrity of the saga toward the greater good of building an encyclopaedic saga of the missionary king. Within this mammoth opus the Hallfreör story material necessarily plays a subordinate part, being interpolated into sundry episodes of Oláfr's life. Yet, in an apparent paradox, this redaction seems to preserve a fullness of narration and a sequential logic that is sometimes conspicuously lacking in Mòòruvallabók (see Bjarni Aôalbjarnarsonl937). Another telling of a few incidents from Hallfreôr's life occurs in Hamskringla, a work conventionally attributed to Snorri Sturluson.3 Likewise, some episodes from the saga are briefly alluded to in Vatnsdœla saga·, building on previous scholarship, Robert Cook has argued that the similarities and discrepancies between the two sagas are probably due to "an untraceable combination of at least four factors: 1. the use of oral tales, 2. direct borrowing from written versions, 3. a diversity of versions for each saga, and 4. deliberate alteration for artistic or propagandists purposes" (1989:80).

Hallfredar saga 1977. For a convenient summary of Bjarni's conclusions and some viewpoints from earlier scholarship, along with an independent assessment of the relationship between Hallfredar saga and Vatnsdœla saga, see Cook 1989. 3

See íslensk Bókmenntasaga 2:93-94 for a discussion of the implications as to the age and contents of early versions of the saga.

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Even given this motley history, to call into doubt the testimony concerning the verses contained in the various redactions may seem an arbitrary procedure. In fact, however, the prose manifestations of the Hallfreòr tradition, viewed as a whole, lend themselves to such a critique. Einar Ol. Sveinsson concedes that certain verses might refer to a different episode from that indicated in the saga prose and that attempts on the part of prose redactors to furnish verses with a prose accompaniment were not consistently accurate {Hdlfreòar saga 1939:lx). Among scholars there has been no great faith in the historical veracity of either redaction, in this or other respects. Many years ago Gwyn Jones formulated a view which time has tended, if anything, to confirm: There undoubtedly was a colourful person named Hallfreôr vandraeÔaskàld; some thirty verses were traditionally regarded as his or were associated with him; he is referred to briefly in reputable histories, and is not unknown in that corpus of oral and written tradition which was the raw material of other sagas. Could there be a more promising subject for a reconstructed life? The author set to work, his model [Kormaks saga] before him, compiling and arranging and borrowing. (195253:304) Dag Strömbäck describes the resultant prose as "an unhistoric text" (1975:69) and urges that in any historical investigation the verses should be treated as possible nuclei of tradition that may have been mishandled in the prose: "if we wish to follow the principle Snorri enunciates and to adapt it to the study of Hallfreôr's own life and personal development... we ought properly to restrict ourselves entirely to his poems." 4 While Strömbäck's view in particular is doubtless a mite extreme, the cautionary note is well taken. An examination of w . 2, 5 and 6,14,22, 31, and 34 in particular points to rough and ready handling in the compilation process. I shall first follow the fortunes of these verses through the two fullscale redactions of the saga (i.e. Moòruvallabók and Óláfs saga Tryggvasonarert mesta). We note that v. 2, insulting a heathen, does not fit well with Hallfreôr's later conversion verses, where he expresses an open reluctance to give up sacrifice. Such an insult would more naturally be uttered after Hallfreôr is comparatively settled in his Christianity, which, if we follow the saga prose account strictly, can only come with the skald's return to Iceland after the death of his Gautlandish wife.

Here and elsewhere in direct quotations varying spellings of the poet's name - and other names - are silently adjusted to the Old Icelandic norm.

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Vv. 5 and 6, the exchange between Hallfredr and Óláfr Tryggvason, have recently come under scrutiny in an article by John Lindow (1997). According to Lindow, the verses and their accompanying prose represent one version of a story that is doubled in the Óláfr traditions (411-12). They carry a heavy weight of Christian symbolism, of a kind that would be calculated by Icelanders of a later period to glorify the missionary king (418). Additionally, Lindow points out that Óláfr is not the subject of demonstrably correct verse attributions elsewhere (418). We could extend this logic, in company with Bjami Einarsson (1976:142), to argue that not merely the Óláfr verse but also the accompanying Hallfredr verse represent later fabrications: this is a necessary hypothesis since, as Lindow implies (410-11), the two verses form an indissociable whole. V. 22, like v. 2, seems discrepant from the accompanying prose. Andersson notes in chapter 10 of this volume that it "declares that Hallfredr cares little for his life as long as he can sleep with Kolfinna. The prose takes the cohabitation literally, although the phrasing of the stanza is contrary to fact", i.e. preterite subjunctive ("ef ek naeda Sif slœôu/ sofa karms medal arma", "if I managed to sleep between her arms"). Andersson points out that a "more literal reading might be that Hallfredr merely fancies the idea". Bjarne Fidjestol doubts the historical accuracy of the saga account of v. 31 (the fragment of the praise poem for Eirikr jarl) and its motivation via a hçfudlausn story, though accepting the verse itself as genuine on the basis of the testimony of Skdldatal (1982:110-11). Certainly Bjarni Einarsson has produced good arguments to suggest that the story contains a blind motif in HallfreÒar saga and represents a pendant of the famous hçfuÔlausn episode seen in Egils saga (1976:166-67; cf. Kalinke 1997:66). The match is not exact, however, and we should bear in mind Odd Nordland's opinion that such anecdotes, as told of skalds, cannot simply be treated as legendary (1956:87). More generally, Lindow characterizes the motif of the poet's desire to present a poem to the king as a "stock scene", where every king or earl to figure in the saga is the object of such a presentation.6 Bjarni Einarsson had earlier expressed doubts as to whether the five praise poems which the saga assigns to Hallfredr ever in fact existed (1981, rpt 1987:125). As Einar 01. Sveinsson pointed out (HallfreÒar saga 1939:lix), Skdldatal ascribes poems on Óláfr Tryggvason and Eirikr jarl to Hallfreôr but not poems on Hákon jarl or Sigvaldi or Óláfr sœnski. It is possible that here, as elsewhere, the story materials in HallfreÒar saga were developed on an

Lindow offers the first undoubtedly correct explanation of the word "drengr" in the second of these verses. Earlier commentators had failed to follow up Gudbrandur Vigfússon's suggestion that this word represented a nautical term (Corpus Poeticum Boreale 2:575). See now also Sayers 1998. 6

1997:415-16; cf. Hdlfredar saga 1939:lxvi and Bjarni Einarsson 1976:127.

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incremental principle and that the historical circumstances for the composition of v. 31 differed from those outlined in the saga prose. Finally, in this tally of verses, there is disagreement at the end of the saga as to Hallfreôr's dying verse (v. 34): I shall elaborate on this presently. When we study the rest of the Oláfr Tryggvason/HallfreÔr tradition we find further irregularities in the handling of the verses. In Heimskringla v. 14 is placed in a completely different context from that which it occupies in the two fuller redactions - a topic which I shall take up in greater detail later. Snorri states that he drew on Hallfreôr's verses as a source for the reign of Oláfr Tryggvason (Snorri Sturluson, Heimskringla 1941-51:1.332), which would seem to entail that when he assigned verses to a putatively historical occasion or context he would have used some circumspection. But Sverre Bagge has argued that in fact Snorri evidently trusted Oddr Snorrason, the author of the oldest known and partially extant life of the king, to a great extent and did not consistently revise his account by checking it against Hallfreôr's verses (1991: 29). Though evidence for arbitrary handling of the verses can be marshalled in this way, Einar Ol. Sveinsson urged that it should not be pushed to the point of denying the saga attributions to Hallfreôr (Hallfreòar saga 1939:lx). Among earlier scholars one could consult Finnur Jónsson (1912:47) and Guôbrandur Vigfússon (Corpus Poeticum Boreale 2.89) for, respectively, total faith and marked scepticism respecting the authenticity of the Hallfreôr corpus/ The attribution of a t w e l f t h - c e n t u r y Oláfi drápa Tryggvasonar

t o H a l l f r e ô r i n Bergsbók (folios

112-13) does suggest that his name could have acted as a magnet for sundry later compositions to attach themselves to. The avid interest in the missionary king that we see displayed by later poets and prose redactors, and indeed testified to explicitly when the twelfth-century drápa alludes to a series of verse commemorations, was bound to accentuate this process. Fidjestol notes on the one hand symptomatic confusions in the manuscripts between the names Hallfreôr and Hallar-Steinn and on the other an expansion of Oláfr's exploits to include adaptations of compositions relating to Magnus inn góói (1982:106-07). These patterns in the tradition might, in principle at any rate, contribute to cast doubt upon the authenticity of a few verses in the Hallfreôr canon: Kari Ellen Gade in chapter 3 of this volume has reminded us that dating criteria such as her own

7

See also Finnur Jónsson 1912:47 and 1920:553; Einar 01. Sveinsson in Hallfreòar saga 1939:lix-lx; Strömbäck 1975:83; Gade 1995. The adverse comments by Sophie Krijn (1931) on a few of the verses will be dealt with in context.

8

For discussions of the date of composition see Finnur Jónssonl920-24:2.108-09, along with Gade's chapter in this book and Jan de Vries 1964-67:2.45-46. Some of the points made by these scholars were already stated by Guôbrandur Vigfússon (CorpusPoeticum Boreale 2:89): he also noted that "the author of this poem speaks modestly of himself (not a characteristic of Hallfred's)".

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cannot extend to a precise verdict on each and every verse. In light of the evidence so far, it would seem reasonable and pragmatic to conclude that the treatment of verses in the various prose realizations of the story material was not necessarily stable or appropriate or historically veracious, at least so far as we can ascertain now. The nickname "vandrzáaskáld" We can shed further light on how traditional items were treated within the evolution of the story material if we take an excursus for a moment to consider the poet's nickname "vandneóaskáld" and the rival explanations of its origin given in the various redactions. Because the name "vandraeóaskáld" embodies a presumably fixed form of words with which the prose narration enters into interplay, it can be placed on a similar footing to a (miniature) verse (cf. Whaley 1993a:131 and 142-43). A minimal telling of the story is found in the Icelandic translations of the Life of Oláfr Tryggvason composed by Oddr Snorrason at around 1190 in Latin but not extant in that language. These translations are thought to date to between 1250-75 and 1300 respectively (Foote 1993:106). In both Hallfreôr drives a bargain that he will refuse baptism unless the king personally does the honours. The king complies but calls Hallfreôr a "vandraeóaskáld" (Saga Oláfi Tryggvasonar af Oddr Snorrason munk 125-26).' In the Heimskringla version the anecdote is told more fully (Snorri Sturluson, Heimskringla 1941-51:1.330). When the king fiist meets Hallfreôr "úti á straeti", "out on the street" he asks "Ertú skáldit?", "Are you the skald?" and Hallfreôr replies "Kann ek yrkja", "I know how to compose poetry" - in words which, it has been plausibly observed, look like a borrowing in the tradition from Sighvatr's first verse for Oláfr helgi (Hallfredar saga 1939:lxiii, n. 2). The dialogue exchange foreshadows the bestowal of the nickname, which obviously is predicated upon the king's knowledge of Hallfreôr's profession. This version of the anecdote, unlike Oddr's, associates the nicknaming not with the baptism but with a subsequent round of negotiations in which the king invites Hallfreôr to become his hiròmaòr, "member of his comitatus". It is when the skald demurs, avowing his previous allegiance to Hákon jarl, that Oláfr is prompted to call him "vandraeóaskáld". In the Moòruvallabók we see a still more elaborated version {Hallfreòar saga 1977:41-45), where the skald drives a series of bargains. In round 2 of the

Citations from this and all other editions with non-standard orthography are silently normalized.

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bargaining the king is made to foreshadow the nickname, though not directly to proclaim it, in the words "]>ú beiôisk svá margs, at eigi má viô |>ik fásk", "You ask for so much that there's no dealing with you" (42). In round 3, when the skald asks leave to present his drápa, the king finally says "Sannliga máttu heita vandraeáaskáld", "Truly you can be called a troublesome skald" (45). Even then the play on the idea is not at an end: after the recitation the king presents the skald with a naked sword, remarking that it will prove "vandgaîtt", "difficult to take care of". This obvious parallel, in a further spinning out of the story material, is made explicit at the later stage when Hallfredr, after a period of estrangement, asks the king for a reconciliation. The king then comments: "I>at s amir vel at vandraeáaskáldit eigi vandraeôagripit", "It is fitting that the troublesome skald should possess the troublesome gift" (54). The Oláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta redaction conflates Heimskringla with

a version evidently close to Mòdruvallabók, linking the nickname to the recitation of the drápa, as in Mòdruvallabók (Hallfreêar saga 1977:44). But in a

reduplication of the motif, the king's application of the nickname is also linked to the hiròmaòr negotiations (45). The skald then opportunistically offers to adopt the nickname officially, so long as he receives a gift in exchange. This gift takes the form of the naked sword, which prompts the same royal quip, almost verbatim, as in Mòdruvallabók, "I>at samir svá vel at vandneóaskáldit eigi vandrasôagripit" (54). In summary, as Alison Finlay observes {The Saga of Bjorn: in press), the kings' sagas show the nickname arising out of the poet's personal relationship with the king, in particular his insistence that the king personally sponsor him at baptism and accept him unconditionally as a retainer, whereas in HallfreÒar saga it is bestowed when the poet insists on reciting a poem he has composed for the king, threatening to renounce the new faith if Oláfr does not agree. The moral appears to be that an item of traditional material, such as this nickname, can be shunted about, transposed, given new meaning and context, and even reduplicated quite freely within the tradition. There is every reason to postulate that verses, which equally stand as "narrative precipitates", could undergo similar treatment. Grouping of verses Having offered this preliminary exploration of the evidence as to mishandling of the verses, I shall now move on to suggest larger groupings in which some of the

A n apt formulation borrowed fromFrederic Amory, who used it in relation to the narrative elements compressed within kennings (1993:351-52).

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verses might have belonged. Let me say straightaway that of course not all verses could conceivably be explained in that fashion: thus, to mention some exceptions, v. 1, the Ingólfr verse, stands alone, with its ballad-like style. Also, as we have seen, w . 5 and 6 are evidently an integral part of a saga anecdote concerning the miraculous rescue of Hallfreôr and his sea-faiing companions. At the other extreme, the two fragments from the Erfidrápa, w . 7 and 31, are expressly sourced to an Oláfsdrápa in the saga prose itself; similarly the Eirikr jarl fragment. Setting aside verses of those types, then, we can clearly see that the "conversion" venes (w. 9-13) represent a particularly tight-knit little group, as is vouched for by their presentation in the prose narrative. Some other groups will also be suggested in this chapter. Both w . 8 and 14 relate to a sword which lacks a scabbard. Vv. 15-17 all seem to relate to Hallfreôr's Gautlandish adversary. In w . 18-21 and 28 insults are directed against Griss and adoration towards Kolfinna. In both w . 2 and 26 the target of insults is Blót-Már. Hallfreôr's other amatory verses (w. 22-24), along with verses where a duel with Griss and compensation payable to him are the topics (w. 3,27 and 29), and v. 25, contributed by Griss, form more loosely knit groupings. Vv. 32-34, with v. 4 as a possible outlier, show the skald injured or dying at sea.

Verses with an overseas setting. I. The sword verses The sword verses (w. 8 and 14) have an obvious value as sheer virtuoso pieces, something already recognized by the medieval tellers of the story (cf. Guöriin Ingólfsdóttir 1990:237-38). Additionally, they are of interest to any study of a skald's career as hirdmadr or more casual itinerant offerer of praise. As we have seen, the accounts of these verses in the various prose redactions are closely linked to the conferment of Hallfreôr's nickname and therefore differ markedly from one another. In the circumstances, we might do well to take the advice from Strömbäck to which I have already alluded and ponder the relationship between the two verses before we consider the prose.11 Veitk at visu skreyti viôlendr konungr sendi nçkôan hjçr af nckkvi; nú ák Syrar mey dyra.

I here provide a revised edition which takes into account all previous editions known to me. For critical apparatus see Skjaldedigtning Al:169 (v. 11); Hailfredar saga 1977:55; and Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta 394. Bjarni Einarsson's reading vatnsverdat for AM 61 lacks support both in the manuscript itself and in other editions and is doubtless a mere slip.

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Verôa hjçlt fyr herôi - hçfum gramr - kera - framòan

-

skçlkving of J)ák - skjalga skrautlig - konungsnauti. (v. 8) I know that the king of extensive territories sent the skald (embellisher of verse) a naked sword for some reason; now I own the precious treasure (daughter of Syr). Thanks to the warrior (the hardener of the fish of the chest [i.e. the king], the hilts become embellished; the king has honoured me with his possession; I received the sword.12 Eitt es sverd - J>ats - sverôa sverôauôgan mik gerÒi; fyr svip-Njçrôum sverôa sverôôtt mun nú verôa. Muna vansverôat verôa - verdr emk (Driggja sverôa jarôarmens - ef yrôi umbgerô at JJVÍ sverôi. (ν. 14)13 That is a sword of swords, which made me sword-rich; now there will be swordplenty in the presence of warriors (agile gods of swords). There will be no inadequacy of swords if a scabbard comes for that sword; I am worthy of three scabbards (the turf arch of three swords).14

The prose treatment of v. 14 in MoÒruvallabók and in the accounts of Óláfr Tryggvason (other than Heimskringla) presupposes that Hallfreôr has possessed the sword for some time before he requests the scabbard. In other words, w . 8 and 14 are treated as belonging to quite separate stages in the chronology. If we ignore this prose-based chronology, which does not necessarily possess any authority, and consider the verses in and of themselves, it would appear more

The word order here, indicated, as later, by font changes in the text, represents my attempt to construct an interpretation of the second helmingr without resorting to emendation. Although the demarcation of clauses is complicated such complexity is possible to parallel elsewhere in the Hallfreôr corpus. See similarly my comments on v. 4 infra. It seems likeliest that, despite Finnur Jónsson in Skjaldedigtning Bl:159 (v. 11), both "sverôôtt" and "vansverôat" are used impersonally, rather thanreferringto the constituents of the verse itself. Here I follow the interpretation of EinarÓl. Sveinsson in Hall/redar saga 1939:162η. Among older interpretations noteworthy is Guôbrandur Vigfússon's suggestion that "jarâarmen" is a pun on svçrdr "sward", "which means also leather" (Corpus Poeticum Boreale 2:575). Sverrir Tomasson has suggested an alternative interpretation based on the notion that "jarôarmens" should be understood as a beiti for "snake" and that in turn as a cryptic expression for "sword" (1989a:225), but there seems no warrant for this.

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probable that both belong to the same chronological stage. The first couplet in each verse contains the preterite forms of the verbs senda and garva respectively. The idea is therefore that the skald has already had the sword bestowed upon him before he speaks. In the second line of the second couplet the perspective shifts, with the deictic nú appearing in both cases. There appears, then, to be no temporal progression between the stanzas; rather the second amplifies upon ideas already enunciated in the first. This is particularly evident when we consider the central motif of the splendid sword that strangely lacks its scabbard. The splendour of the gift is mentioned repeatedly in v. 8: in v. 14 the sword takes over the verse completely, filling it as if the dróttkvcett stanza itself were a scabbard for the heavily sworded diction. From the formal point of view, v. 8 is not so involuted and richly rhymed as v. 14 but can nonetheless reasonably be regarded as paving the way towards a verse with those special attributes. Similarly, if we consider the two verses as speech acts, we observe that the first helmingr of v. 8 specifically notes the naked state of the sword. The need for a scabbard therefore has the status of an implicature at this stage, to be made explicit in v. 14. The implicature, if spelt out, would read something like "A beautiful gift but of course it is incomplete till you supply a scabbard!" Altogether, then, it seems most natural to regard v. 14 as an amplification of v. 8 and to conjecture that both, despite the prose accounts, were composed for the one occasion. The verb sendi does not exclude the king's presence on the occasion when these verses were first recited, since "to send" might refer simply to the king's action in having some third person hand the sword over to the skald. The occasion may have arisen in connection with a formal ceremony such as Hallfredr's acceptance as a hiròmaòr or even his baptism, ceremonies perhaps supplemented by his delivery of a praise poem The two sword verses would form a natural informal pendant to such a poem. In this connection we should note that Fidjestsl has shown how certain other lausavisur in the skaldic corpus might have originated as loose attachments to formal praise poems. He cites several possible examples of informal exordia to formal drápur and notes that the less formal flokkr type offers even greater opportunities for the skald to tack on verses in a loose fashion, perhaps to meet the requirements of specific performances (1982:84-85,118,128). Vv. 8 and 14 might well represent a versemaking effort of that type. To speculate in this direction might at first sight seem tantamount to a cavalier rejection of the prose accounts, in the drastic style of Lauritz Weibull (1911). But we have already seen that the story of the sword is merely one An implicature denotes a meaning that can be inferred by assessing any actual utterance in the light of the maxims that apply in conversational transactions: see Richards, Piatt, and Weber 1985:64-65.

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moveable element in a series of episodes loosely attached to Hallfreör's early days with Oláfr. These episodes included the following components: Hallfreör's conversion verses (to which we shall come in a moment), his baptism, his gaining of a nickname, his presentation with a naked sword, and his composition of verses about it. Clearly these components could be shuffled round freely, to the extent that the exact logic is beyond our reconstruction now. One might even hazard the opinion that the loose structure of the episodes was useful, as giving individual story-tellers scope for variation and elaboration or, of course, abbreviation. For a specific instance of the freedom enjoyed by prose narrators to shuffle material around at will, one can consult Bjarni Einarsson's account of the redactor's procedure in the version seen in Môdruvallabôk, where, if we accept Bjarni's reconstruction of the process, a story element is omitted at the point where it should occur but then introduced at a later point in a confused fashion (1977:cxviii). Cook's study of the different handlings of the wooing episodes in Hallfreòar saga and Vdtnsdcela saga has brought similar phenomena to attention (1989). When one inspects the prose contextualizations closely they have all the appearance of being a series of amplifications in which the potential of v. 14 in particular for ex post facto aetiological anecdotage is exploited. In order of fullness (but, bear in mind, probably not in chronological order of composition), Heimskringla shows the skald being baptized, the king inviting Hallfreôr to compose a verse in which "sword" is named in every vtsuorò, the skald complying by reciting v. 14, and the king presenting him with a scabbard - but without comment on the verse (Snorri Sturluson, Heimskringla 194151:1.332). In Môdruvallabôk and Oláfs saga Tryggvasonaren mesta (Hallfreòar saga 1977:54-55) the baptism is followed by a citation of a verse from Hallfreör's Erfidrápa (so authenticating the story of the baptism), the king's hearing of Hallfreòr's premier drápa, the king's presentation of the sword, Hallfreör's recitation of v. 8, the dialogue in which he recites the conversion verses, his killing of Ottarr, and the rapprochement between him and the king. It is only at this point that we reach the king's invitation to Hallfreôr to compose a verse in which "sword" is named in every vtsuorÖ, the skald's recitation of v. 14, and the king's presentation of a scabbard. Within this key component there is the additional element that the king congratulates Hallfreôr for his general accomplishments in verse. In the Jòfraskinna redaction of Heimskringla (Snorri Sturluson, Heimskringla 1941-51:1.332, n. 1) the following dialogue is added: [King] "Eigi er sverò í hverju visuorôinu", "There is not a sword in each line." [Skald] "I>rjú er ok í einu", "There are three in one of them" [King] "Svá er jjat", "That is true." This last piece of dialogue seems to depend on some kind of

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uncertainty as to what constituted a -msuorò and so is probably secondary.16 For the sake of completeness I should mention that the summary account in Kristni saga connects the giving of the sword with Hallfreôr's baptism, no doubt in dependence upon Snoni, but does not use either of the verses (Biskupa sôgur 1:19). Let us briefly compare these different versions. The immediately obvious point to make is that Heimskringla represents a drastic abbreviation. Hallvard Lie speaks of Snorri's dramatic skills in transposing episodes from his source materials so as to integrate them into his Heimskringla and separate saga of Oláfr helgi and mentions Snorri's treatment of the Hallfreòar saga material as a particularly salient example (1937:54). Bjami Einarsson argues for a similar conception of Snorri bringing widely separated motifs together in masterly fashion in order to produce the elegantly concise summation seen in Heimskringla (1981, rpt. 1987:124). More soberly, Einar Ol. Sveinsson points to Hallfreôr's request that Oláfr not turn him away as a blind motif in Heimskringla that makes sense only if one knows about the skald's characteristic unruliness from one or other version of Hallfreòar saga.17 Given that Snorri was trying to encompass wider goals than the biography of one poet, it could be tempting to assume that the story material that he took over and compacted would have roughly corresponded to the Hallfreòar saga versions that are extant today. But this does not mean that everything in Moòruvallabók and Oláfs saga Tryggvasonaren mesta is guaranteed a place in early tradition. The drápa episode, to name a particularly salient example, with its accompanying request for a hearing, could easily represent a secondary expansion, constructed, as Lindow has suggested, on the basis of skald-related pœttir such as those we see in Morkinskinna and in particular with a dependence upon the stories attaching to Sighvatr, the premier skald of Oláfr helgi. The Hallfreôr and Sighvatr life-stories contained some marked commonalities, demonstrable from surviving skaldic verses: service of one or other missionary king Oláfr; a special baptismal relationship to the king (in Sighvatr's case, the king's sponsorship of his daughter); the absence of the skald when the king is killed in battle; and the composition of an erfidrápa with a strongly personal feel. In such circumstances, the extension of the series of parallels to include possibly inauthentic elements such as Hallfreôr's supposed journey to Gautland (matching the journey which Sighvatr commemorated in his Austrfararvtsur) or the present episode showing Hallfreôr attempting to make

16 17 18

Bjami Aòalbjamarson's conjecture "tvau" for "J>rju™ ad loc. does not really mend matters. Hallfreòar saga 1939:lxiii and n. 2 ad loc.; for Snorri's methods cf. Bagge 1991:46-47. Cf. the scepticism displayed upon this point in Boòvar Guòmundsson 1993:94.

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his skaldic debut before a reluctant monarch are natural developments.19 Bjarni Einarsson has argued that Snorri deliberately omitted the drápa motif and that is certainly possible (1977:cxix). The alternative possibility, which I think needs to be carefully considered, is that Snorri may have known a version of Hallfreòar saga which was somewhat more compact than even that of Moòruvallabók and did not contain the drápa motif. The suggestions on the part of Gustav Storm (1873:57) and W. van Eeden (1919:76) that Snorri worked from one or more oral versions of the story material have something to be said in their favour, though earlier written versions of course equally remain a possibility. The lesson of the analysis so far, then, however obscure some details may remain, is that the prose is a shifting and unstable element whose testimony as to the relevance and original context of any verse is apt to be a circumstantial reconstruction. II. Conversion verses It is in this spirit that we should approach the famous verses on conversion to Christianity attributed to Hallfreòr in both Mòòruvallabók and Oláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta. F y r r vas hitt, es harra Hlidskjalfar gatk sjalfanskipt es á gumna giptugedskjótan vel biota, (v. 9) That was earlier, when I sacrificed well to the lord of Hliôskjalf himself, him of quick mind. There is a change in the fortunes of men. Q l l hefr sett til hylli Óòins skipat ljoöum; algildar mank aldar icijur várra niòja; en trauôr, Jjvíat vel Viòris vald hugnadisk skaldi, legg ek á frumver Friggjar fjón, J)vít Kristi Jjjónum. (v. 10)

On the latter episode cf. Einar Ol. Sveinsson in Hallfreòar saga 1939:lxv. Except in small details of punctuation, the text largely follows the edition of Einar 01. Sveinsson in Hallfreòar saga 1939:157-59. An important exception is the final line of v. 12, where Einar has punctuation before "einn" rather than after it.

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All the family have composed songs for Óòinn's favour; I remember the enduring works of the generation of our ancestors. But reluctantly, since the rule of Viôrir [Óòinn] suited the skald well, I bestow hatred upon the first husband of Frigg [Óòinn], because we serve Christ.21 Hçfnum, hplôa reifir, hrafnblóts goda nafni, J>ess es ól viô lof lyòa lóm, ór heiônum dòmi. (v. 11) Gratifier of men, we renounce the name of the priest of raven sacrifice [Óòinn] from heathendom, who nourished deceit in exchange for men's praise. Mér skyli Freyr ok Freyja fjçrô létk af dui Njarôar; líknisk grçm viô Grímni gramr ok I>órr enn rammi. Krist vilk allrar ástar erum leiò sonar reiôi; vald á fragt und foldar feôr einn - ok goô kveôja. (v. 12) Let Freyr, along with Freyja and I»órr the mighty, be angry with me. Last year I forsook the delusion of Njçrôr; may the fiends have mercy on Grímnir [Óòinn]. I will beseech Christ and God for all love: the son's anger is hateful to me; he alone in glory possesses power under the father of earth. Sá's meó Sygna rasi siôr, at blót eru kviôjuô; verdum flest at fordask fornhaldin skçp noma; lata allir ytar Óòins blót fyr róòa; verôk ok neyddr frá Njarôar niòjum Krist at biòja. (ν. 13) This is the custom with the lord of Sogn [Óláfr Tryggvason] that sacrifices are forbidden. We shall sidestep most time-honoured destinies of the Norns. All people consign the sacrifice of Óòinn to the deep(?). I am compelled away from the children of Njçrôr to pray to Christ.

In the first helmingr I have followed the interpretation of Kock 1923-44:§520, but this interpretation strains the sense of "aldar" and it may be that Finnur Jónsson and Einar 01. Sveinsson have right on their side in opting for a more complex clause analysis.

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In the prose the verses are vised as a component in a dialogue where the king tests Hallfreör's Christian faith. The king, having overheard v. 9, asks for a recantation. The response, w . 10 and 11, leaves him radically dissatisfied but he is then somewhat mollified by w . 12 and 13. In other words, the prose sets up a definite progression in the verses, such that Hallfreôr has forsworn a reprehensible heathen nostalgia by the end of the series and committed himself to an uncompromising Christianity. The relationship between these verses and the prose was analysed many years ago by Sophie Krijn, who argued - in my view correctly - that the accompanying prose consists purely of ex post facto inferences from the verses and that at an earlier stage the verses constituted an integral unit. Indeed, Krijn went on to contend that they might originally have formed part of the obscure Uppreistardrdpa (1931:126), but I shall not pursue that question here. Coming back to her point about the prose, and with an eye to modern discourse analysis,23 we might interpret the prose as building on indications in the verses to create a reconstruction of the power-relationship between Hallfreôr and the king. The key discoursal elements would be a preemptive piece of tum-taking on the king's part and some violation of the cooperative principles of verbal transactions on Hallfreör's part. Einar Ol. Sveinsson contested Krijn's analysis by arguing that in their apparent vacillation between points of view these verses were more characteristic of truly occasion-driven lausavtsur than of formal poetic composition (Hall/redar saga 1939:lxiv). At the opposite extreme, Bjarni Einarsson has voiced his suspicion that the existence of verses where the skald seems to speak of his own experience in conversion and furthermore to reveal his tormented feelings in a heart-felt fashion is "too good to be true" (1981:218). While certainly we shall never know beyond doubt whether the verses are authentic, their apparent immediacy should not be automatically regarded as a sign of fabrication. If such criteria were allowed to prevail uncritically, many of the productions of Horace and Juvenal would likewise have to be excised from the canon. A key characteristic is that the verses read somewhat equivocally, as if the work of someone who carries an amulet with a Dorr's hammer as well as a Christ's cross. As Wolfgang Lange has observed, "skipt es á gumna giptu" does not affirm that the change is for the better, merely that it has taken place (1958:35).

That an earlier section of the prose narrative was drafted with careful reference to these verses may be indicated by the fact that in the "anchor" episode Hallfreôr is not represented as calling upon Njprör, god of the sea, for assistance, but rather upon Freyr, I>órr, and Ódinn, something strange in terms of the known portfolios of the gods, as Lindow comments (1997:412), but possibly explicable in light of the statement in v. 12 that Hallfredr had abandoned the "delusion of Njprôr" a year previously. For an example of the type of analysis I have in mind see Bonner and Grimstad 1996.

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Such vacillation, if not outright equivocation, should berecognizedas a part of Hallfreòr's poetic "signature".24 It can be seen clearly in a context where no possibly ex post facto accompanying prose exists to confuse the issue if we turn to his Erfidrápa for Oláfr Tryggvason. This poem is more amply preserved than most of its kind and among the verse fragments is a lengthy section that canvasses the varying opinions about the king's fate. Although, as usual, we cannot be sure of the order of the verses, which, being to all appearances loosely connected, may even have varied in sequence from performance to performance, it is apparent that the poet is constructing a persona who almost querulously reviews the alternative possibilities but reiteratively insists upon his belief in the simple fact of the king's death. Without any contribution from a second speaker, the verses create the illusion that the poet is hearing rumours as theg flow in and responding to them one by one. The king is definitely dead (v. 19). Well, he could be dead or alive, but certainly must have been wounded and has not been heard of since (v. 20). It would be a solace to the speaker if the king were alive, even were his loss of land and people correctly reported (v. 21). Some say the king escaped alive from the battle-field, but this is not true (w. 22-24). Krijn reacted adversely to the presentation of material in the Erfidrápa, finding it intolerably spun-out and self-contradictory and advocating the excision of two allegedly spurious verses (20 and 24) so as to achieve a smoother exposition (1931:121), but Fidjestel rightly defends the total inherited sequence of verses as contributing to the elegiac - indeed, one could say "tortured" - tone of the drápa as a whole (1982:110). It is precisely this kind of poetic illusionism that the saga accounts are so given to interpreting literally,26 but the present case makes it fully evident that implied dialogue within the monologue was securely a part of skaldic style. We might conclude by speculating as to possible occasions of delivery for these "conversion verses". As a discourse type they are complex. Leaving aside the Christian renunciation and Credo formulas, whose discussion here would lead us too far afield, we can detect crosscurrents from praise poetry. Vv. 11 and 13 make this particularly clear, in (respectively) speaking of the king as one who gratifies men and in attributing the change of customs to the king in person. The claim of bringing happiness to the people was of course a large and contestable one in those days of rivalry between religions and their leading proponents. As Walter Baetke has remarked, Oláfr Tryggvason seems to have defined his political objectives in terms of Christianizing his people (1973:362) and Hallfreòr's verses for their part move toward an affirmation of that policy.

24

For a discussion of this concept, with further references, see Poole 1997:50.

25

My numbering here follows Skjaldedigtning.

26

See chapter 4 in this volume for further putative examples.

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It is therefore possible, though beyond demonstration, that at one time they formed part of a longer praise poem for Oláfr, rather than being, as the saga redactions make them seem, a largely personal effusion. We should bear in mind in this context that prose narrators elsewhere in the Icelandic-Norwegian tradition show a distinct tendency to personalize verses that originally possessed a wider, communal significance (Poole 1991:12-16). ΠΙ. Hallfreôr's sojourn and hostilities in Gautland Ólk, J) ars aldri véla auôgildanda vildak, hyrjar njót á hvítu hrafnvíns féi mínu; vannk til góós viô grenni gunnmçs, sem ek kunna, en friôskerôir fœrôi fjçrtâl at mér hjprva. (Hallfreâar saga 1939:171, v. 15) I nourished the warrior (enjoyer of theflameof the wine of the raven) with my white money, as I did not wish to deceive the man of wealth. I worked for the warrior's (nourisher of the seagull of battle) benefit, so far as I could, but the warrior (diminisher of the peace of swords) engaged in treachery against my life. Svá hefk hermila harma, hnig-Baldr, í gny skjalda baugs erum svipr at sveigi sárlinns, rekit minna, at lofhnugginn liggja létk sunnr í dyn Gunnar ek of hefnda svá okkar Auôgisls bana daudan. (Hallfreôar saga 1939:174-75, v. 16) So grievously have I avenged my injuries in the clash of shields, warrior (Psinking? god of the wound-snake) - I was deprived of the generous man (slinger of rings) - that in the south I left the ignominious killer of Auôgisl lying dead in the battle. Thus I avenged the two of us. Ek brá elda stekkvi çlnaskeiôs af reiôi; lagdak hendr at hundi hundgeôjuôum undir; stendr eigi sá sendir sídan Hlakkar skida bal rauôk Yggjar eia éls vià J)jóó á vélum. (Hall/redar saga 1939:175, v. 17)

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In my rage I subdued the wealthy man (repeller of thefireof thefish'sracetrack) - I laid hands on the dog, with his dog's mind. No longer will the warrior (dispatcher of the valkyrie's skis) engage in treachery with people: I reddened the sword (bonfire of the blizzards of Oâinn). Kiijn reacted to the accompanying saga prose with her customary scepticism (1931:126-27) and although her justifications for this are less than fully decisive certainly the introductions to w. 15 and 16 seem perfunctory in the extreme (cf. chapter 11 in this volume). Taken without the prose the set of three verses conforms to the same general format as various other hólmganga and battle poems that I have discussed as a genre (1991). It bears a particular resemblance to the set of revenge verses attributed to Torf-Einarr, as likewise to the verse sequence in Egils saga on the hero's triumph over Ljótr the berserkr. Although the saga treats them as separate responses to a variety of enquiries and events, they make narrative sense when abstracted from the prose narrative and read sequentially. V. 15 supplies accusations against the adversary and hence a motivation for the ensuing hólmganga, whereas w. 16 and 17 take us summarily to the end of the story, with the adversary's bloody defeat. The cursoriness of the narrative, with no account of the actual fight, suggests that other relevant verses once existed and are now irretrievably lost. While Krijn's arguments (1931:127) concerning the spuriousness of w. 15-17 can safely be dismissed, as depending on inaccurate observations about typical kenning construction in the Hallfreâr corpus, Strömbäck's arguments against the authenticity of the Gautlandish episode as a whole are weightier (1975:76-77) and have been reinforced by Bjarni Einarsson (1981:219). Strömbäck comments that the "style and motives of this section, which is loosely built around three of the poet's stanzas, are closely akin to those of Hróapáttr.... All we can really glean from Hallfreòr's three stanzas in this part is that he was treacherously attacked by a man who sought his life..." (1975:77). Verses set in Iceland This brings us back to Iceland and compositions belonging to the last part of HallfrecSr's life. An important point to bear in mind as we start t h i n k i n g about them is the neatly tripartite structure of the saga as now extant. Paul Schach anticipated this schematization by observing that for the most part the saga centres upon the struggle between paganism and Christianity, if we overlook the first four chapters and "a brief interlude following his wife's death" (1975:130). Marianne Kalinke refined this idea by speaking of three "acts": the skald's early life in Iceland and expulsion; his experiences with king Oláfr in Norway; and his subsequent return to Iceland (1997:64). I shall refer to these three "acts" as parts

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1,2, and 3 respectively. Kalinke posits a process of incrementation and internal borrowing between parts when she explains the hçfuôlausn episode in part 3 as "constructed in analogy to Hallfreòr's previous close encounter with death at Óláfr's court" (1997:66), that is to say in part 2. As Kalinke also shows, there is substantial repetition of the story material between parts 1 and 3: when Hallfredr is charged at the Húnavatns^ing, "what follows replicates, albeit with significant variation, his dealings with Griss at the beginning of the saga. Once again Hallfreôr challenges Griss to a hólmganga" (1997:65). The disposition of the verses is less markedly symmetrical, since we have only four in part 1, as contrasted with many more in both subsequent parts. Of these four verses, moreover, only one is clearly intrinsic to part 1, namely the kviÒlingr associated with Ingólfr. We have already seen that v. 2 is under suspicion of belonging to a period after Hallfreòr's conversion, which would place it in part 3. I shall presently suggest that w . 3 and 4 also belong with later sets of verses (although the picture with respect to v. 3 is far from clear, given the obscurities of the text). The logical consequence of these contentions is that the verse element in part 1 was arrived at almost entirely by a redistribution of verses at some stage in the compilation of the saga story materials.

I. Verses attacking Griss (?the Gríssvísur) Leggr at lysibrekku leggjar iss af Grisi kvçl {jolir Hlín hjá hçnum heitr ofremmdar sveiti: en dreypilig drúpir dynu Rán hjá hçinum leyfik ljóssa vífa lund - sem çlpt ásundi. (Hallfredar saga 1939:181, v. 18)27 A hot sweat of excessive strength wafts from Griss to the woman (shining bank of the ice of the arm) - she (the goddess) endures torments with him - and the woman (Rin of the pillow) dolefully droops beside him like a swan on the water: I praise the temperament of gorgeous women. Grammar, svá sem svimmi sílafullr, til hvilu fúrskerdandi fjardar, fùlmçr á trçô bçru, ádr an orfa striôir

27

Cf. Kock 1923-44:§1090.

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ófríór J>orir skrida hann esa hlaôs viô Gunni hvílubráór - und váóir. {Hallfredar saga 1939:182, v. 19) He (the chopper of the fire of the fjord) lumbers to bed as if a fulmar gorged with herrings were swimming on the wave-trough (path of the waves), before the ugly farmer (punisher of the scythe) dares to slide under the bed-clothes: he is not quick to get into bed with her (the valkyrie of the ribbon). Litt mun hair enn hviti Phjalmgrandr? fyr búr skalmask hann muna aura Eirar án - ok Strútr enn grani, J>ótt orfjjaegir eigi ófríór stçdul víáan hirôandi nytr hjarôar hjçrfangs - ok kví langa. (Hallfredar saga 1939:182, v. 20) N o Pdamager? of helmets, the pale man, along with Strútr the grey (dog), will stride in front of the larder - he will not be without the woman (goddess of money) - although the ugly farmer (shatterer of the scythe) owns a large milking shed and a long sheep-pen; the man (guardian of the sword-?catch?) has the benefit of the herd. Kolfinna lézk kenna kveôk enn of hlut ferina hvat kveda vifi vitru valda - fuit af skaldi; enn af ungum svanna audhnykkjanda Jjykkir ód emk gjarn at greiôa ganga dyrligr angi. {Hallfreàar saga. 1939:183, v. 21) Kolfinna says that she detects something foul from the skald; I say some more about this matter; they say that something gives the acute woman cause; but from the young woman, it seems to me (the dislodger of wealth), a precious fragrance emanates: I am eager to make a poem. l>ykki mér, es ek Jjekki Jjunnisunga Gunni sem fleybrautir fljóti fley medal tveggja eyja, en J)ás sék á Sçgu saums í kvinna flaumi, sem skrautbúin skriôi skeiô meô gyldum reiôa. (Hallfredar saga 1939:191, v. 28)

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It seems to me, when I see the woman (the valkyrie of the fine headdress), as if a ship floated [on] the sea between two islands and when I espy her (goddess of the seam) amidst a group of women as if a ornamented ship scuds along with gilded tackle. Vv. 18-21 cohere strongly and direct their attack against Griss. In relation to this nucleus, v. 28 seems to constitute an "outrigger" or "outlier" of some kind. The attack upon Griss centres upon what seems to be a static description of his activities around his house and farm. Erik Noreen suggests that some of these verses, including w . 18 and 19, originate in a composition which Oláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta (without expressly quoting from it) calls the Gríssvísur and describes as hálfníó·. Hallfreôr vandrxdaskáld var á Ôttarstçôum meó Gaita bróòur sínum um vetrinn.... Hallfreôr orti J>enna vetr vísur um Gris ok var jjat hálf niô. (Hdlfredar saga 1977:93, from Flateyjarbók) Hallfreôr vandraeôaskàld was at Ottarstaôir with his brother Galti during the winter.... Hallfreôr composed verses about Griss that winter and they were semilibellous. Add to this that the saga text itself seems to show awareness that verses on Griss existed as an independent unit. When Hallfreôr mischievously ascribes w . 18 and 19 to Kolfinna she enquires "Lát mik heyra ... hverninn verki sá er, at mér er kenndr", "Let me hear what kind of poem this is, that is ascribed to me" (Hallfreòar saga 1939:181). The word "verki" crops up again, probably in reference to the same compositional sequence, in v. 29, where the speaker characterizes his work as "minnstan verka", "very trivial composition" (Hallfreòar saga 1939:193; cf. lix), and in the prose immediately after, where I>orkell tells him to "hjetta verkanum", "put a stop to the composition" (193). s Furthermore, w . 18-21 are treated as a unit of performance (possibly also of composition) in the saga prose. They are all recited in the course of one evening and are separated only by short dialogue exchanges, not substantial narrative passages. In the opinion of Krijn the prose between the core verses adds little to the story and simply prolongs the leave-taking between the two protagonists (1931:127). She notes that w . 18-21, to which she adds w . 22-24, are composed in the one style and speculates that the reason the verses are not cited at the point where Hallfreôr spends the winter with Galti is that they have already

28

29

Noreen 1921-23, at 1922:51. Cf. also Noreen 1926:224; along with Almqvist 1965:61, n. 87 and references there given. On this term see further chapters 4 and 12 in this volume.

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been used piecemeal through the narrative. While agreeing with Krijn's other comments, I prefer to set w . 22-24 to one side, for reasons that will appear shortly. V. 28, for its part, is without any firm connection whatever with the prose narrative, which says merely, in a typical example of a perfunctory verse introduction, "Hallfreòr sá einn dag, hvar Kolfinna gekk. Hann kvaô visu", "Hallfreôr saw one day where Kolfinna was walking. He spoke a verse" (Hallfredar saga 1939:191). As a possible one-stanza lyric this splendid composition lends itself well to the anthologizing treatment given it by Roberta Frank.30 At the same time, however, it would fit quite nicely into the posited Grissvisur. Frank has suggested that "the comic vision of tenth-century viking attitudes promoted by this stanza makes its authenticity prima facie suspect" (ibid.), but, as we shall see, comically irreverent burlesque of heroic motifs pervades the entire series of verses and can scarcely be pressed into service as a criterion for dating. All five verses contain either adoration of Kolfinna or disparagement of Griss. The current order does not make much narrative sense if a strictly chronological sequence is envisaged (for instance, the order of w . 18 and 19 would have to be reversed, so as to show the husband first approaching the bed and then reposing in it). But, in light of the loose structure of Hallfreôr's compositions discussed earlier and of the probability that only a static and impressionistic picture is attempted in these bálfníó verses, it seems best to operate with the notion of a haphazardly ramifying process of abuse and not to tinker with the attested order. In the sequence, motifs of sea, sea creatures, farming practices, and smells form an associative linkage. It is clear from such pertinent kennings as "dynu Ran", invoking the idea of bedclothes, the sea, and robbery (of the woman) in a single clever collocation, that the poet of these verses was capable of subtle manipulations of poetic diction. In such a context the element "lysi" in the woman kenning "lysibrekku/ leggjar iss" springs to life, reminding us incongruously of fish-oil. At their fishy extreme the verses are a little reminiscent of Bjçrn Hítdoelakappi's Grámagaflím, explored in chapter 4 of this volume. Greater subtleties of (bàlfiniò are also evident, however. In particular, one can detect, in the scorn for the unvaliant figure of the over-protective husband, some burlesque of those well-known heroic episodes where the husband or lover is murdered in bed and the woman beside him wakes to find either herself or the sheets (or both) drenched in blood. Such a type-scene is in fact represented w i t h i n Hallfreòar

30

saga itself in v. 22, as also in Gunnlaugs

1978:163-64; cf. chapter 1 in this volume.

saga v. 12. T h e

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collocation "heitnsveiti" (here "hot": "sweat") is found with its full heroic connotations ("hot":"blood") in Kormáks saga v. 84.31 In Hallfreár's parodistic treatment the heroic "blood" is unheroically transubstantiated into "sweat". The word "kvçl", "torment", here used parodistically of bad olfactory sensations and (perhaps) sexual frustration, is more properly at home in such an heroic context as Atlamál v. 98, where Guórún upbraids Atli with the accusation that it is a "kvçl" for a living woman to enter his house [Poetic Edda 1:97). The word "búr" may also contribute to the mock-heroic via its evidently formulaic use in such a phrase as "bjçrt í buri" in Guòrùnarkviòa çnnur v. I. 32 In discussing the bed-scene in Gtsla saga Meulengracht Sorensen (1986:253) detects an allusion to the murder of Sigurdr Fáfnisbani as told in the Siguròarkviòa in skamma v. 24: Sofnuô var Guórún í sjeingu sorga laus, hjá Sigurôi, enn hon vaknaâi vilja firrô, er hon Freys vinar flaut í dreyra.33 Guórún was asleep in bed, free of cares, beside Sigurôr, but she woke up far from her wishes, when she floated in the warrior's blood. Comparably, the verb "flaut" seems like an associative source for several of Hallfreòr's verbs. Also comparable is GuÔmnarhvçt v. 4: Litt mundir Jm leyfa dàô Hçgna, £>á er Sigurô vçkôu svefni ór; bœkr váru Junar, inar bláhvítu, roônar í vers dreyra, fólgnar í valblódi.34 Little would you praise Hpgni's deeds, when they wakened Sigurôr from sleep; your blue-white linen was stained red in the man's blood, defaced by the blood of slaughter. It can be assumed that the story of Guórún, as seen also in Vçlsunga saga ch. 29, underlies the various allusions in Hall/redar saga, Gunnlaugs saga, Kormáks saga, and Gtsla saga.

Kormáks saga 1939:301; Skjaldedigtning Bl:84, v. 63: "en hrafni/ heitrfell á nef svelti", "and hot blood fell on the beak of the raven." 32

Edda. Die Lieder des Codex Regius 1:224. References to this edition are normalized in conformity with Islenzk fornrit practice.

33

Edda. Die Lieder des Codex Regius 1:211.

34

.

.

Edda, Die Lieder des Codex Regius 1:264.

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The simile of the swan, "sem çlpt á sundi", in v. 18 may point in the same direction, since a very similar phrase, "sem álft af barn", occurs in Vçlsunga saga, describing Brynhildr. 35 We might speculate that both phrases represent quotations from the lost poem that underlies the prose of Vçlsunga saga at this point. Hallfreôr's citation ironizes the phrase to fit his burlesque context. The purpose of such allusions in our present context would be to contrast Griss's unheroic sweaty working-farmer status with that of Hallfreôr, whose implied subject position is that of the drengr?7 While there is of course no actual foreshadowing of any fate for Griss, the rich evocations of heroic fates in the past could only have contributed to the discomfiture of Hallfreôr's victim.

II. Verses attacking Blót-Már A pair of verses which I have had occasion to mention several times already is that in which Hallfreôr directs his invective against Mar Jçrundarson, otherwise known as Blót-Már. Svá nçkkvi verôr sekkvis sannargs troga margra œgilig fyr augum allheiôins mér reiòi, sem olitili úti alls mest vid fçr gesta stoerik brag - fyr búri búrhundr gamall sturi. (Hallfreòar saga. 1939:146, v. 2) The rage of the utterly heathen and truly cowardly sinker of many troughs appears about as fearsome to m y eyes as if a large old house-dog mopes outside the pantry with the coming and going of guests; I whip up a poem. M j ç k tegask ?sveima? sekkvir snót, verdk f>egns fyr hótum Pdzmilátrs? at dòmi dulrœkinn mik sœkja; heldr mun hceli-Baldri Phraevinns? fyr ¡)ví minna -

Vçlsunga saga 1956:177: note the occurrence of "bpru" in Hallfreôr's v. 19. For a discussion of this story material and some of the relevant texts see chapter 10 in this volume. See chapters 7 and 11 in this volume for further discussion of the hero's social status.

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van erum slíks - at sleikja sinn blóttrygil innan. (Hall/redar saga 1939:187-88, v. 26)38 This wealthy man (sinker of [remainder of the kenning is unclear]) acts as if, cultivating his delusion, he will attack me at the assembly, lady; I am subjected to his threats. Rather would the boastful warrior [kenning unclear] remember to lick the inside of his sacrificial trough: I expect as much. As noticed already, v. 2, with its attack on heathen belief, sits very awkwardly in the context of Hallfreôr's youthful days in Iceland. To be sure, Jan de Vries offers the defence that the emphasis in "allheiôins" should fall upon the "all" and that Hallfreòr might be envisaged as someone already "blandinn í triinni" who unleashes contempt upon a wholly heathen opponent (1964-67:1.189, n. 205). But this idea, though attractive in some ways, does not help to explain the reference to the many "troughs". While admittedly these "troughs" could represent nothing more repugnant than the usual farm paraphernalia of milk and dung troughs, as suggested by Kock (1923-44:§3216) and Einar Ol. Sveinsson (Hallfredar saga 1939:146η), the reference to the "blóttrygil" in v. 26 seems to establish a primary denotation where the troughs form part and parcel of the blót, "sacrifice". And we have seen that Hallfreôr's conversion verses treat blót as a living component of his own belief until the encounter with Oláfr Tryggvason. On the other hand, there is no need to side with Krijn in assuming that the verse must therefore be a fabrication on the part of a later Christian poet or a saga redactor (1931:123-24). The word "allheiôins" would come quite naturally from a zealous Hallfreòr in his post-conversion period. Konrad Jaraus ch notes that w . 2 and 26 have a lot in common and would place them both in Hallfreôr's second period in Iceland.3' We may in addition observe that v. 26 is no more convincingly cemented into the saga prose than v. 2. In this second cameo appearance on Mar's part he saves himself from Hallfreôr's attack by deflecting the blow with his trough, perhaps resorted to here as a heathen precursor to the Bible or prayer-book that deflects the enemy bullet in various military romances. Einar Ol. Sveinsson argued that this trough motif must stem directly from v. 26. He also observed drily that such an object would scarcely make for a robust self-defence (Hallfredar saga 1939:187), ignoring Jarausch's suggestion that heathen cultobjects were viewed as possessing magic powers. A simple conclusion which accounts for all these observations is that w . 2 and 26 belonged together as an

3g

39

>

_

For the manuscript readings see Skjaldedigtning A 1:172 and Hallfredar saga 1977:94. The Mòòruvallabók reading in line 3, adopted in Hallfredar saga 1939, is likely to be a scribal emendation. 1930:267; cf. Strömbäck 1975:78-79 and references there given.

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integrated set at an earlier stage in the development of the Hallfreòr story material. That explanation fits with the now familiar point that verses were sometimes quite freely shunted around in saga traditions. Whether the verses originally referred to this Blót-Már at all is another question. Strömbäck notes that although Már Jçrundarson figures as a major personage in Vatnsdoela saga there is no reference in that source to activities on his part as a blótmaòr, "officiator at sacrifices". He tentatively suggests that "in the case of Már and his sacrificing, it was probably of a more private character, since he does not seem to have had any official function to perform at the central hof of his district" (1975:80). Essentially the only evidence for Már's sacrificial rituals lies in the name Blót-Már bestowed upon him uniquely in Hallfreòar saga. When Strömbäck argues that this name contains a core of tradition he may well be right, but, once again, the possibility is also open that the name represents an inference from the verses and perhaps indeed an attempt to attach them more securely to a new context for which they were not designed. Már appears in only two episodes in Hallfreòar saga and gives a distinct impression of being wheeled on when needed. In Vatnsdoela saga, by contrast, he plays a more diverse and integral role. The sarcasm in v. 26 about licking out the sacrificial bowl is paralleled, as Strömbäck points out (1975:80, n.3) in the famous words on the despised Swedish pagans put into the mouth of Oláfr Tryggvason before the battle of SvçlÔ.40 It is conceivable, then, that both w . 2 and 26 originally belonged in some quite different context, perhaps relating to Sweden and now no longer extant in the saga redactions. Also possible, but merely a speculation, is that Már has been abstracted from the Vatnsdoela saga traditions and incorporated into this saga so as to act as a target for accusations of heathen belief that were originally part of the Grissvtsur and therefore directed against Griss. Griss, we should remember, is characterized toward the end of the saga as a magnanimously forgiving man, in the spirit of Oláfr Tryggvason (Finnur Jonsson 1923:2.470): accusations of paganism against him might have been seen as incongruous. Militating against this speculation is the fact that the verses which seem most likely to have belonged to Grissvtsur, as reconstructed above (w. 18-21), do not contain allusions to paganism.41

Saga Óláfs Tryggvasonar af Oddr Snorrason munk 212-13, substantially repeated in Snorri Sturluson, Heimbingla 1941-51:1.357 and Olafs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta ch. 104. I am grateful to Margaret Clunies Ross and Diana Whaley for their comments on this point.

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III. Verses on Hallfreôr's sexual relationship with Kolfinna I now turn to w . 22-25, where the final two verses (24-25) seem to constitute a definite core, while the earlier two may or may not be related. None of them possesses more than a loose connection with the core of Gríss verses discussed above. Litt hirdi ek - lautar lundr hefr hxtt til sprunda viggs - J>ótt verôak hçggvinn varra - í hçndum svarra, ef ek nxòa Sif slœdu sofa karms medal arma; mákat ek láss vid ljósa lind ofrœkôar bindask. {Hdlfredar saga 1939:184, v. 22) I care little, though I get struck in the arms of the woman - the sea-farer (tree of the horse of the hollow of the wake) is at risk for her sake - if I managed to sleep between the lady's (goddess of the chest of silk) arms: I cannot restrain myself from an obsession with the splendid woman (lime-tree of locks). Veitkat ek hitt, hvat verôa verglóòar skal Moda rinnumk ást til limar unnar dags - á munni, ef fjçlgegnir fregna fagnendr jptuns sagna flók af gyltar grisi geitbelg - hvat mik teitir. (Hallfreòar saga 1939:184-85, v. 23) I do not know what will come to the mouth of the wealthy man (god of the fire of the sea) - from me love flows to the woman (goddess of the day of the wave) if the excellent men (glad recipients of the tales of the giants) find out what is pleasing me: I flayed the goat's belly from the piglet of a sow. Heim koma hiròi-Naumur hams es góór á fljódum ssevar báls frá seljum sléttfjalladar aliar; nú selk af, ]?ótt yfisk çlbekkjar Syn nekkvat hverr taki seggr viô svarra sínum - ábyrgó mina. {Hallfreòar saga 1939:185, v. 24)

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The women (goddesses guarding the pyre of the sea) all come home with smooth hair from the huts - their skin is good. Now I disown all responsibility, though the woman (goddess of the ale-bench) objects somewhat; let each man pick his own woman. Nú J>ykki mér nokkurr, námskord, vesa ordinn litk hvé sumt mun sseta sveimr, meôan ek vas heiman; hér hafa gestir gçrva gengr út kona J) rutin; J>errir sjáligr svarri slaug Jjungliga - augu. (Hallfreòar saga 1939:186, v. 25) Now, woman (prop of clothing), there seems to have been some commotion while I was away; I see what part of it must mean; here the guests have engaged in cruel mockery; the woman goes out swollen with tears; the beautiful woman wipes her eyes. If we look at the relationship between this series of verses and the prose a curious point emerges. V. 24 seems to be the source for Hallfreôr's incitation earlier in the chapter "&at setla ek mér, at liggja hjá Kolfinnu, en ek lofa félçgum mímim at breyta sem Jjeir vilja", "For myself, I intend to sleep with Kolfinna, and I give leave to my comrades to shift for themselves as they please" (Hallfreòar saga 1939:180-81). As a result, v. 24 reads oddly in the present context, because it seems to issue its incitation to sexual adventures after those adventures have occurred. We have already seen that v. 22 fits poorly with its accompanying prose. The prose narrative, on the basis of these pieces of evidence, appears to have "predated" the sexual adventures of Hallfreôr and his men to the huts whereas the verses, taken on their own, would strongly indicate a setting at Griss's house. Possibly the reference to the women returning from the shieling prompted the prose narrator to use that as a location for the scene. We can imagine the following scenario as constituting an earlier state of the narrative: Hallfreôr and his men have arrived at Griss's place to discover that Griss is away from home. The women, however, have come back from the huts. Hallfreôr sees this as a good opportunity to have sex with Kolfinna, notwithstanding the risk involved, and urges his men to do likewise with the other women. In such a context v. 23 expresses gloating that Hallfreôr has got away with this violation, and his talk of flaying the goat's belly from the piglet of a sow is an insulting reference to his cuckolding of Griss. Then follows v. 25: Griss comes home, realizes that something has happened during his absence, and turns directly to Kolfinna to confirm that the "guests" have mocked him and his hospitality by raping the women in his absence. This seems the most natural

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interpretation of the verses. Such a situation would have led naturally to the Grissvtsur proper, the fight between Hallfredr's brother and Kolfinna's brother (attested in Landnámabók), and finally a hólmganga between Hallfreòr and Griss, which in later versions became transformed into monetary compensation (referred to in w . 27 and 29). The inclusion of v. 25 adds Gnss to the tally of speakers and turns the verse sequence into a rudimentary dialogue, with Hallfreòr and Griss as active speakers and Kolfinna as Griss's immediate audience. The sequence has some features in common with the verse exchanges in Bjamarsaga Hitdœlakappa (as discussed in chapter 4 in this volume), in Gunnlaugs saga (as we shall see presently), and in Grettis saga. In Bjamar saga Hitdœlakappa, beside the main flyting between Bjçrn and I>óròr, we find two exchanges of two verses each, both involving rivalry over a woman. Grettis saga contains a variety of examples, but the most notable and highly elaborated is the so-called SçÔulkolluvisur, where the rivalry centres upon a mare. There a certain Sveinn upbraids Grettir and the hero flings back a variety of taunts. Much of these diatribes on either side is relayed via messengers, so that the structure becomes more dramatic than that of a straightforward two-speaker flyting. There is a distinct narrative element such that the theft, the alert, and the pursuit of Grettir are implied or described within the verses. The entire set is strongly formalized as an agonistic exchange. The structure of the exchange in HaUfre&ar saga is admittedly less developed and symmetrical, in that Hallfreòr speaks three verses whereas Griss has only one. In sum, w . 22-25 probably do not represent an integral part of the Grissvtsur but rather a pendant to it, perhaps even composed subsequent to Hallfreòr's l i f e t i m e . Like the exchange between Hallfreòr and Oláfr Tryggvason, they might be seen as an embellishment of the poet's and his associates' canon, composed to accompany an earlier version of the emerging saga of Hallfreòr. As to this genre, Terry Gunnell's recent study of dialogue exchanges in early Scandinavian poetry may prove illuminating (1995). Broadly related are the flytings systematically analysed by Carol Clover (1980:450) and the various exchanges of insulting verses brought together by Hilda Ellis Davidson (1983). These include, inter alia, sequences from Hàrbaròsljóò, Helgakvida Hjçrvarôssonar, Qroar-Oddssaga, the GestaDanorum of Saxo Grammaticus, and Egils saga. Davidson explains them as varying forms of a type of popular entertainment. At the same time, the sequences I have in mind differ from the flytings described by Clover and Davidson in that the former involve definite narrative movement and complex shifts of speaker and audience, whereas the latter are comparatively

I am grateful to Margaret Clunies Ross for this reconstruction and for comments on the genre of vv. 22-25.

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static in these respects. Exchanges of this general sort in the sagas of Icelanders may have enjoyed a semi-independent transmission and performance tradition.

IV. Vv.3,27, and 29 Three miscellaneous verses, w . 27 and 29, along with v. 3, might also be taken as extensions to the group of verses attacking Griss. They do not, however, appear to group naturally in any particular way and they might represent either genuine free-standing single-stanza compositions or else the fragmentary remains of more extended poems. Textual obscurities add to the difficulties in reaching any definite verdict. Ràda rœkimeiôar randalids at bidja - òtti - eingadóttur Avalds - es J>at skaldi; sid mun Surts um bída svá geta menn til hennar kvánar byrr af kyrri Kolfinnu mér rinna. (Hallfreòar saga 1939:147, v. 3)43 The warriors (tending trees of the ?shield-wall?) decide to ask for the daughter of Avaldr; that is a source of fear for the skald. Long will my mind (wind of the giant's wife) wait to run from the serene Kolfinna. That's what people assume about her. I>á mun reyndr at rçdnu rôgherâçndum verôa mans at malma sennu minn hugr viô Kolfinnu, ef svá at çrr á eyri uppsátrs boôi, at lata vel hyggjum J>at - viggjar visar mér at Grísi. (Hallfredar saga 1939:190, v. 27)

A satisfactory interpretation of this helmtngr has yet to be arrived at. Flateyjarbók, here representing the Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta tradition, has a very different set of readings and the narration is evidently cast in the past tense. For details see Hallfredar saga 1939:147, n. I have simply followed that edition here, since to examine the problems in full would unduly prolong this chapter. Kock states that "eingadóttur" must be governed by "biôja", so voicing an assumption on the part of interpreters that has led to the construction of an aberrant kenning "roekimeiôum randa(h)lids" (1923-44:§516). Attempts at interpretation could alternatively start with an assumed "biôja lids".

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Then my attitude towards Kolfinna must be definitively proved in battle (the dispute of the maid of metal) for those who instigate fighting, if the rash sea-farer (inviter of the horse of the slipway) directs me to Griss on the sand-spit; Fm happy to go along with that. Auôs hefk illrar tiôar alldrengila fengit; mik hefr gjçllu golii gramr ok jarl of framôan; ef glapskuldir gjalda, gjalfrteigs ok hefk eigi mçrk, fyr minnstan verka matvisum skalk Grisi. (Hallfreòar saga 1939:193, v. 29) In an unlucky hour have I earned money in manly fashion - the king and the earl have honoured me with ringing gold - if I must pay reparations for my foolishness to food-greedy Griss for a trivial piece of poetry and not have the woman (forest of the strip of land of the roaring sea). We note that in this collection of verses v. 27 seems to continue naturally f r o m v. 3, since it takes up the specific motif that Hallfreòr's "hugr viâ Kolfmnu" is constant, but, given the textual difficulties of v. 3, nothing definite can be said.

V. Hallfreòr's "swansong" Finally I shall turn to Hallfreòr's "swansong" and verses which may be affiliated with it, as seen best in Oláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta. Hnauò viô hjarta siÔu hreggblásin mér ási mjçk hefr uôr at çôru aflat bçru skafli; marr skotar minum knerri mjçk emk vátr - af nçkkvi; muña úrjjvegin eira aida sínu skaldi. (HaJlfreôar saga 1939:197, v. 32) There was a blow to me on my heart's side from the spar; the storm-driven wave has raised one white-cap after another. The sea thrusts my ship - 1 am very wet for some reason: the wave washed with moisture will not spare its skald. Rindr mun hvitri hendi hçrdùks umb brá mjúka fljóÒ gat fremôar ceöi -

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ijçlerrin sér J)erra, ef daudan mik meidar moròveggs skulu leggja ádr vask ungu fljóòi út of borô - at sútum. (Hall/redar saga 1939:198, v. 33) The woman (goddess of the linen cloth), very bold, will dry herself around her soft brows - she has an excellent temperament - if warriors (wreckers of the shield) must cast me overboard after my death - at one time I brought lovesickness to the young woman. Ek mynda nú andask ungr vask hardr í tungu senn, ef SQIU minni, sorglaust, vissak borgit; veitk, at vaetki of sytik valdi guô, hvar aldri daudr verôr hverr - nema hneôumk helvíti - skal slíta. (Hallfredar saga 1939:199, v. 34) I would die now straightaway and without sorrow - 1 was harsh of tongue in my youth - if I knew that my soul were saved; I know that I grieve over nothing except that I fear the punishment of Hell; God chooses the moment when there shall be an end to life; everybody must die. A possible outrigger of this series of verses is v. 4, which occurs early in t h e saga yet seems t o possess clear commonalities in motifs with the set just cited. Fúss emk enn, Jjótt òsa aflvçll drepi stalli mjçk skytr Mçrnar vakri minnask vid Kolfinnu, Jjvít - ál grundar - endisk áttgódrar mér tródu betr unnum nú nytja naer sem heitin vaeri. (Hallfredar sagt 1939:150, ν. 4) I am still eager to remember Kolfinna, although the wave (powerful plain of the river-mouths) may strike the step of the mast - the ship (steed of Mprn) is buffeted around a lot - because things have been fulfilled nearly as if she had been promised [to me]; I allow myself the enjoyment of the lady (prop of the eelground) better now. 44

In the first belmingr I have translated "minnask" as "remember", with Kock (1923-44:§791), rather than "kiss", with Finnur Jónsson and Einar 01. Sveinsson. The selection of manuscript readings, punctuation, and translation above represents merely an attempt to

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It is noteworthy that the saga prose contextualizes the recitation of v. 4 in only the most perfunctory fashion: "Detta sumar ferr Hallfreör suôr til Hvítár, ok er han η kom til skips, kvaô hann visu", "That summer Hallfreôr went south to Hvítá and when he came to the ship he spoke a verse" (Hallfreòarsaga 1939:150). There is no attempt to background the verse by elaborating on the immanent context of a rough voyage. Unfortunately the second helmingr remains very obscure. While it may be that the original words and significance are irretrievably lost, nevertheless the combination of the words "endisk", "betr", and "sem heitin vaeri" would seem to imply a context where Hallfreör had already enjoyed intimate relations with Kolfinna, that is to say some time subsequent to the occasion presupposed by the flyting verses discussed above (w. 22-25). Also problematic is the status of v. 34, which occurs only in Oláfs saga. Tryggvasonar en mesta and is absent from Moòruvallabók. Bjarni Einarsson believes that the redactor of Oláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta omitted the episode about Hallfreôr's fylgjukona, to be discussed presently (and summarized in chapter 2 of this volume), as too heathen, and filled out the resultant gap by composing the final stanza, which expresses a suitably Christian death-bed contrition - thus bringing the troublesome skald to a good death. In Bjami's hypothesis, "the compiler very plausibly imitated Hallfreôr's style and diction as found in the other stanzas of the saga" (1981:220). Other scholars to express doubts about the authenticity of this verse are Krijn (1931:128), De Vries (196467:1.194), and Lange (1958:38). Nonetheless, Cook (1989:85, n. 11) notes opinions in favour of the authenticity of v. 34 and altogether it seems simpler, since there are no good grounds intrinsic to the verse for a verdict of spuriousness, to assume that it had a prior existence, perhaps going back to Hallfreör himself, but was omitted from Moòruvallabók for some more or less casual reason, as often occurs in manuscripts of the sagas. This was the position espoused by Einar Ol. Sveinsson (Hallfreòar saga 1939:lxxvii). A "swansong" verse, such as v. 34 is taken to be, is not in itself implausible (though, strictly speaking, the verse

extract sense from the second helmingr without emendation. Various interpretations will be found in Skjaldedigtning Bl:157-58, Den norsk-islândska skaldediktningen 1:85, and Hallfreòar saga 1939:150 but none of them withstand scrutiny. The manuscript reading "endist" (and similar), combined with the apparent lack of a kenning element, has led to various poorly founded conjectures (cf. Kock 1923-44:§1088). In fact a type of kenning for "woman" with the defining element "sea", though hard to justify logically and lacking documentation in Snorra Edda, is well-known and moreover perhaps with special appropriateness to the present maritime context. Accordingly "endist" should be left intact, in particular since it naturally correlates with forms and synonyms of "heita". Finnur Jónsson's and Kock's interpretations are further vitiated by additional emendations. The word order in my tentatively constructed interpretation is admittedly convoluted, but, as noted above, some other Hallfreâr attributions share this characteristic. O n this topic see further chapter 6 in this volume.

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does not state that death is imminent but rather that the speaker fears the punishment of Hell). Nor are our modern standards of realism, literary or psychological, a good basis for a critique. A degree of stylization must be accepted for both the stimulus to composition and the circumstances of delivery. Krijn is right to point out that comparable "swansong" verses are attributed in the various sagas to Gunnlaugr ormstunga, as we shall see, I>ormódr Kolbrúnarskáld, Kormákr, and Gísli Súrsson (1931:128-29). "Swansong" poems are not unknown in other traditions, and we cannot necessarily assume that Hallfreôr waited until his death agonies to compose the verse we have. Returning to my claim that the four verses, w . 4, 32, 33, and 34, form a coherent sequence, we may note that similar ideas, expressed in similar lexis, run through them Both v. 4 and v. 32 contain the lexical item "afl-", used in relation to the waves, and the phonologically and semantically similar items "skytrVskotar" (cf. De Vries 1977:s. skota). Within Moòruvallabók it is a curious circumstance that "áfall" appears in both verses, evidently as a failed scribal emendation, to replace the complex of words containing "afl-". A possible reason for this apparent coincidence would be that the two verses were linked in some variant realization. In a kindred fashion, the lexical items "dauci-", "ung-", and "sútumVsyti-" form a commonality between w . 33 and 34. The sequence of ideas from one verse to the next among the last three is of course fully coherent, with the speaker's awareness and certainty of his impending death developing steadily through the three stanzas. This awareness could be seen as foreshadowed in v. 4, where the idiom "drepi stalli", applicable in its immediate context to the notion of the wave hitting the mast-step, carries connotations of the heart, which can be said to "drepa stall" (perhaps "stop, miss a beat", through fear or pain). In other words, there may be a play here on physical damage to both boat and Hallfredr. It is precisely the heart that is the object of complaint immediately at the outset of v. 32, while the notion of fear appears explicitly at the end of v. 34. Hallfreòr's alleged fear is of course all the more understandable if it is motivated by his continuing wish to "minnask viâ" Kolfinna, as stated in v. 4 (whichever meaning we choose for this word), since to

See Mundal 1974:121 for a contrary view: she finds v. 34 possibly genuine and certainly "Hallfredsk" in tone but queries the practicalities of the situation. Guôbrandur Vigfússon 1874:s. stallr, suggests that the idiom "hjarta drepr stall" ("the heart fails") stems from the image of the "mast rocking in the step". The noun in these phrases would then presumably be construed as a flexionless dative, contrasting with the -¿-inflexion seen in Hallfreòr's verse. Halldór Hermannsson (1965) favours the view that stallr means "a stop,fixedposition", and that drepa stall means "to stop", with stall then accusative rather than (flexionless) dative: I am grateful to Diana Whaley for this reference. The exact basis of the idiom remains a little mysterious (cf. Finnur Jónsson 1931 :s. stallr 2).

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entertain such a wish would interfere with his dying a good death in Christian terms. The distinction that Bjarni Einarsson seeks to establish between v. 33, where he sees an emphasis on the speaker's "tragic love for Kolfmna", and v. 34, where the emphasis would be on the hero's newfound Christianity (1977:cxlii; cf. Paasche 1958:99) cannot easily be sustained. That both the concept of Hell and this particular word for it ("helvíti") could have been within Hallfreôr's mental horizon is to some extent supported by Sighvatr's use of the same word in a lausavisa (16) datable to about 1027. In summary, I propose that MoÒruvallabók and Oláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta borrowed differentially from a set of vers« which all related to the skald's sickness, intimations of death, and memories of his beloved and whose dramatic setting was on board ship during a storm at sea. At this point it may be helpful to return to remarks I made at an earlier stage concerning Hallfreôr's "poetic signature" and the role, in his case, of a sense of conflict and equivocation in constituting that signature. The signature, if such it is, yokes naturally with his nickname to construct a sense of personality (Whaley 1993a:137 and Wright 1973:18). The prose narration in the saga reinforces the tortured vacillation by presenting Hallfreôr virtually throughout his life story as a person caught between heathendom and Christianity (Mundal 1974:119). In this regard the end of the story, as told in MôÔruvallabôk, is especially interesting, since while Hallfreôr the father rejects thefylgjukona that atavistically personifies his heathen luck his son (of the same name) accepts her. We seem to be in the presence of two constructions of the one Hallfreôr (bearing in mind that nothing is elsewhere attested concerning Hallfreôr the younger, despite the assurance that he was a skald). The ending, in this handling at least, equivocates between the claims of the two belief systems: Mundal's relegation of the fylgjukona to the ranks of the definitely evil seems simplistic in so complexly dialogic a context (1974:119). In view of some earlier dialogue unique to this version (Hallfredar saga 1939:155), the redactor of MoÒruvallabók could be seen as invoking a broader contestation, where the traditional heathen fraeòi is juxtaposed against the incoming Christian froeòi - a contestation that would have possessed decided resonance from the time of the eleventh-century rehabilitation of heathen kennings down to and beyond the thirteenth-century composition of Snorra Edda. We shall see presently, in my discussion of Gunnlaugs saga, that the inclusion of a verse ingredient within sagas such as the two under discussion in this chapter may play a role in allowing the total prosimetrum to reflect different, conflicting perspectives.

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49

Cf. his lausavisa 25 for similar wording, also the comments of Lange 1958:229. For brief comments on the word frœôi and its cognates and on the amount of heathen "knowledge" required by a successful skald, see Björn M. Olsen 1911:25 and η. 2.

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Verses in Gunnlaugs saga I shall now move on, as promised, to a briefer discussion of Gunnlaugs saga. Again, I shall first give a brief description of the verses contained in the saga, with some indication of their content.50 The verses fall into two broad groupings. Of these the first, w. 1-9, consists of a series of brief ripostes (or kvidlingar) and purported fragments of praise poetry, serving as a whole to illustrate Gunnlaugr's developing career at the courts of Aòalràòr of England, Sigtryggr of Dublin, and Sigurdr and Eirikr jarls of Hladir. There is no reason in principle to doubt that this career in fact took place, especially in light of the verse fragments and the testimony of Skdldatal (to be discussed presently). The nickname ormstunga, though not of entirely clear origins, might point to a skald with a satirical or calumnious output.51 But I shall not give these verses further consideration here, since in some cases the text is insolubly corrupt, in others the verse in question is an isolate, or both. The second grouping, which begins after a substantial stretch of unmixed prose narrative, turns to matters of the heart and exhibits a sharing of versemaking between the eponymous hero and hisrivalHrafn Qnundarson. Vv. 10 and 11: Gunnlaugr reminisces over Helga, his one-time love, from whom circumstances have separated him. V. 12: Hrafn, who has supplanted Gunnlaugr and married Helga, dreams that he is wounded by a sword as he lies in his wife's arms. Vv. 13 and 14: Gunnlaugr expresses his chagrin at Helga's marriage. V. 15: Hrafn cynically attempts consolation, suggesting that since plenty of women are available elsewhere there is no occasion to quarrel about this one. V. 16: Gunnlaugr accounts for his tardiness in love on the grounds that Aôalràôr needed his help in war. Vv. 17 and 18: Gunnlaugr and Hrafn respectively utter threats about an ensuing bólmganga. Vv. 19 and 20: Gunnlaugr expresses the feeling that the love between him and Helga is doomed. V. 21: I>órdr Kolbeinsson commemorates the death of Gunnlaugr. V. 22: Gunnlaugr speaks as he lies mortally wounded. Vv. 23 and 24: The dead rivals speak these verses when they appear to their respective fathers in dreams.

For fuller descriptions and comparisons with related themes elsewhere see Poole 1989:16269. Finlay 1991:164; cf. Gunnlaugs saga ormstungu 1886:x-xi and Gunnlaugs saga ormstungu, ed. Reuschel 1957:6.

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V. 25: An elegy in memory of Helga composed by her second husband, I>orkell Hallkelsson. As in Hallfreòar saga, there are grounds for scepticism concerning the Gunnlaugs saga prose account of the authorship and context of its constituent verses. It is true that a prima facie argument for possible veracity in these respects is that Snorri cites the first helmingj of v. 19 in his Edda, with an ascription to Gunnlaugr, and that this verse refers to rivalry over a woman.52 But we might well harbour doubts as to the degree of Snorri's dependence on and credulity concerning the saga account. Even if authentic, and Ludvig Wimmer expressed doubts already concerning the second helmingr that ajppears in the saga (1877:xxviii), this verse might relate to some fictive situation. Doubts about Gunnlaugr attributions in the saga have traditionally centred upon v. 20, which is also attributed to Kormákr in Kormóks saga. In the latter saga the verse forms part of a coherent sequence in which the speaker predicts that his love at first sight will lead to pain and grief, which fits tolerably well with the overall saga narration (cf. Gunnlaugs saga ormstungu 1886:xi). In Gunnlaugs saga, by contrast, the pain and grief have already come to pass and so the verse, although not wildly discrepant with the prose narrative, gives the distinct impression of having been lifted from a different context. Björn M. Olsen ascribes these variant attributions to variant oral traditions (1911:47). Where the attribution to ï>ôrôr Kolbeinsson mentioned above is concerned (v. 21), Guôbrandur Vigfússon, Björn M. Olsen, Einar Ol. Sveinsson, Helga Reuschel, Bjarni Einarsson, and Jan de Vries have adduced reasons for scepticism based partly on discrepancies in poetic technique from I>ór0r's more reliably attested output and partly on the implausible and fabulous nature of the events described in the verse and its accompanying prose.54 Jón Helgason was also sceptical, though he pointed, on the basis of similar saga attestations, to the existence of three such poems, dedicated respectively to Gunnlaugr, his brother Hermundr, and his father Illugi svarti.55 Reuschel points out that the alleged author of v. 25, I>orkell Hallkelsson, is mentioned only in this saga. Despite the statement that he was a skald, no evidence of skaldic activity on his part is known from other sources. In

Edda Snorra Sturlusonar 1931:146; for discussions see, inter alia, Gunnlaugs saga ormstungu 1886:xi; Björn M. Ólsen 1911:31; Gunnlaugs saga ormstungu ed. Reuschel 1957:xiii-xiy. Cf. Poole 1981:479. This article can also be referred to for fuller versions of some of the arguments advanced in subsequent paragraphs. Corpus Poeticum Boreale 2:505-06; Björn M. Ólsen 1911:17 and 49-50; Borgfiröinga sçgur 1938:xlv; Bjami Einarsson 1956:24, rpt. 1987; Gunnlaugs saga ormstungu Reuschel 1957:15 and 96; De Vries 1966:357-58. 1953:136; for a further defence see Gunnlaugs saga ormstungu 1886:xi-xii.

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Reuschel's opinion, this statement is motivated solely by the need to account for the composition of v. 25 (Gunnlaugs saga ormstungu ed. Reuschel 1957:14). Finally, chapter 3 in the present volume has already supplied us with reasons to believe that the bulk of the verses attributed to Gunnlaugr in his saga are spurious and represent compositions of a later century, a view reached earlier for other reasons by Wimmer (1877:xxviii), Björn M. Ólsen (1911:47-48), Bjarni Einarsson (1961), and Poole (1981): firmly of the contrary view was Finnur Jónsson (1894-1902:2.571-73 and subsequent publications). Doubts about the saga contextualizations of various individual verses also come into the picture. Reuschel has noted that v. 12, in which Hrafn predicts that he will be mortally wounded in bed and be offered no assistance by his wife, in no way tallies with Hrafn's actual mode of death and seems to fit much better with the Sigurâr legend, a link already explored above (Gunnlaugs saga ormstungu ed. Reuschel 1957:16-17). Suspicion as to v. 15 centres on the intercalated clause "ytik saevar sóta/ sannfrôôr", "as one truly wise, I launch my ship". Hrafn can scarcely say this with cogency when firmly situated in his own home field, though admittedly he might be referring to some proposed future voyage or we might be confronting a corrupt text (see Poole 1981:482, and references there given). As to v. 16, Gunnlaugr seems to be saying that he was delayed in the thick of battle, whereas the prose has him stationed in England at AÔalràâr's request to resist Danes who in the event never materialize. This looks like a matter of two divergent developments in tradition, left imperfectly harmonized by the prose author (cf. Mundal 1980:82), though it could also, as Cook points out (1971:13-14), represent "hollow boasting" on Gunnlaugr's part. As to v. 22, it localizes Gunnlaugr and Hrafn's last fatal confrontation "á Hçrôa ... nesi Dinga", that is "on Dinganes of the Hçrôalanders". The prose places it in quite a different locality (Bjarni Einarsson 1956:24), forcing us to the conclusion that some contributor to the development of the prose disregarded the information in the verse, perhaps because a second tradition existed. Although the text of v. 1 appears to be corrupt beyond restoration, the mysterious word "allrads" (Skjaldedigtning A l : 195) may point to a contracted form of "Aôalràôr" (Alôelned/yElraed) identical to the one attested in v. 16.58 If this guess were right, v. 1 must have been radically misplaced in the saga,

Wimmer 1877:148; cf. for an unconvincing attempt to harmonize the discrepancy Konráó Gíslason 1892:134. Poole 1981:483, and references there given. On the setting in the prose see Finnur Jónsson 1915, along with the rejoinder appended to that article by Björn M. Ólsen (388); also, of course, Bjarni Einarsson 1956. The identification of this attestation is due to Wimmer 1877:148.

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perhaps by a compiler who did not understand it in detail but was keen to preserve it.5' V. 4 also needs consideration in this regard In it Gunnlaugr comments that he received the nickname "naôrstunga" when he was young, "mér ungum". The Durrenbergers, perhaps registering a difficulty here, translate "in childhood".60 That may be right. Again, though, it is possible that here we see a verse relating to Gunnlaugr's later years transposed in the saga to his younger self, in a process similar to that which I have posited for Hallfreòar saga. To allege discrepancies such as those itemized above can admittedly smack of pedantry, and always contains some measure of uncertainty, as will be emphasized in chapter 6 of this volume, but it is not realistic to deny them altogether as a phenomenon. They suggest a prosimetrist labouring to incorporate intractable inherited material. Perhaps surprisingly, but certainly significantly, that is exactly the scenario that Bjarni Einarsson invokes when he plausibly explains some unevennesses in the prose narrative concerning Gunnlaugr and Hrafn's last battle as due to the incorporation of motifs from the famous legend of the Hjaöningavig (1956). When it comes to dating the saga prose, there has been considerable agreement among scholars that the materials evolved into the highly structured and thematically coherent saga we now have only in the mid-thirteenth century, though possibly on the basis of older oral traditions (see for example Björn M. Olsen 1911:10 and 17). This process must have occurred early enough for the quarrel between the two skalds to be mentioned twice in Egils saga, always assuming that this mention itself dates from an early thirteenth-century redaction of that saga (Gunnlaugs saga ormstungu ed. Foote 1957:xiii). Gunnlaugr and Hrafn also receive mention in the two versions of Skáldatal, which in the opinion of Björn M. Olsen (1911:34), Sigurôur Nordal (Gunnlaugs saga ormstungu 1938:xliii, n. 1), and other scholars contains old, probably authentic, traditions. Björn M. Olsen (1911:34-35) constructed a detailed chronology where the account of the two skalds seen in the older version, compiled ca. 1270 or earlier, underwent inteipolation from Gunnlaugs saga so as to form an expanded later version (ca. 1300). That would mean that composition of the saga occurred between the compilation of these two versions. Neat though they may be, these chronological calculations seem a trifle fine-spun and may now need some modification in light of Guôrùn Nordal's demonstration that the earlier version of Skáldatal focused exclusively on the affiliations of skalds with Scandinavian kings and earls (1997:210). Although affiliations with English kings, such as we find in the later version of Skáldatal, might have existed in some hypothetical

On the antiquarian aspect cf. Gunnlaugs saga 1938:xliv. 60

The Saga of Gunnlaugur Snake's Tongue 95.

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fuller early version, they would have been excluded from the earlier version actually extant. My conclusion from this assemblage of evidence, given here only in summary, is that the composition of the verses in Gunnlaugs saga may have proceeded in the late twelfth century or early thirteenth, some time before the formation of the prose redaction as we have it now and with some scope for development of variations in the realization of the basic story material. The hypothesis of composition on the part of the author of the extant prosimetrum, energetically advanced by Bjarni Einarsson (1961), does not account for these variations satisfactorily. Nevertheless, it seems reasonable to assume that most of the verses I shall now survey arose as part of various prosimetra no longer extant and not as wholly independent poems of the lyrical variety.

I. Gunnlaugr's "landfall" verses As I have tried to show elsewhere (Poole 1981), a group offiveverses, w . 10,11, 13, 14 and 16, exhibits unusual cohesiveness. I shall now cite them in extenso. Rœkik litt f>ótt leiki létt veär er nú - J»éttan austanvindr at çndri andness viku J) essa; meir séumk hitt, en haeru hoddstrídandi bídi, orò, at eigi veròak jafnrçskr taliôr Hrafni. (Gunnlaugssaga ormstungu 1953:47-48, v. 10) I care little, though the east wind sports continually with the ship (ski of the headland) this week: the weather is gentle now. I am more afraid of that report that I am not considered as bold as Hrafn, than of his (the treasure-destroyer's) reaching old age. Munat hàôvprum hyrjar hridmundadar I>undi hafnar, hçrvi drifna, hlyôa jçrô at |)yôask, {m't lautsíkjar lékum lyngs, er vçrum yngri,

The text that follows is taken from Gunnlaugssaga ormstungu ed. Foote 1953. The translation is based on Quirk's in their 1957 edition, but with some modifications. Spellings are adjusted to Islenzk fornrit norms.

Russell Poole alnar gims á ymsum andnesjum Jjví landi. {Gunnlaugssaga ormstungu 1953:48-49, v. 11) It will not do for the warrior (ï>undr of the fire of the storm ?of the sword?), cautious of slander, to woo the linen-clad lady (earth of the cloak), for when I was younger I played with the fingers (headlands of the fire of the arm) of that lady (land of the heather of the fish of the hollow). Ormstungu varò engi allr dagr und sal fjalla hcegr, siz Helga in fagra Hrafns kvánar réô nafni; litt sá hçlôr inn hvíti, hornjjeys, faôir meyjar, gefin var Eir til aura ung - viâ minni tungu. (Gunnlaugssaga ormstungu 1953:52-53, y. 13) Not one whole day was pleasant for Snake-Tongue under the sky (hall of the mountains) since Helga the Fair had the name of Hrafn's wife. The father of the girl, that pale man, paid little heed to my words; she (Eir of the meltwater of the horn) was married young for money. Vaen, ák verst at launa, vín-Gefn, fçôur jsínum fold nemr flaum af skaldi flóóhyrs - ok svá móóur, J>ví at gerôu Bil borôa basôi senn und klseôum herr hafi hçilôs ok svarra hagvirki - svá fagra. (Gunnlaugssaga ormstungu 1953:53, v. 14) Beautiful lady (Gefn of wine), it is to your father and also your mother that I have the worst injury to repay - that woman (land of the fire of the flood) robs the poet of joy - because together under the bedclothes they created a maiden (Bil of embroidery) so fair. The devil take their craftsmanship! Gefin var Eir til aura ormdags in litfagra J>ann kveòa menn né minna minn jafnoka - Hrafni; allra nyztr medan austan Aôalràôr farar dvalôi |>ví er menryris minni málgráór - í gny stala. {Gunnlaugssaga ormstungu 1953:55, v. 16)

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That lady (Eir of the day of the snake) of lovely complexion was married to Hrafn for money (men say he is my equal and no less) while Aôalràôr, best of all kings, delayed my journey from the east in battle (in the din of steel): that is why my (the ring-whittler's) desire for speech is less.

In the prose these verses are spread over several episodes. The first two verses are part of a prosimetrum exchange, as Gunnlaugr returns to Iceland in company, as we have seen, with an uncharacteristically supportive Hallfreár vandraeôaskàld. Vv. 13,14, and 16 appear a little later in the saga, after Gunnlaugr has arrived in Iceland and failed to avert the wedding between Helga and Hrafn. He meets Helga at another couple's wedding and she constitutes the audience for w . 13 and 14. Like w . 10 and 11, w . 13 and 14 are recited in the course of a single conversation and in fact have the appearance of a single composition. They are separated from w . 10 and 11 by v. 12, the dream verse which is spoken by Hrafn and with which I shall deal presently. V. 16 is separated from w . 10, 11, 13, and 14 by a second contribution from Hrafn, v. 15. The circumstances in the prosimetrum at this point are that Gunnlaugr, subsequent to his verse-making with Helga, behaves threateningly toward Hrafn, who tries to placate his rival with v. 15. In reply Gunnlaugr recites v. 16. As I have tried to show in much greater detail elsewhere (1981), the five Gunnlaugr verses possess a degree of argumentative and prosodie cohesion sufficient to indicate that at some stage in the realization of the story materials they formed a monologue, perhaps presented as part of a prosimetrum constructed on different principles from the saga narrative as we now have it. Since neither of Hrafn's two contributions fits the pattern of argument or prosody, it is simplest to suppose that they were added to the prosimetrum as a discrete element. The aesthetic rationale in the case of the latter verse I shall discuss presently.

II. Dialogue verses concerning the hólmganga The small set of verses in which Gunnlaugr laments the loss of Helga seems to have been supplemented in saga narration by a loosely organized second set, of which some appear to represent a dialogue exchange between the two male protagonists and relate to a hólmganga!'2 V. 17 has backward links to the set of five verses discussed above but also forward to v. 18.

Citations of the following verses are from Gunnlaugssaga ormstungu 1953, with reference to Gunnlaugssaga ormstungu ed. Foote 1957 and with modifications in orthography, as also in punctuation to clarify the demarcations of clauses.

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Russell Poole HRAFN: Samira okkr um eina, Ullr benloga, Fullu, fraegir folka Sagù, fangs {brigò at ganga; mjçk eru margar slíkar, morârunnr, fyr haf sunnan ytik sasvar sóta sannfródr - konur góàar. (Gunnlaugssaga ormstungu 1953:54, v. 15) Warrior (god of the wound flame, glorifier of the goddess of battles), it ill becomes us to dispute over a woman (goddess of the kirtle); there are very many good women over the sea, warrior (slaughter-tree); as one truly wise I launch my ship (steed of the sea). GUNNLAUGR: Nú emk út á eyri alvangs búinn ganga happs unni god greppi gçrt - meó tognum hjçrvi. Hnakk s kalk Helgu lokka haus vinnk frá bol lausan loks meô ljósum maski ljúfsvelgs - í tvau kljúfa. (Gunnlaugssaga ormstungu 1953:56-57, v. 17) Now I am ready to go out on to the sandy flat of the assembly plain with drawn sword. May God grant the poet a total victory. I shall cleave in two the neck of Helga's beguiler andfinallywith my bright sword detach the skull of the ardent lover (love-swallower?) from his body." HRAFN: Veitat greppr, hvárr greppa gagnsaeli hlytr fagna. Hér's bensigôum brugôit, búin es egg í leggi. I>at mun ein ok ekkja ung maìr, J>ótt ver saerimsk, J)orna spçng ai jsingi {jegns hugrekki fregna. (Gunnlaugssaga ormstungu 1953:57, v. 18) The poet (Gunnlaugr) does not know which of us poets is to rejoice over victory. Here are swords (wound-sickles) drawn - the edge is ready for the leg. Though I For my translation of the second helmtngr I am indebted to the interpretation by Hans Kuhn 1984:55-57.

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am wounded, the woman (spangle of brooch-pirn), a young maid, alone and a widow, will hear this from the assembly: the valour of her husband. GUNNLAUGR: Oss gekk msetr á mòti mótrunnr í dyn spjóta, hríógervandi hjçrva, Hrafn framliga jafnan. Hér varÔ mçrg í morgin malmflaug of Gunnlaugi, hergeròandi, á Hçrôa, hring |>ollr, nesi Dinga. (Gunnlaugssaga ormstungu 1953:66, v. 22) Hrafn, the famous warrior (battle-tree), in fierce attack (making a storm of swords) pressed on constantly to meet me in battle (in the clash of spears). Here this morning, on Dinganes of the people of Hçrôaland, there was many a volley of metal around Gunnlaugr, warrior (army-protecting ring-tree). GUNNLAUGR: Vissak Hrafn - en Hrafni hvQss kom egg í leggi hjaltugguôum hçggva hrynfiski mik brynju, {>ás hrsesloeri hlyra hlaut fen ari benja. Klauf gunnsproti Gunnar Gunnlaugs hpfuò runna. (Gunnlaugssaga ormstungu 1953:67, v. 23) 1 knew that Hrafn struck me with his sword (hilt-finned clanging fish of the mailcoat), but the sharp edge pierced Hrafn's leg, when the carrion-tearing eagle got blood (fen of warm wounds). The sword (war-twig of the trees of the valkyrie) split Gunnlaugr's head in two. HRAFN: Roôit vas sverò, en sverôa sverô-Rçgnir mik geròi. Vçru reynd í rçndum randgçlkn fyr ver handan. Blóòug hykk í biódi blôdgçgl of skçr stóòu. Sárfíkinn hlaut sára sárgammr enn á gramma. (Gunnlaugssaga ormstungu 1953:68, v. 24) My sword was reddened, yet the warrior (sword-god) used his sword on me. Swords (shield-monsters) were tested against shields across the sea. I believe that

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Russell Poole blood-stained ravens (blood-goslings) stood in blood around my head-hair; the wound-eager raven (wound-vulture) was to wade in blood (river of wounds) once more.

In whole or in part (it is hard t o say which) these verses look like a ritualized exchange broadly similar to those mentioned above in my discussion of verses in HallfreÒar saga. The iteration "sverò ... sveròa/ sverò-" (v. 24) probably owes little by way of influence t o Hallfreôr's sword-verses but, like " H r a f n . . . Hrafni" and the numerous other heavily repetitive features in w . 23 and 24, along with, more distantly, "greppr.. greppa" (v. 18), is likely t o be a stylism current in this type of exchange, as we see in the opening section of Hàrbaròsljóò. Altogether, the verses contained in Gunnlaugs saga may have represented a realization of the story material possessing some independence f r o m the various prose realizations. A m o n g other considerations, the conception of the hero seems to have varied over time. Most of the verses adhere t o a "man of action" stereotype, whereas the prose exhibits a closer affiliation to the stereotype of the procrastinator. Both stereotypes represent recognizable literary stylizations of personality. T h e "man of action" type scarcely needs illustration, while the procrastinator type in Germanic literature is recognized as early as an AngloSaxon proverb attributed to Winfrid, otherwise k n o w n as St Boniface (Sweet 1885:151-52) and achieves more affirmative realization in the shape of Saxo Grammaticus's Amlethus. C o o k tacitly places Gunnlaugr in this tradition when he describes h i m as a weak and indecisive man, "neither a great lover nor a great viking" (1971:21). Mundal sees more of a mix of positive and negative characteristics (1980:23-24). Vésteinn Olason comments that the author of the saga hovers between the two types of story which he adopts more or less deliberately as his model.... Uncertainty whether the delay in Gunnlaug's homecoming is due to outward circumstances or to defects in his own character gives the saga the quality of an enigma not to be resolved by a simple formula or interpretation. ... [Gunnlaugr] is in two minds: he enjoys playing the hero ... but in his heart he is not quite sure that he wants to win; he is still in a state of mind similar to that of Hamlet, who was not sure whether he wanted to kill Claudius.65 Kirsten Hastrup's analysis of the changing image of Grettir, as ideologies shifted over the centuries, may provide a partial parallel and thereby help us to account for the inconsistent picture of Gunnlaugr in the saga (1986). We might suppose Of course the prose contains further tensions within itself, discussed by Preben Meulengracht Sarensen 1993:278-81. The Saga of Gunnlaug Snake-Tongue 14. For a contrasting approach, where the methods behind the text seem to be equated with those exhibited by an historical novel, see de Looze 1989:131, n. 8.

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that whereas the verses develop the "man of action" type the prose narration points to an interest in the more poignant, elegiac type of love longing discussed in chapter 10 of this volume. In the saga as we have it we see a conflation of the two possible characterizations, presumably enacting a tension concerning male roles that prevailed in society.

Summary In both the sagas surveyed in this chapter we may posit an active transmission and elaboration of story materials, where verses, inherited or newly minted, could be shuffled around as freely as other narrative elements to suit the purposes of particular individual realizations and performances. As in the previous chapter in this volume, we can discern devices and effects relating to narrative structure, the sustaining of certain key themes, foreshadowing, and so forth. The distinctive lexis and form of the verses often give us the means not merely to reconstruct earlier or variant states of the story material but also potentially to broaden our knowledge of skaldic genres in the first centuries of the second millennium. The verses, along with other elements in the total saga, also enable us to recognize strains and tensions in the construction of the saga heroes - strains which are inherent in any narration but which are particularly salient in the sagas.

Skaldsagas - RGA-E Band 27 - Seiten 172-190 © Copyright 2000 Walter de Gruyter · Berlin · New York

The Prosimetrum Form 1: Verses as the Voice of the Past By PREBEN MEULENGRACHT S0RENSEN

Old Norse prosimetrum In its traditional form, saga scholarship espouses an analytical methodology, if the term "analytical" is defined as describing an approach to the inherited text that distinguishes different compositional strata and links them to different authors, regions, and periods - as postulated for the Iliad and Odyssey by some Homeric scholars. In the case of saga scholarship the analytical approach has much to recommend it. First, behind the text of the extant manuscripts there is always an older text. Philological text criticism has as one of its primary goals the task of elucidating the genealogical relationship between versions of the text and determining which of them lies closest to the hypothetical archetype. An associated goal is, where possible, to use the extant versions in order to establish a text which is presumed to be closer to the archetype than any surviving version. Secondly, all sagas claim to be historical, whether genuinely or as an illusion, i.e. they purport to be narratives of something that has taken place. For this reason, the objective of both literary and historical scholarship has been to reveal the previous states or sources of the written saga - or conceivably to show that it has no source and therefore is not historical. Particularly in the case of the sagas of Icelanders, whose form suggests that they are based upon oral tradition, issues to do with the sources and origin of individual sagas have played a dominant role. In this analytical approach the verses within the sagas have taken on special importance. More than any other part of the text, the verses were capable of being separated out as older than the written version of the saga and thus as one of its bases. The skaldic stanzas have as a rule been treated as texts within the text, and the relationship between the individual stanza and the prose narrative has been ascribed significance only when it could tell us something about the The "new philology" has also emphasized the value of the individual manuscript text, independent of stemmatic relationships, in keeping with the interest of modern literary scholarship in the text as an entity and as an element in the synchronic context.

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saga author's working methods and the origin of the stanzas. This was not to overlook the fact that the prosimetrum of the sagas of Icelanders was also based upon literary conventions and that the stanzas served an aesthetic purpose as well as functioning as a source,2 but nevertheless, in editions, translations, and commentaries the traditional practice of studying the prose and the poetry as separate entities still persists. In fact it was only with Bjarni Einarsson's monograph on the skaldic stanzas (1961) and especially his article on the role of verse in saga literature (1974) that a certain recognition of the sagas of Icelanders as integral texts comprising both prose and verse began to dawn in modern scholarship,4 and only with Karsten Friis-Jensen's illuminating survey of the poems of Saxo Grammaticus (1987) was the prosimetrum of the sagas considered against a common European background. Friis-Jensen distinguishes between four different functions in the use of verse in prose narratives (1987:29): Verse is often direct speech put into the mouth of persons in the narrative. It may also be direct speech on the part of the author or narrator, either as general reflections on the situation that has developed in the narrative or as an apostrophe to a specific person. Sometimes the narrative simply changes from prose to verse, often when a description reaches an emotional climax. A fourth way of using verse is to introduce poetic quotations, often as proof or exemplification in an argument; here the verse may be more of an alien element than in the other cases, and this sort of prose-verse mixture is perhaps sometimes a borderline case.

Of these four functions, neither the second nor the third occurs in the sagas. As a rule, skaldic verses are never stated to be the saga author's own work. Rather, they are represented as composed by skalds at the time when the action took place and these skalds are normally identified by name. Friis-Jensen draws attention to the fact that the prosimetrum of the sagas, like that of Saxo, diverges in this respect from the predominant type in Latin literature: "in general the Latin prosimetrum is a product of a named author's individualized skill in handling the literary craft of both poetry and prose" (1987:41; cf. 54-58). Friis-Jensen's first and fourth functions, by contrast, are both common in the sagas but demarcated on the basis of genre, in that verses in the sagas of

2 3

4

5

See for example Sigurôur Nordal 1953:250. A typical instance is the íslenzk fornrit series, where the editors of the most recent volume {Haròar saga 1991) continue their predecessors' practice of dealing with the verses in a separate section from the prose. Cf. also Guórún Ingólfsdóttir's survey of the functions of the verses in the sagas of Icelanders (1990). See also Alois Wolf (1965) and Klaus von See (1977).

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Icelanders, fornaldarsògur? and contemporary sagas are for the most part used as dialogue, whereas in the kings' sagas they function as documentation (cf. Bjarni Einarsson 1974). The last-named - fourth - function verges, as Friis-Jensen observes, on what one can call prosimetrum. Verses used as documentation occupy a meta-level in relation to the narrative of the saga, virtually as a kind of authorial commentary (cf. Friis-Jensen 1987:42). Meanwhile, scholarly discussion of poetry in both kings' sagas and sagas of Icelanders has largely been based upon this fourth function. Scholars have endeavoured to differentiate between "authentic" and "spurious" stanzas, i.e. between stanzas that are presumed to have been composed by the skald to whom the saga attributes them and stanzas that were composed later, perhaps by the saga author himself (see chapter 3 in this volume for instances). As a result of this analytical focus, which has diverted attention from the prosimetrum form, little interest has been taken in the socalled "spurious" stanzas.

Snorri Sturluson's viewpoint Fundamental for the present-day conception of the function of saga verses have been Snorri Sturluson's observations on skaldic poetry in the prologues to Heimskringla and particularly the separate saga of Oláfr helgi. In the longer version of that prologue, contained in Stockh. 2,4o, he says: En J)ó J>ykki mér J)at merkilegast til sannenda, er berum orôum er sagt í kva»ôum eòa çôrum kveôskap, J>eim er svá var sagt um konunga eòa aàra hofdingja, at J)eir sjálfir heyrôu, eòa í erfikvaeôum {jeim, er skáldin faerdu sonum J>eirra. X>au orò, er í kveôskap standa, eru in s