Tools of Literacy: The Role of Skaldic Verse in Icelandic Textual Culture of the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries 9781442682665

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Tools of Literacy

The Role ofSkaldic Verse in Icelandic Textual Culture of the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries

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Tools of Literacy The Role ofSkaldic Verse in

Icelandic Textual Culture of the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries

GuSrun Nordal

U N I V E R S I T Y OF TORONTO Toronto Buffalo London

PRESS

www.utppublishing.com University of Toronto Press Incorporated 2001 Toronto Buffalo London Printed in Canada ISBN 0-8020-4789-0

Printed on acid-free paper

Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data Nordal, Gudrun Tools of literacy : the role of skaldic verse in Icelandic textual culture of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8020-4789-0 1. Scalds and scaldic poetry - History and criticism. 2. Scalds and scaldic poetry - Social aspects. I. Title. PT7172.N67 2000

839'.61009

COO-930588-2

University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial assistance to its publishing program of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council. This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Icelandic Research Council. University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial support for its publishing activities of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP).

Contents

List of Tables, Maps, and Figures viii Preface ix Introduction 3 PART ONE: SKALDIC VERSE AND LEARNING

17

1. The Twelfth Century 19 Drottkv&tt and the study of grammatica 19 The grammatical literature 25 Hdttalykill 29 A twelfth-century poet: Bishop Klceingr I>orsteinsson 36 2. Snorra Edda and the Study of Grammatica 41 Manuscript textuality 41 The medieval codices of Snorra Edda 44 The manuscripts of Snorra Edda and the grammatical literature 46 Conclusion 68 PART TWO: THE SOURCES AND THE THIRTEENTH-CENTURY POET 73 3. Sources of Skaldic Verse 75 Textbooks and treatises 77 Translations from Latin 88

vi

Contents

A saint's life 89 Historical writing 90 Biographies 99 Conclusion 114 4. The Poet's Profession 117 Professional poets 120 Aristocratic poets in Iceland 138 Clerics as poets 141 Conclusion 142 EXCURSUS: The Thirteenth-Century Poet 144 Unknown thirteenth-century poets listed in both versions of Skdldatal and their patrons 144 Twelfth-century poets in Sturlunga saga 147 Known thirteenth-century poets 156 PART THREE: THEORY AND PRACTICE IN SKALDIC POETICS 197 5. Theoretical Discussion of the Kenning 199 The kenning in vernacular literary theory 200 The fusion of vernacular and Latin traditions 206 The kenning in grammatica 210 Categories of meaning in Skdldskaparmdl and Litla Skdlda Pulur 232 Conclusion 235 6. Theory and Practice in Skaldic Verse 237 The poetic treatises 237 The human body dismembered in skaldic diction 239 Conclusion 263 PART FOUR: SOURCES OF INSPIRATION 269 7. Cosmology, Learning, and Body Imagery 271 Neoplatonist ideas and the world-body 273 Ymir's body in Snorri Sturluson's Gylfaginning 277 The poetic landscape in body imagery 283 Cosmological imagery 285

213

Contents Natural landscape 296 Flora 304 The human body 306 Conclusion 306 8. Digging for Gold in Skaldic Verse 309 The Danish material 311 Gold myths in Skdldskaparmdl 319 Gold-kennings in thirteenth-century verse 327 Conclusion 335 Conclusion 339 Genealogies 347 Notes 359 Abbreviations 389 Bibliography 393 Index 411

vii

Tables, Maps, and Figures

Table 3.1: Skaldic citations in Codex Wormianus's dkend heiti 80 Table 3.2: Skaldic citations in the Third Grammatical Treatise 85 Table 3.3: Skaldic citations in the Fourth Grammatical Treatise 87 Table 3.4: Skaldic verse in Sturlunga saga 92-3 Table 3.5: Skaldic verse in Hdkonar saga Hdkonarsonar 98 Table 3.6: Skaldic verse in Gudmundar sogur 104-5 Table 3.7: Skaldic verse in Hrafns saga (A and B version) 112 Table 4.1: Icelandic aristocrats and their poets 134 Table 4.2: Verse citations in the Sagas of Icelanders 135 Table 4.3: Poets belonging to the elite 139 Table 4.4: Unknown thirteenth-century poets listed in both versions of Skdldatal and their patrons 145 Table 4.5: Twelfth-century poets cited or noted in Sturlunga saga 148 Table 4.6: Known thirteenth-century poets 157 Table 5.1: The arrangement of Skdldskaparmdl in R, W, U, A, B, C 216-21 Table 5.2: The classification of the kennings in A, B, C 224 Table 5.3: The classification of the heiti in U, A, B 230 Table 8.1: Gold myths in Skdldskaparmdl 322-3 Map 1 Map of Iceland 18 Figure 1: Photograph from Codex Upsaliensis, fol. 26V 52 Figure 2: Photograph from AM 748 Ib 4to, fol. 26r 61

Preface

During the years 1993 to 1996 I held a research scholarship from the Icelandic Research Council that enabled me to conduct the research for this book. The council also supported the book for publication. The greatest part of the work was done at the Stofnun Arna Magnussonar in Reykjavik, which provided me with the working environment and library facilities that inspired me in my work. Jonas Kristjansson and Stefan Karlsson, the directors of the institute at this time, supported me in every way. A few words need to be said on the spelling of Old Icelandic. I have endeavoured to cite the most reliable editions of the texts discussed in the book. They are either normalized or diplomatic editions. In the latter case I have normalized the spelling of citations to a thirteenthcentury standard. Only rarely is it important to give manuscript readings. When I use a normalized edition I have not changed the spelling, even though the editors use various ways of normalizing the manuscript readings (e.g., okennt and okent, it and hit, § and a, o and 0, or 6). Finnur Jonsson organized the skaldic corpus in his edition of skaldic poetry, and throughout the book I refer to his A-volume in the references to skaldic poetry, even though more reliable editions of the sources for some of the verse may be available. I also refer to Finnur Jonsson's edition of Skdldskaparmdl; Anthony Faulkes's 1998 edition of Skdldskaparmdl appeared when this book was near completion, but his practice of normalizing the text of Snorra Edda is followed. I cite Faulkes's edition of the Prologue and Gylfaginning, and Hdttatal, and rely on his translation of the whole work, which appeared in 1987. Titles of sources are spelled according to the edition used; therefore different spelling may occur in the titles; e.g., in biskup in Pals saga

x

Preface

byskups and Arna saga biskups, also Okend heiti for dkennd heiti. Old Icelandic personal names, place names, and titles of works are similarly standardized throughout the book (e.g., Borgarfjordr, Skalaholt, Modruvallabok, and ^ttartolur), even though these names may sound odd in a Modern Icelandic context. I concede to the idiosyncracy of spelling Sigvatr as Sighvatr and skald as skald. The bibliography contains only manuscripts and printed texts that are referred to in the book, not works that are mentioned in passing. Icelandic authors are listed under their given name. No work is written without the help and inspiration of friends and colleagues. My greatest gratitute is extended to my colleagues at the Stofnun Arna Magnussonar in Reykjavik. Before I joined the staff of the institute in 1997, I had enjoyed the hospitality and fine research facilities there. I also thank University of Toronto Press for having taken such great care in producing the book. My editor at the Press, Barb Porter, and Kristen Pederson were untiring in giving me help and advice. Terry G. Lacy read the book in draft and made many improvements in my English, and E»6r6ur Ingi Gudjonsson checked citations and proofread parts of the book. The nuanced and detailed reports from the three anonymous readers proved invaluable when I prepared the final copy for publication and helped me enormously in sharpening my argument. Kari Ellen Gade, Gu6var3ur Mar Gunnlaugsson, and Vesteinn (Mason read parts of the book and offered helpful suggestions. Margaret Cormack, Hermann Palsson, and Peter Foote read the entire book in manuscript, and the book owes much to their sharp and learned criticism offered from their different perspectives. This book would not have reached its final destination without the constant encouragement and confidence in it of the person closest to me. I dedicate the book to him. Gudrun Nordal Reykjavik, September 1999

TOOLS OF L I T E R A C Y

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Introduction

For more than five hundred years, from the ninth century until the end of the fourteenth century, Icelandic poets composed in the distinctive metre called drottkvsett. The term alludes to the poets' audience in the pre-Conversion period in Scandinavia, the drott ('court') or the king's or chieftain's band of retainers. The emergence of this type of poetry in Scandinavia is cloaked in uncertainty, but it seems to have 'coincide[d] with the strengthening of royal power in late ninthcentury Norway.'1 The complexity of skaldic verse suggests its exclusiveness to the community that produced and appreciated it. It was probably taught and practised in a drott environment, to the virtual exclusion of women and the lower classes. Women are rarely mentioned among poets from this early period and are never depicted in the role of court poets in the sagas.2 John Lindow has even suggested that skaldic verse functioned originally 'as a kind of secret language in which the members of the drott could maintain their collective traditions in a special way and also communicate without being wholly understood by others, indeed to the exclusion of others.'3 Even though this proposition will remain hypothetical, it is made more likely by the subsequent development of skaldic verse in Christian society, where it held its appeal for a particular section of society, the aristocratic, learned, and religious community. The mastery of this verse form required a command of complicated metrical rules and a thorough knowledge of pagan myth and metaphorical language.4 The regular drottkvxtt metre is best explained by describing a typical eight-line stanza such as the one composed by Guttormr kortr Helgason in 1254:5

4

Introduction

Fold skal fregna aldri fagrleit digulsveita, glaSan hyggjum svan sedja sars 6gle5i vara; })6 at valnistendr vestan vigra seiSs um heidar litt hyggr fer9 a flotta f rid van segi grana. (Stu II, 232, v. 135)

This stanza breaks into two halves; each four-line helmingr ('halfstanza') is syntactically independent. Each line regularly counts six syllables (this rule is broken in line 3 where there are seven syllables) and three stresses. The lines are linked with alliteration in a stressed position, two in the odd line and one in the even line; that is, fold, fregna, and fagrleit; svan, sedja, and sars; val-, vestan, and vigra; ferd, flotta, and frid-. There is also a system of assonance: the so-called adalhendingar ('full rhyme') in the even lines (2,4, 6, and 8) giving full rhyme, that is, -leit and -sveit-, sdr- and vdr-, seid- and heid-; the skothendingar ('halfrhyme') in the odd lines (1, 3, 5, and 7) giving half-rhyme, that is, fold and aid-, glad-, and sed-. The precision of this rhyming system made skaldic verse a valuable source for phonological distinctions already in the twelfth century, as will be demonstrated in the discussion of the First Grammatical Treatise in chapter 1. The poets could make many variations of the regular drottkvaett metre. Two metrical treatises are preserved from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, Earl Rognvaldr and Hallr Porarinsson's Hdttalykill, discussed in chapter 1, and Snorri Sturluson's Hdttatal, known to us as the fourth part of his Edda, discussed in chapter 5. These two works show the inherent possibilities of the skaldic metre and the theoretical presentation of it; many of the metrical types discussed there are not found in the corpus of skaldic verse.6 These metres, however, include more than modifications of the regular drottkvaett. Snorri opens Hdttatal with an explication of the drottkvxtt, but concludes his work with examples of metres such as kviduhdttr (e.g., used in Ynglingatal) and two eddic metres, fornyrdislag (of Vgluspd) and Ijodahdttr (of Hdvamdl). The mastery of eddic metres would not have required the same amount of learning and study as was the case with drottkv3ett. Notwithstanding that 'skaldic' is clearly misleading as a descriptive term for the whole poetic corpus, it has been used to designate verse composed

Introduction

5

under both eddic and drottkvdett-derived metres, as Finnur Jonsson did in his monumental edition of skaldic poetry in 1912-15. Finnur was following the example set by Snorri Sturluson in Hdttatal, and I will observe their practice in this study. Snorri Sturluson (1179-1241) wrote his Edda, probably c. 1221-30, as a handbook in the art of skaldic verse-making for young aspiring skalds, as he states in the work (Ska 86 [8]) 7 Snorra Edda is divided into four parts: the Prologue, Gylfaginning ('The tricking of Gylfi'), Skdldskaparmdl ('the language of poetry'), and Hdttatal ('list of verse forms'). After rationalizing the world of the pagan gods in the prologue and placing it in the context of classical legend, Snorri depicts the pagan gods and their world in Gylfaginning, which serves as an introduction to Skdldskaparmdl; the pagan myths gave rise to a distinct part of the poetic diction, which is discussed in Skdldskaparmdl. This part, which lavishly introduces us to the author's interpretation of the skaldic diction and which exists in many different versions, will be studied in detail later in the book (see chapters 2, 3, and 5). Skaldic verse is characterized by a rich poetic diction. The poets' ingenuity lies in their fluency in the art of paraphrasing. Turville-Petre noted that '[t]he most striking feature of the scaldic diction, if it is compared with that of other Germanic poetry, is its wealth, especially the wealth of nouns.'8 Long lists of poetic appellations (heiti) are given in Snorri Sturluson's Skdldskaparmdl and in the so-called Pulur, which are preserved as an integral part of Snorra Edda in Codex Regius (GKS 2367 4to) and three other fourteenth-century manuscripts (AM 748 Ib 4to, AM 748 II 4to, and AM 757 a 4to) that include, apart from Snorra Edda's Skdldskaparmdl, grammatical literature.9 The Pulur are difficult to date. They must have old roots, but were expanded and presumably put together in their present form at the end of the twelfth century or the beginning of the thirteenth, at the time when skaldic poetics was being formed.10 Shorter lists of names are also cited in Skdldskaparmdl (Porgrimsfiula and Kdlfsvisa) and in many of the eddic poems, such as Grimnismdl and Vgluspd (e.g., Dvergatal). Catalogues in verse form such as these were common in the Middle Ages and were intended for training the memory; the subjects could be as different as a library catalogue and a Latin grammar,11 and it is probable that this was the purpose of the pulur in the training of the young poets. The pulur could be fixed in the memory and used for reference during composition. The use of the kenning is the most imaginative and unusual feature

6

Introduction

of skaldic art.12 Snorri Sturluson offers a simple definition of a kenning in Skdldskaparmdl: ... at ver kpllum Odin eda I>6r eda Ty eda einhvern af asum eda alfum, ok at hverr beira, er ek nefni til, ba tek ek med heiti af eign annars assins eda get ek hans verka nokkvorra; pa eignask harm nafnit, en eigi hinn, er nefndr var, sva sem ver kpllum Sigty eda Hangaty eda Farmaty, bat er ba 6rr or Tyr, or one or another of the gods or elves, and to each one that I mention I add the name of a property of another god or allude to some of his deeds, then the latter becomes the owner of the name, and not the former, whose name was given. Just as when we say Victory Tyr, or Hanged Men's Tyr, or Cargoes' Tyr, these are then names for Odinn, and these we call periphrastic terms.

Variations on this type of kenning are innumerable.13 Skaldic imagery was clearly believed to have its roots in a pagan culture, as this explicatory passage implies, but such imagery still blossomed when Snorri Sturluson was writing in the thirteenth century. The kennings are divided into one base word, and one or more determinants (or qualifiers) that relate to the base word. Sdrs svanr (the swan [svanr] of the wound [sdr]) in Guttormr's stanza, is a simple kenning where the determinant (s0'r=wound) modifies the meaning of the base word (svanr=swan) to 'raven/ the vulture of the battlefield. The meaning of the kenning must never be that of the base word. A more complicated kenning is fold digulsveita. The two determinants refer to gold: digull is a crucible and its sweat (sveiti) is gold. The baseword,/o/d, means earth, but taken with gold it depicts a woman adorned with jewellery. Allusions to pagan myths remained a strong feature of skaldic verse long after the poets had converted to Christianity. Even though the use of mythological references seems to have decreased considerably in eleventh-century court poetry immediately after the Conversion, as in the poems composed for the Norwegian kings most closely associated with the Christianization of Norway and Iceland, t)lafr Tryggvason (d. 1000) and 6lafr helgi Haraldsson (d. 1030), the traditional poetic language of skaldic pagan verse was sustained and nurtured in the centuries leading up to Snorri Sturluson's thirteenth-century renaissance and played a central role in pedagogic writing for the skalds.14 The oldest known poets of skaldic verse were Norwegians: Bragi

Introduction

7

Boddason, t»j6661fr of Hvin, and f>orbjorn hornklofi, contemporaries of those Norwegians who left their homeland and settled Iceland in the latter part of the ninth century. The tradition of composing skaldic verse seems to have travelled with these first settlers to Iceland and Icelanders subsequently became the masters of skaldic art. Only a handful of Norwegians are noted as employing this intricate verse form after this early period. It is important to note that the verse of these Norwegian poets is almost all preserved in works written by thirteenth-century Icelanders, pre-eminently those of Snorri Sturluson. Modern scholarship has concentrated on the early history of skaldic verse, from the pagan era to the first poets of the Christian era, who left behind a rich poetic heritage which has great historical, mythological, and artistic value. This is the era of the early Norwegian skalds and of the Icelandic skalds of the tenth and eleventh centuries, such as Egill Skalla-Grimsson (c. 910-c. 990), Sighvatr I>6rdarson (c. 995-c. 1045), and Arnorr jarlaskald (c. 1010-c. 1075). These poets sang the praises of kings and nobles in Norway, other Scandinavian countries, and the British Isles. They belonged to an honoured class of poets who travelled from court to court and earned their living through their special mastery of the skaldic art.15 They composed their verse before writing was common in Scandinavia and their poetry would have been transmitted orally until it found written record in the twelfth century at the earliest. The recorders of this early verse were learned Christian authors in Iceland in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries who belonged to a cultural and religious milieu fundamentally different from that of the poets. The second phase in the history of skaldic versifying belongs to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and continues until the demise of the art in the fourteenth century. It was at this time that the conflict between the Christian religion of the poets and the pagan mythic elements inherent in the traditional poetic diction was fully resolved. The resolution involved a respect for and deference to the pagan traditional roots of skaldic verse in the writing of Christian poetry and historical verse. Two important questions need to be addressed: why verse rooted in pagan culture enjoyed such unflagging prestige in a Christianized culture in the High Middle Ages - and how it came to be the preferred medium for deeply religious poetry in the twelfth century, and to hold that position until the end of the fourteenth century, when skaldic metre gave way to new verse forms. The answers to both these questions lie partly in the relationship between formal school learning and skaldic verse in Iceland.

8

Introduction

It was paradoxically skaldic diction's unequivocal origin in pagan myth that made it admissible in Christian textual culture. Christian Latin learning was grounded in reference to works of the classical preChristian authors. Einarr Skulason (c. 1100-c. 1160), the greatest poet of the twelfth century, a priest and a court poet, successfully employed pagan metaphors in his skaldic diction in the deeply religious poem Geisli, the poetic vita of St Olafr Haraldsson composed in his honour about 1150 and first performed at the consecration of the archbishop's cathedral at Nidaross in Norway.16 Einarr was also a learned man. He was not, however, an isolated example in the twelfth century. There occurred an exciting fusion between the oral tradition of skaldic versemaking and Latin textual culture in Einarr's cultural community, as we shall learn in the discussion of the twelfth century in chapter 1. The main interest of this book is the textual culture in Iceland in the thirteenth century. By textual culture I mean the culture that evolves from the introduction of the Latin alphabet in a Christian society. The runic alphabet was widely used in Scandinavia in the Viking period, as numerous inscriptions on memorial stones throughout the area attest, but 'strangely enough' none is found in Iceland before 1200.17 Runes continued to be used in a Christian culture, and James E. Knirk suggests that '[tjhe relationship between Roman letters and runes must have been complementary, the choice of alphabet being partially dependent on the type of message: notes of temporary significance were inscribed with runes on pieces of wood, whereas texts of more permanent character ... were written in Roman letters on parchment,' and furthermore that the ability to write and read runes must have been widespread, whereas 'writing with the Latin alphabet was mastered only by a small elite.'18 Despite the continuous interest in runes, which are even discussed in Olafr t>6r5arson's Third Grammatical Treatise, a work rooted in the classical grammatical tradition, all thirteenthcentury literary texts written in Iceland are preserved in the Latin alphabet. The mastery of the necessary writing skills and the possession of parchment were clearly imperative and these were expensive commodities. This means that those less privileged would not have had the same opportunity to put their poems into writing as those who belonged to the clergy or affluent section of the laity. Information is largely lacking about poets outside the elite in thirteenth-century society in the written sources, and this lack of evidence will become conspicuous in chapter 4, where we focus on the poet's profession. This silence must not, however, be construed as proof that skaldic verse-

Introduction

9

making was exclusive to the elite; rather, the preservation of the evidence was partly determined by the poet's social position. It is in this light that we must evaluate the picture of poetic activity in the thirteenth century that emerges from our analysis of the written sources. Scholars have stressed that Iceland's small population in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, probably between fifty and sixty thousand, formed a homogeneous society where the division between different social groups was not as strictly drawn as in the larger countries in Europe.19 This notion is commonly sustained by the society of the Sagas of Icelanders (Islendingasygur), where workers, farmers, and chieftains seem to interact on an equal footing and are even presented as social companions.20 The discussion of this concept of 'saga society' has inevitably involved the society in which many of the authors of the Sagas of Icelanders lived, that of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries as it is depicted in the Sturlunga saga, the primary historical source of the period. In spite of the apparent structural parallels between the idealized society of the Sagas of Icelanders and the historical reality of Sturlunga saga, the differences must not be ignored and manifest themselves in a lucid depiction of the different social classes, particularly the ruling class.21 It is evident from Sturlunga saga that Iceland was a rigorously classdivided society in the thirteenth century. The gap and the possible interaction between the illiterate and powerless majority, on the one hand, and the group that governed the growing textual culture and held the position of power (the ruling class and the clergy), on the other hand, is difficult to measure. However, the written historical sources, such as Sturlunga saga and the kings' sagas, are a product of the aristocratic culture in Iceland and depict events from the point of view of people warming the seats of power. Our estimation of the presentation of historical fact in these texts must inevitably be tempered by this hierarchical perspective. The scale and grandeur of the Icelandic ruling class may be smaller than that of its counterparts in Europe, but the class symbols refer to that same cultural and social milieu. The compiler of Sturlunga saga reveals his social discrimination by throwing into relief the eight most important families in Iceland for his account of political developments in Iceland in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. He presents the genealogies of seven of them in a distinct section, the so-called JEttartglur ('Genealogies') interpolated in the compilation before the main narrative gets under way.22 These families can also be identified as those controlling the majority of the chieftain-

10

Introduction

cies or power bases in the country at the beginning of the thirteenth century.23 They are the Oddaverjar in the south of Iceland, the Sturlungar in the west and north, the Seldoelir and Vatnsfirdingar in the West Fjords, the Asbirningar in the north, and Svinfellingar in the south-east. The Hitdcelir, the maternal family of I>6r6r Narfason, the compiler of Sturlunga saga, are the last listed. The introduction of the eighth family, the Haukdoelir, is slightly delayed in the compilation since they were to be presented in a separate pdttr, the Haukdcela pdttr. This emphasis on the Haukdoelir, the family of Gizurr t>orvaldsson (1209-68), who became the first earl of Iceland when the country came under the Norwegian king, reflects the aristocratic ideology behind the organization of the Sturlunga compilation. Two more families should be noted that had a special standing in the learned or religious culture along with the Hitdoelir in the thirteenth century (though their political power was abating): the Amundaaett, the family of the allsherjargodi, and the Hvassfellingar (see Genealogies 1-10, and Map 1). No particular event or creative work marks a turning point in Icelandic intellectual life around the year 1200. The evidence there is of twelfth-century literary activity indicates the existence of a strong textual culture in Iceland at the time and the wide-ranging learning and writing of the learned community. We can cautiously assert that skaldic verse had already been used in the study of grammatica in the twelfth century and that this was the reason why skaldic verse enjoyed in this period the same exclusive and revered position in Iceland as Latin classical verse in a European context. By the beginning of the thirteenth century the eminence of skaldic verse within the literary canon and its strong links with formal education were firmly in place, as will be clear from the examination of the social background of the skalds in the thirteenth century.24 While the twelfth century may have been a critical period in the adaptation of skaldic verse to literary culture, the thirteenth century was the time when most of the verse by renowned poets of the past and present was placed in the context within which it has been preserved. The sagas of the Norwegian kings by Snorri Sturluson (Heimskringla) and other writers (such as those of Fagrskinna and Morkinskinna) contain verse by court poets from the ninth to the twelfth century. There is an abundance of skaldic verse in Snorri Sturluson's textbook of poetics, his Edda, and in the Third and Fourth Grammatical Treatises. There is also skaldic verse in the Sagas of Icelanders, and not only in the so-called skdldasggur ('sagas of the skalds')/ although in

Introduction

11

varying quantity. Three hundred years may, therefore, divide the date of composition and the time of writing, or citing, of skaldic verse in a historical, fictitious, or learned work of the thirteenth century. This fact has led many scholars to be sceptical of the authenticity of the older verse, although finding unequivocal methods by which to test its authenticity has proved difficult.25 One way of arriving at a better and more plausible understanding of verse attributed to older poets is to focus on the time when it was set down in writing. The thirteenth century has left behind a multitude of sources and testimonies about itself. Dated to the thirteenth century is not only a vast and varied body of skaldic verse, but learned treatises by two accomplished poets wherein they explain and analyse the skaldic diction. These men are Snorri Sturluson (1179-1241), who wrote the Snorra Edda, his ars poetica in the 1220s, and his nephew (3lafr f»6r6arson (d. 1259), the author of the Third Grammatical Treatise. Sturla I>6rSarson (1214-84), (3lafr's brother, depicted the political turmoil in Iceland in the thirteenth century in his Islendinga saga, now preserved as largest part of Sturlunga saga, which provides a valuable insight into the lives and actions of the people of his time. We are therefore well placed to analyse the interrelationship between theoretical discussion and the practice of poetry, and between the social milieu and literary activity. These three writers are of the same family, the Sturlungar. They are also the best-known thirteenth-century poets, having overshadowed other poets in the critical literature and subdued the vibrant skaldic activity of thirteenth-century Iceland - an effort certainly not limited to this one family. We know the names of sixty-eight thirteenth-century poets who either composed for royal dignitaries or took part in poetic exchanges in Iceland. These poets are profiled in the excursus to chapter 4. Verse by thirty-eight of these poets has come down to us in works that were either composed in the thirteenth century or preserved in manuscripts written down in the fourteenth century. No more than a hundred years divide the composition of a stanza and its oldest manuscripts, which is a relatively short time compared to the situation with early skaldic verse, where up to four hundred years can divide the composition date and manuscript date. The corpus of thirteenth-century poetry contains either verse that is attributed to thirteenth-century skalds or anonymous poetry that can with some certainty be dated to this period. Among this verse are poems and stanzas composed in drdttkvaett-denved metres and in

12

Introduction

eddic metre (fornyrdislag and Ijodahdttr). Thirteenth-century skaldic poetry covers a wide range of subject matter: war and peace, royal government and petty quarrels among Icelandic chieftains, verbal abuse and personal loathing, deep religious sentiments, and fear of hell. Poets often composed in the service of a secular or spiritual authority, but they also employed skaldic verse in their everyday life in Iceland. The fact that only fragments of amorous stanzas exist among this verse rests on the nature of the sources: the corpus of skaldic verse is preserved in historical sagas and grammatical treatises, and we would not expect - nor do we find - love poetry in it. Verse attributed to older poets in the Sagas of Icelanders or fornaldarsggur ('sagas of the heroes of the distant past') is outside the scope of this study, even though it has been suggested that some of the verse was composed by the thirteenth-century authors of these sagas. This book will describe this fascinating literary production of the thirteenth century and the cultural milieu that nurtured the poets. This is the first critical study of the whole corpus of thirteenth-century Icelandic verse and the first to consider it in direct relation to the theoretical discussion of skaldic poetics and grammatica that took place at the time. For this purpose I have undertaken a thorough study of the poetic diction in thirteenth-century poetry and entered all the kennings and heiti onto a database. This database serves as a tool in assessing the debt owed by the poets to the textbooks. The book will illustrate the link between the theory and practice of thirteenth-century skaldic verse. Every new examination of skaldic verse is dependent upon the research of many generations of scholars. I have been particularly indebted to three scholars who have paid close attention to thirteenthcentury verse: Finnur Jonsson, the editor of skaldic verse, who devoted a large part of his monumental history of Old Icelandic literature to the poets of the later centuries; the Norwegian scholar Fredrik Paasche, who published his important study of Christian skaldic poetry in the twelfth to the fourteenth centuries in 1914; and his compatriot Bjarne Fidjest01, whose 1982 shady of praise poetry, Dei norr0ne fyrstediktet, includes a discussion of thirteenth-century court poets. I would also like to add my debt to the nineteenth-century scholars Konrad Gislason, Gudmundur Porlaksson, and Jon f>orkelsson, who treated thirteenth-century skaldic verse on an equal footing with that composed in the earlier centuries. In relation to my discussion of the learned tradition in Iceland I

Introduction

13

would like to note the important editions of Snorra Edda and the Third and Fourth Grammatical Treatises by Finnur Jonsson, Bjorn M. t)lsen, and Anthony Faulkes. Twentieth-century scholars have focused increasingly on the learned culture and formal education of the Icelanders: Gabriel Turville-Petre, Peter Foote, Bjarni Gu6nason, Anne Holtsmark, Roberta Frank, Sverrir Tomasson, and Margaret Clunies Ross, to name only a few. My debt to them, and many others, is evident in the book. It is clear from the works of Snorri Sturluson and (3lafr E>6r6arson that some members of the learned community in the thirteenth century were preoccupied with skaldic verse. Their works are not merely textbooks for aspiring skalds, but form a branch of a textual culture that started to grow in the twelfth century. The main aim of this book is to place twelfth- and thirteenth-century verse within the realm of the formal study of grammatica. The two chapters in part I are devoted to a close analysis of the function of skaldic verse in the study of grammatica, probably as early as the middle of the twelfth century (when the First Grammatical Treatise was written). This educational function of skaldic verse would help to explain why this verse, which made extensive use of pagan imagery, became the preferred medium for deeply religious poetry. Chapter 2 is devoted to the manuscript sources of Snorra Edda and the grammatical treatises, with particular emphasis on Snorri's Skdldskaparmdl (the third part of his Edda) and Olafr t>6r3arson's Third Grammatical Treatise, which reflect the perception of the (mainly) fourteenth-century makers of those manuscript sources. The manuscripts will be shown to be vital sources for an appraisal of the interactive use of these texts and skaldic verse in Middle Ages. In part II of the book I focus on the evidence afforded by sources written in the thirteenth century. In chapter 31 place skaldic verse in its manuscript context and evaluate the preservation of the sources for the accurate dating of the verse in order to determine the validity of different versions of a given skaldic stanza. It will become evident that skaldic verse could be utilized for most types of medieval narratives, but it does not necessarily follow that most writers chose to do so. It is just as important to keep in focus the works that ignore the possible evidence of skaldic verse as those that refer to it. In chapter 4 the social position and function (if known) of the skalds is described and the thirteenthcentury Skdldatal, which lists skalds who composed for the Scandinavian aristocracy and royalty, will be studied. In the latter part of the twelfth century we detect a change in the audience of the poets:

14

Introduction

their prime audience now is in Iceland, not overseas. The Icelandic aristocrats of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries sought to define themselves in terms of the Scandinavian aristocracy, and skaldic versemaking became one of the class symbols for this group. Our knowledge of this period is inevitably restricted to the facts presented to us by the writers of historical works, and these authors belonged to the elite, most of them to only one family, the Sturlungar. Any conclusion about the general practice of skaldic verse in the thirteenth century must therefore be tempered by an acknowledgment of this important fact. In part III of the book the focus shifts to poetic diction and the influence of learned writings on the perception of the skald; that is, on the interrelationship between theory and practice in the thirteenth century. Chapter 5 is devoted to a theoretical discussion of the kenning in Snorra Edda and the Third Grammatical Treatise and to the arrangement of the poetic diction in Skdldskaparmdl and the short text known as Litla Skdlda. In chapter 61 compare this theoretical presentation of the poetic diction in Skdldskaparmdl with the practice of the poets by analysing anthropomorphic imagery and its parts relating to the human body. This is the first study of poetic diction in thirteenth-century skaldic verse where the whole corpus of religious and secular verse is treated together and on an equal footing. Important scholarly studies exist on Christian verse26 and court poetry27 of this period. These define the characteristics of the skaldic genres, but for our purpose it is important to break out of such traditional generic boundaries. The analysis of individual poets in the Excursus to chapter 4 shows that poets composed on various themes, saints, kings, and chieftains, and commented on the controversial and violent events of their own day, yet regularly made the poetic imagery fit their subject matter. The verse-making of Kolbeinn Tumason and Olafr £>6rdarson, to name only two poets, shows the flexibility of the thirteenth-century poet within different genres of skaldic verse and demonstrates the importance of treating their output as a whole. Part IV of the book is devoted to a detailed shady of the sources of inspiration for the poet in the construction of two groups of kennings: for the body in chapter 7 and for the most precious metal in this society, the glittering gold, in chapter 8. The discussion of body-kennings will unveil the originality of the poets in their construction of the kennings and their awareness of prevailing currents in contemporary thought. New ideas in twelfth- and thirteenth-century thinking, partic-

Introduction

15

ularly the cosmological ideas of the Neo-Platonists, found their way into skaldic verse precisely because skaldic verse functioned in a learned context. The detailed examination in parts I, II, and III of the textual culture, the manuscripts, the sources of skaldic verse, and the poets themselves is, therefore, fundamental to an appreciation of the intellectual background to the poetic imagery we find in skaldic verse. The analysis of the gold-kennings will throw unexpected light on the roots of Snorra Edda in a Danish cultural milieu in the twelfth century and bring to a close the discussion of learning started in chapter 1. But before reaching the main topic of the book, it is essential to consider the twelfth century, when skaldic verse was taken into the service of the learned community in the formal study of language and when the origin of its diction and imagery in pagan myth was appropriated into the context of classical Latin literature in Christian textual culture. This exciting amalgamation was in turn supported by the growing strength of the leading families in Iceland, who revealed their aristocratic aspirations by linking themselves in their writings to the mythological and heroic past of Scandinavia. The fruits of these early endeavours ripened into the literary achievements of the thirteenth century.

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PART ONE

Skaldic Verse and Learning

chapter one

The Twelfth Century

DR6TTKVSETT AND THE STUDY OF GRAMMATICA Literacy was formally introduced into Iceland in the eleventh century with the establishment there of the Church about 1000, but no written documents exist from this period. An accurate appreciation of the degree of learning in Iceland in this early period is therefore impossible and there is no direct information about the teaching offered at the bishop's seat at Skalaholt or other places of learning, such as Haukadalr and Oddi, in the eleventh century (see Map).1 Verse by eleventhcentury skalds cited in sagas written after 1200 is the only testimony to the literature, in the form of oral composition, in the first hundred years after the Conversion. It is likely that the renaissance of the twelfth century reached the shores of Iceland, even though incontestable facts are difficult to establish.2 Hungrvaka, the chronicle of the bishops of Skalaholt to t>orlakr E>6rhallsson (1178-93) informs us that the first Icelandic bishop, Isleifr Gizurarson (1056-80), obtained his education in Herford in Westphalia, and that his son and successor, Gizurr Isleifsson (1082-1118), also studied in Saxonia.3 Hungrvaka was written early in the thirteenth century.4 Ari Porgilsson (1068-1148) refers in Islendingabok (The Book of Icelanders'), written for the bishops at Skalaholt c. 1122-33 and the earliest known historia in the vernacular, to this early period in his description of the Christianization of Iceland. He describes the establishment of the Church and alludes to the bishops' endeavours to set up schools to educate the first generation of priests, as was their canonical duty. Ari writes that many chieftains had their sons educated by Isleifr in the eleventh century after he became bishop in 1056:

20 En es bat sa hpfdingjar ok godir menn, at Isleifr vas miklu nytri en adrir kennimenn, beir es a bvisa landi naedi, ba seldu honum margir sonu sina til laeringar ok letu vigja til presta. Peir urdu sidan vigdir tveir til byskupa, Kollr, es var i Vik austr, ok Joan at Holum. Isleifr atti prja sonu; beir urdu allir hQf5ingjar nytir, Gizurr byskup ok Teitr prestr, fadir Halls, ok f>orvaldr. Teit fceddi Hallr i Haukadali, sa ma5r es pat vas almaelt, at mildastr vaeri ok agaeztr at g65u a landi her 61aer3ra manna. Ek kom ok til Halls sjau vetra gamall. (fb 20 [9])

Part One: Skaldic Verse and Learning But when chieftains and good men realized that Isleifr was much more effective than other clergymen available in the country, many gave him their sons to teach and had them ordained. Two of them were subsequently consecrated as bishops, Kollr, who was east in Oslo, and Jon at Holar. Isleifr had three sons; all of them became effective chieftains, Bishop Gizurr, the priest Teitr, Hallr's father, and Porvaldr. Hallr of Haukadalr brought Teitr up. He was generally reckoned to be the most benevolent and the best man here in the land, of those who were not in orders. I too came to Hallr, when I was seven years old.

Ari does not describe the curriculum in Isleifr's school, only that the study introduced these men into the service of the Church.5 He refers to the formal training of the sons of hofdingjar ('chieftains') and godir menn ('good men'). Some of these men were ordained even though they remained secular chieftains or godar, and this double role was not forbidden until 1191 by Archbishop Eirikr Ivarsson (D7I, 289-91). Others became priests and some bishops. Ari does not reveal the details of his own education with Teitr Isleifsson at the school at Haukadalr, where he stayed for fourteen years. It is, however, possible to measure his learning from his own writing, which is the earliest tangible fruit of the emerging literary culture in Iceland. Islendingabok is testimony to Ari's familiarity with earlier historiography and classical learning. Scholars have pointed out Ari's possible knowledge of Bede's writings.6 Another student at Haukadalr, t»orlakr Runolfsson, later bishop of Skalaholt (1118-33), also studied with Teitr Isleifsson (var Ixrdr i Haukadal, 'studied in Haukadalr') according to Hungrvaka (Hun 93 [6]). Bishop t»orlakr himself became a teacher: he kenndi ...ok ritadi, eda las yfir helgar ritningar, eda Ixknadi rdd peira manna er fiess purftu ok d hans fund komu ('he taught and wrote, or read sacred books, or remedied the problems of those who were in need and sought his counsel') and

The Twelfth Century

21

when death approached, let hann lesa yfir sir bokpd er heitir Cum pastoralis; pa bok hefir gorva Gregorius pdfi ('he had that book read aloud for him which is called Cum pastomlis; Pope Gregory wrote that book') (Hun 96 [6]). The Pastoral Cum was a standard item in a bishop's library in the twelfth century.7 The author of the thirteenth-century Jons saga biskups describes teaching at the school at Holar during the bishopric of JonQgmundarson (1106-21). Jon was consecrated bishop by Archbishop Qzurr in Lund in Denmark and Jon brought Gisli Finnason and Rikini back with him from Gautland to teach grammatica and chant. Grammatica was the most important subject of the trivium and liturgical chant fell under the heading of musica, one branch of the quadrivium (JbA 163 [11]; 168 [14]). These two were considered the basic subjects for aspiring priests. The study of grammatica was not merely the elementary study of the Latin language (as implied by the modern word 'grammar'), but a systematic study and interpretation of literary texts and figurative language.8 Even though our sources are silent as to the details of the education of the students at these early schools in Iceland, they would certainly have studied grammatica. The study of grammatica, the 'first of the arts of discourse in early medieval school curricula,'9 was a prerequisite for participation in the emerging writing culture in Iceland, and through it the students obtained the basic instruments for participating in a textual culture that formed the basis of all learned discourse. The prologue to the First Grammatical Treatise, written around 1150, lists those texts that had been written in the vernacular by the middle of the twelfth century: laws, genealogies, interpretation of sacred texts, and Ari Eorgilsson's spakleg frcedi ('sagacious lore,' 1GT 208). The sophisticiation of a grammatical work like the First Grammatical Treatise, the precise chronology and planning of Islendingabok, the traces of well-known and basic Latin texts in homiletic writings, and the translation and adaptation of Latin histories, such as Vemldar saga (The Saga of the World') and Romverja sggur ('The Sagas of the Romans,' a translation of Sallust's Bellum lugurthinum and Coniumtio Catilinae, and Lucan's Pharsalia), in the late twelfth century betray the breadth of learning of the Icelandic community in that century and the advanced level of the study of grammatica in a particular section of society. Sverrir Tomasson is right in asserting that 'it is not permissible to conclude from the sources that the education of priests was more primitive in Iceland than in other catholic countries ... [T]he Icelandic church has

22

Part One: Skaldic Verse and Learning

from the conversion of the country provided education as was its canonical duty/10 It seems that the theoretical analysis of language and writing included in the study of grammatica was from the very first period applied to Icelandic vernacular literature, and to this end skaldic poetry proved the only fitting genre. Classical pagan poets, such as Virgil, Horace, and Ovid, were the great authorities in the Latin textual culture that served as the solid foundation for the emerging vernacular textual culture in Iceland in the eleventh century. Their example was revered and scrutinized in the grammatical literature and, presumably, influenced the way learned men in Iceland in the eleventh and twelfth centuries came to regard and treat their own indigenous, pagan literary heritage. Skaldic verse was, just like that of Virgil and Ovid, laced with references to, and treatment of, pagan mythology. It is a testimony to the strength of the literary community in eleventh-century Iceland, and particularly of the skalds who enjoyed a position of respect and privilege through their royal service with the early Christian kings in Norway (such as Hallfredr Ottarsson [966-1007], Sighvatr E>6r6arson, and Arnorr jarlaskald), that skaldic verse was reconciled with the Christian textual culture and could function in the vernacular grammatical literature in the same way as classical verse did in the Latin culture. The seemingly easy adoption of skaldic verse in the framework of Christian education would in turn ensure that pagan mythology of the North would in the Icelandic literary context be elevated to the same prominence that classical mythology held in Latin textual culture. We can surmise that the transference of the theoretical discourse of language from the Latin context to indigenous traditions was of great consequence for the development of Icelandic literature in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. This bridge to Latin textual culture and classical literature brought traditional verse-making and storytelling in Iceland in direct contact with contemporary currents in scholastic thinking. The poet had enjoyed, it would seem, a respected and important position in pagan society, and this privilege was translated into Christian society. In the Christian culture skaldic verse was not confined to the secular community, but became a popular art form among the clergy. Learning was the privilege of people, chiefly men, who belonged to the affluent and powerful section of society, and it is my hypothesis that the ease with which skaldic verse was adopted by the Christian community at large suggests a well-defined study of the

The Twelfth Century

23

medium in an educational context, inside and outside the Church, by the twelfth century. The study of the art of skaldic poetry was in essence a study of skaldic versifying.11 Even if this conjecture were judged to be tenable, it would not rule out that skaldic verse-making continued to be actively pursued outside the school milieu and among the illiterate in society. However, it would explain how skaldic verse became a crucial tool in scholastic learning and historiography in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. My analysis of the intellectual environment in which skaldic verse functioned depends on the tangible evidence left by the learned community that controlled book production in this period and reflected their own interests and social and cultural perspective in their writings. Grammatica was the most important discipline in the schools, and every student (whether he intended to become a cleric or not) would study the classic textbooks - and probably also the native ones when they appeared - as part of his education. The poetry of the revered court skalds (the hpfudskdld) took a seat next to the honoured poets of classical Latin literature in the hierarchy of Icelandic grammatical literature. They were the vernacular auctores. Instead of referring to Virgil and Ovid in their vernacular treatises, Icelandic grammarians honoured the example set by Ottarr svarti (eleventh century) and I>j6d61fr Arnorsson (c. 1010-1066) by explaining figurative language and stylistic devices in terms of their verse. It was precisely the roots of skaldic verse in pagan myth and the prehistory of Scandinavia that further allowed skaldic verse to be compared favourably with classical Latin writers. Four Icelandic grammatical treatises are preserved from the Middle Ages, always in manuscripts of Snorri Sturluson's Edda, the thirteenthcentury textbook of poetics.12 They are all preserved together in a manuscript from the fourteenth century, the Codex Wormianus, and are usually referred to by the order in which they are entered in that vellum, First, Second, Third, and Fourth, rather than by their relative age. The first two treatises deal with Icelandic orthography and phonology. The third was written by Snorri Sturluson's nephew, Olafr E>6r6arson, in the middle of the thirteenth century and contains both an account of orthography and phonology based on Institutiones by Priscian and an analysis of the normative rules of style from book 3 of Donatus's Ars maior. The Fourth Grammatical Treatise is the latest, written in the fourteenth century. It is an adaptation of Alexander de Villa Dei's Doctrinale and Eberhard of Bethune's Gr&cismus.13 The two last-mentioned grammatical treatises,

24

Part One: Skaldic Verse and Learning

which are adaptations of classical textbooks in grammatica, cite a great number of skaldic verses by ninth-century as well as contemporary poets, instead of translating the examples of the Latin original, indicating that some skaldic verse was regarded as on a level with classical poetry within the Icelandic school system by the middle of the thirteenth century. But is it possible to maintain that skaldic verse was applied in the study of grammatica before the thirteenth century? At this point I intend to discuss briefly the First Grammatical Treatise. I will reiterate the observation of various scholars, that familiarity with and knowledge of skaldic verse deeply influenced the author's perception of the vowel system. If such a conclusion is correct it would imply that skaldic art was systematically used to illustrate grammatical definitions, and was therefore studied, under the auspices of grammatica, in Icelandic schools perhaps as early as the twelfth century, which would explain the great esteem it enjoyed from learned laymen and clergy alike. Skaldic verse-making would have been part of their standard education and shaped their sense of style and language. If this contention is tenable, skaldic verse would possibly have been an integral part of the intellectual training of Icelandic students. But why would this pagan verse form interest the medieval grammarian? Snorri Sturluson demonstrates clearly in his Edda, a work that is, as I have noted, found in the context of the grammatical treatises in manuscripts, that the two main characteristics of skaldic poetry are the following: 1 Internal rhyme that is based on a precise definition of the sound of vowels, as is explained in detail in the prose section of Snorri Sturluson's Hdttatal. 2 A highly complex and sophisticated use of imagery, which is explained in Snorri's Skdldskaparmdl and with reference to pagan mythology in his Prologue and Gylfaginning. These two distinct features make skaldic verse admirably eligible to belong to the domain of grammatical literature. The verse can serve as an exemplary model for a comprehensive theoretical discussion of grammatica: 1 The orthography and phonology can be illuminated by the metre, and vice versa, because of the precise rules of rhyme in the adalhendingar and skothendingar.

The Twelfth Century

25

2 Rhetorical devices are explained by the example of the kenning in the same way as medieval textbooks were illustrated by the figurative language of classical Latin verse. THE GRAMMATICAL LITERATURE The First Grammatical Treatise is thought to have been written at some time between 1125 and 1175. It is preserved in only one manuscript, the Codex Wormianus, the only manuscript to contain all the four grammatical treatises.14 It is by far the oldest treatise. The treatise is a testimony to the advanced level of learning in Iceland in the twelfth century and is, as Hreinn Benediktsson writes in his thorough study and fine edition, 'firmly rooted in that body of doctrine which formed the essence of all grammatical studies' in the Middle Ages.15 The author of the treatise has been traced to the south of Iceland, to either Haukadalr or Oddi. The author's approach to orthographic analysis distinguishes him from other contemporary writers in this field. He uses minimal pairs to distinguish between sounds and to argue for his spelling system. This distinction is at the centre of his terminology, and is likely to have arisen, as Roberta Frank has pointed out, 'naturally in a cultural milieu trained to distinguish the alternating skothending and adalhending of the skalds' (see introduction).16 This method suggests the author's debt to skaldic technicians who were trained in the art of distinguishing sounds. Impeccable command of internal rhyme and therefore of the vowel system in this period is attested by the example of the poet and priest Einarr Skulason and also of Rggnvaldr kali and Hallr, the authors of Hdttalykill (see next section).17 The author of 1GT does not, however, cite skaldic verse among the types of material considered suitable for reading and writing in Iceland at his time: til J>ess at hcegra verdi at rita ok lesa sem nu tidisk ok a J?essu landi baedi iQg ok attvisi eda £>y3ingar helgar eda sva ^>au hin spaklegu froedi er Ari J>orgilsson hefir a bcekr sett af skynsamlegu viti ]?a hefir ek ok ritat oss Islendingum stafrof...

in order that it may become easier to write and read, as is now customary in this country as well, both the laws and genealogies, or interpretations of sacred writings, or also that sagacious [historicall lore that Ari t>orgilsson has recorded

26 latmustpfum pllum peim er mer botti gegna til vars mals ... (1GT 208)

Part One: Skaldic Verse and Learning in books with such reasonable understanding -1 have composed an alphabet for us Icelanders as well... of all those Latin letters that seemed to me to fit our language well...

He refers to works that have already been written down, but not to those that were only transmitted in oral form, such as skaldic verse. He is describing the textual culture at the time, not the oral culture. Writers began to use skaldic stanzas in the twelfth century as their sources in historical sagas, such as in the kings' sagas, and this verse was composed in a predominantly illiterate society. We can therefore envisage a need for exact rules of orthography and phonology to secure a faithful presentation of the verse in the Latin alphabet. The 1GT admirably fulfils this need, even though the author does not indicate that he wrote the treatise for that reason. The categorization of skaldic verse through the grammatical method was, furthermore, a necessary prerequisite for such early verse to be respected as a reliable source in the historical kings' sagas, even though this approach may seem anachronistic as far as the old verse is concerned. Snorri Sturluson was aware of this fundamental requirement. He states in the Prologue to the Separate Saga of St Olafr: l?au or6rhallsson, who continued his studies in Paris and Lincoln before becoming bishop at Skalaholt in 1178. In the Saga of t»orlakr the formal learning ]>orlakr receives from Eyjolfr (reading and writing) is contrasted to the knowledge and lore of the past he acquired from his mother. This is an important distinction to make; the oral transmission of tales of the past exists naturally in the textual culture: Su var J?a hans idja er harm var a ungum aldri, at harm var longum at boknami, en at riti optliga, a bo3num Ipess i millum, en nam £>a er eigi dvaldi annat ]?at er modir hans kunni kenna honum, aettvisi ok mannfroedi. (PA 181 [3])

It was his practice when he was at a young age that he spent most of the time studying books. He often wrote and prayed in between. But when he was not otherwise occupied he learned what his mother taught him, genealogy and personality lore.

Eyjolfr is called E»orlakr's/ostn ('foster-father') in the saga. Oddi was probably the most important place of learning in the twelfth century and its most famous student was Snorri Sturluson, who was fostered there in the two last decades of the century. Such fosterage seems to

30

Part One: Skaldic Verse and Learning

have been a common social arrangement to secure the education of the sons of chieftains, such as Sturla Sighvatsson's and Aron Hjorleifsson's fosterage at Hitardalr with Eorlakr Ketilsson in the thirteenth century (Stu 1,325). The term fostri could then be taken to mean teacher, as with Teitr Isleifsson, who is called the fostri of Ari Porgilsson in Islendingabok,24 and Ingimundr Eorgeirsson, who is the fostri of Gudmundr Arason. Oddi, the son of the chieftain Porgils Oddason at Stadarholl, was fostered by Sasmundr Sigfussson, so that he became frodr ('learned').25 As I noted above, it is difficult to determine the place of origin and authorship of works from the twelfth century owing to the inadequacy in the transmission of the sources, but it is evident that men of learning would have been capable of producing some of the more sophisticated works of the twelfth century, such as the First Grammatical Treatise. It is important to emphasize the apparent centrality of Oddi in the cultural life of Icelanders in the twelfth century, particularly in relation to historical writings about the kings, to whom the Oddaverjar were related (Ntal 74-81); Jon Loptsson's mother was an illegitimate daughter of the Norwegian king Magnus berfoettr. The men of Oddi also shared friendship with the earls of Orkney, particularly in the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries. There were clear ties between Orkney and Oddi in the twelfth century, and Einar Ol. Sveinsson suggested that Orkneyinga saga was written at Oddi and that Bishop Pall Jonsson, who studied at Lincoln in England and was probably the most learned man of his time, was a possible author.26 The vibrant centre of Orkney in the twelfth century produced a work that shows an endeavour to marry Latin learning and skaldic versemaking along the lines we detected in the First Grammatical Treatise. The poem Hdttalykill (a clavis metrica), attributed to Rognvaldr kali Kolsson, earl in Orkney in 1115-58, and the Icelander Hallr (Halli) breidmagi Porarinsson in Orkneyinga saga, is the first known attempt to produce a key to the skaldic verse form. This work is furthermore among the oldest vernacular witnesses to the interest in Norwegian royal chronology. f>eir ortu badir saman Hattalykil hinn forna ok letu vera fimm visur mec5 hverjum haetti; en J?a J?6tti oflangt kvedit, ok eru nu tvaer kvednar me5 hverjum haetti. (Orkn 205 [81])

They composed together the old Hattalykill and composed five stanzas in each metre; but this was thought to make the poem too long, and now two stanzas are recited in each metre.

The Twelfth Century

31

Judging from Orkneyinga saga's account, Hattalykill would have been composed in the 1140s. An analysis of its language supports a dating to the twelfth century, and the place of composition as either Orkney or the southern part of Norway.27 Neither the saga nor the poem offer any explanation of the poem's practical usage in the study of skaldic verse. Anne Holtsmark detected traces of Latin learning and an awareness of twelfth-century troubadour verse in Hattalykill, and suggested that it came into being as a verse game whereby two poets competed in composing a stanza in the same metre.28 The rhyme is very regular, which may suggest a systematic shady of language such as would be entailed in the study of grammatica. Regularity of rhyme alone cannot, however, determine the poet's learning. Hallr breidmagi t>6rarinsson is not known from any other source; he has been surmised to be either of the Haukdcelir family (because of the likeness to the name of Hallr E»6rarinsson) or a descendant of Si3uHallr, one of the chief players in the Christianization of Iceland. The second possibility seems more likely. Rognvaldr was a direct descendant from Si3u-Hallr and Hallr was made welcome at the court immediately upon his arrival in Orkney. Only one stanza by Hallr is quoted in Orkneyinga saga. Rognvaldr kali is the main hero of Orkneyinga saga, apart from his uncle St Magnus. He is described as manna var hann vinsselastr ok atg0rvismadr meiri en velflestir menn adrir ('he was among the most popular of men and endowed with greater qualities than most men'). A stanza by him is quoted when he is introduced to the saga, then living with his father in Norway:29 Tafl emk orr at efla, iJDrottir kannk nfu, tynik traudla ninum, tid er mer bok ok smidir. Skrida kannk a skidum, skytk ok rce'k, svat nytir, hvart tveggja kannk hyggja harpslQtt ok brag]?Qttu. (Orkn 139 [58]

I am eager to play chess, I have mastered nine skills, I hardly forget the runes, I am interested in books and carpentry, I know how to ski, my shooting and sailing skills are competent,

I can both play the harp and construe verse.

This is a proud catalogue of the accomplishments of a young aristocrat.30 A second half of stanza attributed to King Haraldr hardraSi

32

Part One: Skaldic Verse and Learning

(1046-66) in Morkinskinna (Mor 86, v. 9; Skj IA, 357.5) echoes lines 5 to 8 in Rognvaldr's verse. Again we come across the subject of learning, and more precisely the study of Latin (bok usually implies Latin learning), in the direct context of smidir ('craftmanship'). The ambiguity of the word smidi has been commented on above in the context of the First Grammatical Treatise, where it was suggested that it might mean composing verse or the creative process of verse-making, and even though it is not possible to determine the exact meaning in this case, the ambiguity of the phrase is worth considering. The third line furthermore hints that Rognvaldr treasured the runic alphabet alongside the Latin one. The purpose of Hdttalykill is to exemplify the various metres at the poet's disposal, yet the subject matter arouses particular interest and indicates the learned background of the poets. The poets concentrate on genealogy and myth, starting with Sigurorgilsson's Islendingabok, is not preserved in a medieval manuscript but only in two seventeenth-century copies of a medieval manuscript (c. 1150-c. 1250), called S and U,33 both written by the Icelander Jon Rugmann in Sweden. U is an edited and revised version of S.34 The opening stanza reads thus in Finnur Jonsson's edition of U: Skyldr at skemmta f>ykkik skgtnum vera, J?eim er vilja mitt35 mal nema; forn kvxdi laet'k fram um borin ef £>er vilifi heyrt hafa. (Skj IA, 512)

I feel obliged to entertain those men who want to listen to my poem (learn my diction). I put my old poem before you if you care to listen.

Two utterances in this stanza are of note: (1) nema mitt mal. This phrase is echoed in Snorri Sturluson's Skdldskaparmdl, where the author addresses young poets: petta er nu at segja ungum skdldum, peim er girnask at nema mal skdldskapar ok heyja ser ordfjcjlda medfornum heitum (Skd 86 [8]) ('this is now addressed to young poets, who desire to study poetic diction and expand their vocabulary with old synonyms'). (2) forn kvdedi: Finnur Jonsson only knew 17 when he published the poem in Skj IA, but intuitively emended this reading to forn froedi ('old knowledge'), which agrees with S's reading fornfrxpe. Jon Helgason and Anne Holtsmark in their edition of the poem conclude that'S har karakteren af en f0rste afskrift...,' while U must 'betragtes som en senere udarbejdet renskrift.'36 U'sforn kvxdi is therefore considered to be Rugmann's amended reading. The termfrcedi is often applied to skaldic poetry and the knowledge of pagan mythology necessary to interpret the poetic imagery in skaldic verse. Ari I>orgilsson uses the term frcedi in Islendingabok for knowledge of Icelandic history Frcedi is, however, also used for Christian learning in the Sagas of Icelanders.37 The origin of skaldic poetry according to Bragi in the opening chapters of Skdldskaparmdl in Snorra Edda is intertwined with frcedi. The wise Kvasir travelled the world to kenna mgnnurn frcedi ('teaching people knowledge') and when the dwarves murdered him, they mixed his blood with honey to make a mead, and he who drank the intoxicating brew verdr skald eda frcedamadr ('will become a poet or a learned man') (Skd 82 [4]). Poetry (skdldskapr) and learning/knowledge (fmdi) did not exclude

36

Part One: Skaldic Verse and Learning

each other, but were necessary bedfellows, according to the episode of the poet Mani in Sverris saga. He comes to the court of King Magnus Erlingsson (1161-84) after he had been to Rome, looking like a vagrant (stafkarl): [Mani] gekk inn i stofuna ]?ar er konungrinn var med sveit sinni ok var harm J?a ekki feligr, Mani, kollottr ok magr ok naer klaecttauss, ok J?6 kunni harm konung vegliga at kvedja. Konungr spurdi hverr hann vaeri. Hann kvezk heita Mani ok vera islenzkr ok J?a kominn fra Rumi sunnan. Konungr maelti: 'Pu mant kunna froeda, Tungli. Sezt nidr ok kved.' Hann kva5 sidan Utfarardrapuna er Halldorr skvaldri orti um Sigurd konung Jorsalafara, modurfpSur Magmiss konungs, ok fekk J^etta kvaedi godan rom, J^otti ok vel skemmt. (Sve 91 [85])

[Mani] walked into the hall where the king was with his men. Mani did not appear prosperous, but was bald and thin and had very few garments on and yet he knew how to greet the king grandly. The king asked who he was. He said his name was Mani and that he was Icelandic and had just arrived from Rome in the south. The king said: 'You must know some lore? Tungli. Sit down and recite verse.' Then he recited the Utfarardrapa which Halldorr skvaldri composed about King SigurSr, Jerusalem-rarer, Magnus's maternal grandfather; the poem was highly acclaimed and people thought this was good entertainment.

There were also minstrels at Magnus's court, and an episode in which Mani ridicules them highlights the tension between the two opposing worlds of court entertainment, the learned and (perhaps) declining world of the skald, and the lighter and emerging one of the court jesters; yet both serve the elite at the court. Mani does not entertain with his own poetry, but recites a poem by one of the known court poets of the twelfth century. The court poet is a learned entertainer, and he must command a repertoire of verse by the recognized poets of the canon to be successful in his profession. A TWELFTH-CENTURY POET: BISHOP KLCEINGR PORSTEINSSON The First Grammatical Treatise and Hdttalykill reflect the advanced level of the theoretical discussion within different areas of the grammatical

The Twelfth Century

37

literature that had already been achieved by the middle of the twelfth century. These works suggest that the study of skaldic verse was from this early period associated with a formal study of grammatica. We can therefore cautiously advance the proposition that the privileged few who enjoyed ecclesiastical education in this culture became knowledgeable about skaldic verse-making through their knowledge of grammatica. This hypothesis is only designed to explain the working of the textual culture at the time, and therefore does not imply that skaldic verse did not continue to be important outside an educational framework. The strong position of skaldic verse within the Icelandic curriculum is further brought home by the evidence of the Third and Fourth Grammatical Treatises in the following centuries, and by Snorra Edda, as will be explored in chapter 5. The doors between the study of language and poetics, Christian learning and the composition of skaldic verse, were thrown wide open and the poetic diction in this period was therefore susceptible to influences from classical Latin literature and Christian doctrine alike. This vibrant communication between the indigenous culture and Latin education of the Church may have started as early as the Conversion period, as is suggested by the poetry of Sighvatr Pordarson and Arnorr jarlaskald in the eleventh century. The result was an amalgamation of the two cultures that can be illustrated by highlighting the example of one skald living in the twelfth century, Klceingr f>orsteinsson, who became the bishop at Skalaholt in 1152. Kloeingr E>orsteinsson is known to us from two sources: Jons saga biskups, where his education at Holar in the first decade or so of the twelfth century is described, and Hungrvaka. We need not doubt the description in Jons saga of a young priest's education, even though the saga was written in the early part of the thirteenth century. He was taught grammatica, but he also showed inclination towards 'lighter' reading. He las bok J?a er kpllut er Ovidius epistolarum. I J>eiri bok byr manspngr mikill, en hann [Bishop Jon] bannadi honum at lesa J?ess konar boekr, ok kalladi £>6 hverjum manni mundu oerit hpfugt at gaeta sin vid likamligri munud ok rangri ast, J?6 at hann kveykti eigi upp hug sinn

read the book which was called Ovidius epistolarum. This book is full of erotica, but he (Bishop Jon) forbade him to read this kind of book and said that everyone would find it difficult enough to avoid physical pleasures and forbidden love even if he did not excite his mind with

38 til pess medr ne einum si3um eda pess konar kvaedum. (JbA 165 [13])

Part One: Skaldic Verse and Learning such practises or this kind of poems.

Even though this clause suggests Jon's aversion to Klceingr's reading of Ovid's Ars amatoria, the reference to the Latin poet in this context deserves particular attention. Ovid was one of the most popular poets in the scholastic tradition and his Metamorphoses belonged to the classical canon of texts used within the study of grammatica. His verse is commonly found in manuscripts of grammatical works and Ars amatoria is found in a tenth-century manuscript in the context of grammatical works, indicating that Ovid's work was Valued for what [it] could teach about latinity and poetics.'38 This young man, Klceingr Porsteinsson, became bishop at Skalaholt after the death of Magnus Einarsson and the saga notes that he pryddi pann stad i sinni bokagjgrd ('adorned the place with his bookmaking') (JbA 168 [14]). Hungrvaka documents Klceingr's years as a bishop. He is described as inn mesti Ixrdomsmadr. Hann var mdlsnjallr ok 0ruggr at vinfesti ok it mesta skald ('the most learned of men. He was eloquent and steadfast in his friendship and the greatest poet') (Hun 106 [9]). Regrettably only one half-stanza by Klceingr is known to have been preserved.39 The stanza is cited as an example of the most perfect metre alhent in Snorri's Hdttatal, and the inclusion of Klceingr's half-stanza must indicate that his artistry was recognized in the thirteenth century. The only other poet cited in the commentary to Hdttatal is t'orarinn MahliSingr (known from Eyrbyggja saga) and his place was thereby secured within the canon of the grammatical vernacular tradition along with Klceingr's. Klceingr's verse reads: Bad ek sveit a glad Geitis, gpr er id at for tidum, drQgum hest a Ipg lesta, Ii5 flytr, en skrid nytum. (Htal 21)

I ordered the troop on to Geitir's steed [ship], labour is performed repeatedly in the journey, we drag the cargo-horse on to the sea, the vessel floats and we make use of motion.

The stanza conveys a straightforward picture: a ship is ready to set sail and the poet, or the speaker in the stanza, asks his men to take their place aboard the vessel. Finnur Jonsson suggested that the stanza belonged to a poem composed on Klceingr's consecration voyage

The Twelfth Century

39

abroad (FJII, 168), but another interpretation suggests itself. As I noted in the context of the skaldic example chosen by the First Grammarian, skaldic verse-making is on many occasions compared to a sea voyage and therefore this ship-image may belong to the opening stanza of a long poem. In Hungrvaka Runolfr, the son of Bishop Ketill Porsteinsson at Holar, is said to have composed a verse upon the completion of the new cathedral at Skalaholt, which was dedicated to St Peter, during the time of Klceingr's episcopate: Hraust er hpll su er Kristi hugblidum let smiSa, god er rot und radum, rikr stjornari, slikum. Gipta varS J?at er g0r5i guds rann iugtanni; Petr hefir eignazk itra Arna srnid ok Bjarnar. (Hun 108-9 [9])

Strong is the building which the powerful ruler built for the gentleminded Christ. Such plans have a good foundation. It was a fortunate thing that Bjprn (iugtanni) built God's house. Peter has received the handsome creation of Ami and Bjorn.

Ami and Bjprn inn hagi E»orvaldsson were hyfudsmidir ('master builders') a term that evokes the name for the most respected poets, the hgfudskdld. The builders and the architects of churches were highly respected in medieval society. Their colleague Amundi Arnason, who built a stgpull ('steeple') for the cathedral at Skalaholt for Bishop Pall Jonsson, was a craftsman and a poet.40 We can expect Runolfr to have been educated in the same way as an ordinary prestlingr ('priestling') at Skalaholt. Skaldic verse-making was practised by Bishop Klceingr and we may deduce that it found a ready acceptance at Skalaholt in his time. This stanza is the only stanza cited in the historical account of the bishops in Hungrvaka. Klceingr died in 1176. He is the last in line of the bishops in Hungrvaka and was succeeded by I>orlakr Mrhallsson, later St f»orlakr. Many twelfth-century poets enjoyed Christian learning and were ordained as priests, but composed in favour of secular chieftains, such as the kings of Norway. Einarr Skulason was one of those poets. His name is found in a list of priests of distinguished families (kname is found in a list of priests of distinguished families (kynborinna)ynborinna) in 1143, attributed to Ari t»orgilsson, which is preserved in GKS 1812 4to (DI 1,185-6) and he is called a priest when he is introduced in Morkinskinna (Mor 375). Einarr was a well-respected court poet, as is

40

Part One: Skaldic Verse and Learning

attested by the pdttr devoted to him, his presence in both versions of Skdldatal, and the frequent references to him in Snorra Edda and the grammatical treatises. He was perhaps the most influential innovator of skaldic verse in the twelfth century through his poem Geisli.41 Einarr's example and that of Klceingr, as of many other twelfth-century poets, indicates the close affinity between the Christian religion and skaldic verse, secular and religious milieus, formal learning and the practice of skaldic verse-making in this century. This affinity has become apparent from the discussion in this chapter. The two learned twelfth-century works Hdttalykill and the First Grammatical Treatise demonstrate that skaldic verse was highly relevant to the students of both metrica and grammatica. The adoption of skaldic verse in grammatica caused no complication, not even the pagan background of its diction. It was precisely the pagan heritage and the mythology of skaldic verse that made it comparable to classical Latin verse. The Christian poets acknowledged their appreciation of their own indigenous, but classical, tradition by using pagan imagery in their deeply religious poems, such as the author of Pldcitus drapa, which is preserved in a manuscript from about 1200.42 Skaldic verse was applied equally to the study of grammatica and to the writing of royal history and myth in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, but its greatest legacy lay in its own distinctive art form, which I will explore in this book. These multiple roles secured its applicability and central place in Icelandic textual culture in the Middle Ages. This culture is represented by the medieval manuscripts and it is through their testimony that we enter into the thirteenth century in chapter 2.

chapter two

Snorra Edda and the Study of Grammatica

MANUSCRIPT TEXTUALITY Because of the poverty of our sources, the link between the shady of skaldic verse-making and formal learning could only be tentatively suggested in our brief survey of intellectual life in Iceland in the twelfth century. In the thirteenth century, however, the documentation becomes fuller and the picture of literary activity clearer. Two works in particular bear witness to the paramount importance of skaldic verse in intellectual discourse among learned Icelanders in the thirteenth century: Snorri Sturluson's Edda and (3lafr E»6r5arson's Third Grammatical Treatise. The sophisticated and smooth presentation of the skaldic evidence in the framework of these works of ars poetica and grammatica suggests that they were neither the first nor the only attempts in this period at classifying skaldic verse in terms of classical Latin literature and grammatical discourse.1 It is more likely that they stand in a line of texts testifying to the systematic application of skaldic verse in the study of grammatica in the schools, the earliest possibly being the twelfth-century First Grammatical Treatise and the last known the fourteenth-century Fourth Grammatical Treatise. In this chapter the composition and arrangement of each manuscript containing Snorra Edda will be presented. It is outside the scope of the present examination to offer a palaeographic or orthographic analysis of the manuscripts except to note the date of the hand(s). My aim is to subject the manuscripts to a codicological investigation. An examination of the different parts of the manuscripts, how they are presented by the compiler of each manuscript, and how they relate intertextually with other material in the manuscript can give valuable insights into

42

Part One: Skaldic Verse and Learning

the attitudes to the teaching and practice of skaldic verse in the thirteenth century, but particularly, following from the dating of the manuscripts, in the fourteenth century in Iceland. In recent years there has been a growing appreciation of the importance of manuscript textuality for the study of individual medieval texts and furthermore of the possible mispresentation inherent in the traditional stemmatic model of the uniqueness of 'each productive moment in manuscript culture.'2 Manuscripts are clearly the most tangible testimonies of a past written culture and instead of classifying those of a certain text in relation to one authorial original, the emphasis has gradually shifted to unveiling the attitudes and planning behind the production of each codex containing the text. Through a codicological shady of the manuscripts a new light can be cast on their contents. Martin Irvine has shown how an analysis of manuscript textuality can further our understanding of the function of grammatica in the Christian textual culture of the early Middle Ages.3 Similarly, Icelandic manuscripts hold a valuable key to the complex interactions between learning and verse-making, the theory of skaldic poetics, and the practice of skaldic art in the period up to 1400 when skaldic verse was still actively studied by the learned community. The manuscript evidence is indeed the strongest indicator of the relationship between Snorra Edda, skaldic verse, and grammatica in Icelandic textual culture in a society that otherwise did not leave much evidence about its educational system. The original composition of the manuscripts indicates the textual context in which the literate community placed the vernacular versions of the grammatical literature.4 The fact that the four grammatical treatises preserved from the twelfth to fourteenth centuries in Iceland are always preserved in conjunction with Snorra Edda in manuscripts modifies and even dictates the way we interpret individual versions of the works. All the Snorra Edda manuscripts except two, the Codex Regius (R) and AM 748 II 4to (C; containing only Skdldskaparmdl), contain a grammatical treatise. The other four manuscripts contain grammatical material: 1 The Codex Wormianus (W) contains all four treatises, and is the only source for the 1GT and 4GT. 2 The Codex Upsaliensis (U) contains the 2GT. 3 AM 748 Ib 4to (A) and AM 757 a 4to (B) contain the 3GT by 6lafr Pordarson, along with Skdldskaparmdl, the second part of Snorra Edda.

Snorra Edda and the Study of Grammatica

43

Snorra Edda consists, aside from the Prologue, of three main parts: Gylfaginning, Skdldskaparmdl, and Hdttatal. All the parts are preserved in only one medieval manuscript as an unbroken whole (R; also in the Codex Trajectinus written c. 1595, see below). Five other medieval manuscripts preserve all, or some parts, of the four parts of Snorra Edda. The seventh vellum written in the fifteenth century, AM 756 4to (w), depends directly upon W and is therefore not of independent textual value. Only one manuscript, Codex Upsaliensis, attributes the whole Edda to Snorri Sturluson and uses the wording setja saman, corresponding to the Latin componere, to describe his activity.5 The different components of the Edda are generically different. The Prologue places the account of Scandinavian myth in Gylfaginning in 'the universal context of Christian cosmography.'6 Gylfaginning is a mythography, where Snorri explains the pagan myths with citations from eddic poetry. Skdldskaparmdl is an attempt at systematizing the poetic language (kenningar and heiti) according to subject categories, but its rendering in the manuscripts shows that it originated, and continued to be perceived, as a compilatio within the framework of Snorra Edda. Not only is Hdttatal of importance as a clavis metrica, but as a poem by Snorri Sturluson it embodies both a theoretical and a practical exercise. Skdldskaparmdl and Hdttatal were written as guidelines for aspiring skalds and were intended to have an influence on the composition of skaldic verse in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and it is exactly these two parts of the Edda that the writers of the manuscripts treat with greatest liberty, reorganizing Skdldskaparmdl and dividing Hdttatal from the rest of the work and rendering only parts of the poem. It is striking that all these six manuscripts preserve independent versions of Snorra Edda, particularly of Skdldskaparmdl, that section of the work that deals exclusively with skaldic diction and imagery. Before we go further it is necessary to consider briefly the special nature of Skdldskaparmdl among the parts of Snorri's Edda. It is the one part of the work that can function independently of the other parts, and the only one that is subjected to fundamental structural changes, particularly in the independent versions, so much so that we are justified in calling them new versions of the work. Skdldskaparmdl offers a thirteenthcentury systematization of the kenning system and the six medieval manuscripts show that the treatise was not a fixed text but was continually edited, expanded, abbreviated, or reorganized according to changing demands in the tradition of textbooks, indicating that this text was probably studied and emended in a school environment.7 The

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different versions of Skdldskaparmdl are effectively different compilations; the order (ordinatio) of the subject matter is constantly under review and the various ways of arranging the material reflect changing attitudes to it.8 We can profitably compare the arrangement of the work to that of compilations of encyclopaedic knowledge, such as Vincent of Beauvais's Speculum historiale, a work that is organized according to topics,9 and therefore it is clearly misleading to describe Skdldskaparmdl in terms of one hypothetical original. In spite of the great variation afforded by these six manuscripts of Snorra Edda, it is known that they do not reflect fully the application and circulation of Snorra Edda in the Middle Ages. One seventeenthcentury redaction of Snorra Edda indicates that more versions existed that are now lost.10 The number of versions of Snorra Edda circulating in the fourteenth century, some of which may be copies or revisions of older manuscripts, communicate to us the ebullient and active interest in skaldic verse in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries and demonstrate that skaldic verse was defined in this period through its learned context, as will be examined in more detail in chapter 5. It is important to stress that the conclusions drawn from this analysis apply only to the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries (tentatively including the twelfth century in view of the evidence presented in the introductory chapter), but not to the earlier centuries, when skaldic verse existed in an oral culture and where written documentation is lacking. THE MEDIEVAL CODICES OF SNORRA EDDA The complete Snorra Edda is contained in three vellum manuscripts: U DG 11 4to (c. 1300-25): Codex Upsaliemis R GKS 2367 4to (c. 1300-25): Codex Regius W AM 242 fol. (c. 1350): Codex Wormianus The difference between the three manuscripts is not significant as to the text of the Prologue and Gylfaginning, except that the Prologue exists in an expanded version in W. They comprise, however, distinctly different versions of Skdldskaparmdl and a varying number of Hdttatal's stanzas. This disagreement among the manuscripts is of relevance for the evaluation of the poetic diction in thirteenth-century verse. Skdldskaparmdl is furthermore preserved separately in three manuscripts, each of independent textual value:

Snorra Edda and the Study of Grammatica

45

A AM 748 Ib 4to (c. 1300-25) B AM 757 a 4to (c. 1400) C AM 748 II 4to (c. 1400) No independent redaction of Snorra Edda is preserved from about 1400 until the Reformation; indeed the only Snorra Edda vellum from this period is AM 756 4to (w), a close descendant of Codex Wormianus.11 The paper manuscript Codex Trajectinus (T: Traj. no. 1374 4to), written in Pernuvik in the West Fjords by Pall Jonsson about 1595, is a close copy of a late-thirteenth-century manuscript, now lost, that is related to R, even though they do not share the same archetype.12 T differs only slightly from JR's version of Snorra Edda and sometimes has readings in common with W.13 This manuscript will not be analysed in this chapter since a description of the composition of this sixteenth-century paper manuscript is not of consequence for our purpose, which is to demonstrate how a medieval codex is the strongest witness to the close kinship between Snorra Edda, the Pulur, and the grammatical treatises in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. It suffices to point out that the arrangement of Snorra Edda in T is the same as in R, starting with the Prologue, followed by Gylfaginning and Skdldskaparmdl. Skdldskaparmdl is then succeeded by Pulur, again following the same order as R, and the manuscript concludes finally with Hdttatal. The last section of the manuscript is lost, and Hdttatal, therefore, ends with stanza 61.14 The sudden disinterest in skaldic poetics by 1400, after a long period of active revisions of the theoretical material, coincides with a decline in the practice of skaldic verse-making; the last skaldic poems were composed in the fourteenth century. While poems in drottkv&tt-related metres, such as religious poems in the popular hrynhent under the influence of Lilja, were composed in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the diction is simpler and clearly divorced from the eddu regla ('the regulation of Edda/ Lit 97). The skaldic diction survives only in the new verse forms in the rimur. The heritage of skaldic verse is therefore channelled into two different genres around 1400, and each continued to produce new works until the nineteenth century. The renewed interest in Snorra Edda in the seventeenth century, commencing with the redaction of Edda Magnusar dlafssonar (the so-called Laufds Edda) in 1609,15 arises out of the antiquarian interest of seventeenth-century Icelanders in skaldic diction and pagan mythology, and does not, therefore, concern this study of thirteenth-century skaldic verse.

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Part One: Skaldic Verse and Learning

THE MANUSCRIPTS OF SNORRA EDDA AND THE GRAMMATICAL LITERATURE R: Codex Regius (GKS 2367 4to) date: c. 1300-25 origin: unknown; in the south of Iceland c. 1600 55 fols. The origin of the manuscript is unknown. It was written by one scribe, the same man who wrote AM 68 fol., which contains the saga of St Cflafr.16 Names in the margins indicate that the manuscript was preserved in the south of Iceland, more specifically the northern part of Rangarvallasysla, around 1600.17 In the lower margin of fol. 28 Bishop Brynjolfur Sveinsson at Skalaholt (1639-74) mentions that he bought the manuscript from Magnus Gunnlaugsson on 31 January 1640. Magnus is unknown. The following discussion will propose that the origin of Codex Regius should be traced to Oddi in the south of Iceland, and if that contention is tenable, one might infer that the manuscript did not leave the district until Brynjolfur acquired it and then sent it to King Frederik III in 1662. The structure of each quire and the composition of the codex indicates that all the items of Snorra Edda and the two skaldic poems at the end of the manuscript form a unified whole. Quire

Fols.

Content

I8 (lacks I1)

1-7

II10 III8 IV8 V8

8-17 18-25 26-33 34^1

VI8 VII6

42-9 50-5

The first leaf of the quire is lost. The eighth leaf is single. Prologue (beginning lost). The beginning of Gylfaginning (lvl°) Gylfaginning Skdldskaparmdl, chap. 1-31 Skdldskaparmdl,mal. chap chap. 32-62 Skdldskaparmdl, chap. 62 to the end Beginning of Pulur (4134) Pulur. Hdttatal (44v8) Hdttatal concludes on 53r24. Hdttatal 38 is entered at the end of the poem; without any explanation. Jomsvikingadrdpa starts 53r29 and Mdlshdttakvxdi follows (beg. 54vl-55rend).

Snorra Edda and the Study of Grammatica

47

The Prologue and Gylfaginning are in the same quire. Skdldskaparmdl starts on the first leaf of the third quire, directly followed by Pulur in the fifth quire. There is no distinctive break between Skdldskaparmdl and the Pulur in the manuscript; neither a title nor a coloured initial heads the beginning of the Pulur. The two first stanzas of the Pulur are entered on the last page of the fifth quire following Skdldskaparmdl, and the last stanzas of the Pulur are in the same quire as the beginning of Hdttatal (slightly larger initial). The scribe forgot one stanza (v. 38) when copying the poem and enters it at the end of Hdttatal, without providing information on its rightful place in the order of the poem. R is the only manuscript to contain Snorri Sturluson's Hdttatal complete, even though the manuscript is illegible in places. The Pulur are clearly an integral component of the design of Snorra Edda in this manuscript. On the basis of the evidence of this manuscript alone it would be impossible, and even blatantly misleading, to divorce the Pulur from the whole of Snorra Edda. Similarly it should be stressed that fomsvikingadrdpa and Mdlshdttakvsedi are written in the same hand as the whole manuscript, belong to the original design of the codex, and have a bearing on the assessment of the composition and origin of the Edda in this manuscript. It is puzzling why the compiler included these two thirteenth-century skaldic poems.18 They have both been attributed to Bjarni Kolbeinsson (1150-1222), bishop in Orkney 1188-1222. The late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries witnessed a flowering in skaldic verse-making in Orkney. Bjarni is cited as the author of Jomsvikingadrdpa in dldfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta, where a few stanzas from the poem are cited (OlTm 178). His authorship of Mdlshdttakvaedi is, however, not accounted for in any source, although linguistic similarities have been used to link the poem to him.19 Halldor Hermannsson suggested that these two poems came to the writer of Codex Regius through Oddi because of the strong ties existing between Orkney and the Oddaverjar family20 Bjarni Kolbeinsson was a great friend of Saemundr Jonsson (Stu 1,272) and this friendship was shared by Saemundr's nephew Loptr Palsson, who visited the bishop on his way to Norway in 1208-10 (Pdl 431 [16]). Apart from the strong commercial links that existed between the two countries in this period, it is likely that the friendship between the Oddaverjar and Bjarni alone would have opened up many channels for these Orcadian poems to find their way to Iceland. The discussion of Hdttalykill in the previous chapter brought to light a thriving interest in skaldic verse

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Part One: Skaldic Verse and Learning

in Orkney in the twelfth century, particularly at the time of the rule of the poet Rognvaldr/ar/, who had enjoyed the traditional learning of an aristocrat. This background should not be ignored when we seek the origins of Snorra Edda; the twelfth century was the nourishing ground for the flowering realized in the writings of Snorri Sturluson and t)lafr EorSarson in the thirteenth century. Another tentative clue to the link between Codex Regius and Oddi, and ultimately the Orkneys, is the subject matter of Skdldskaparmdl in R, which is an additional indicator of a possible Icelandic-Orcadian link as far as a preoccupation with skaldic poetics is concerned. The author of the Codex Regius version of Skdldskaparmdl displays particular interest in the heroic legends of SigurQr Famisbani that is not shared to the same degree by the writers of the other manuscripts of Snorra Edda. The striking emphasis in the manuscript on the myths of Sigur6r Famisbani and Ragnarr lodbrok in the context of the study of poetic diction and especially of the kennings for gold is the same as in the poem Hdttalykill.22 The heroic legends of Sigurdr and King Ragnarr contribute to the wider mythological backdrop against which the early history of Denmark is cast, both in historical writing and skaldic verse in the twelfth century, as numerous skaldic poems from this period indicate. I need only mention Krdkumdl, Brdvallapula, Bjarkamdl, HyndluIJ66, Saxo's History of the Danes, and the ground-breaking achievement of the author of the original Skjgldunga saga. The poems of Bjarni Kolbeinsson show a clear debt to this interest in Scandinavian myth and Danish legends. Why was this predominantly Danish material so compelling for historians and poets in the twelfth century? The strong interest in Danish myths could have had its roots in Lund's formative influence in establishing teaching centres in Iceland and Orkney in the early part of the twelfth century. The Icelandic and Orcadian Churches were under the control of the archbishop of Lund from 1104 to 1152. Six Icelandic bishops were consecrated in Lund: Jon Qgmundarson (1106-21), Ketill Porsteinsson (1122-45) and Bjorn Gilsson (1147-62) of Holar, and f»orlakr Runolfsson (1118-33), Magnus Einarsson (1134-48), and Klceingr t>orsteinsson (1152-76) of Skalaholt. Bishop Jon Qgmundarson was consecrated in Lund in 1106, and in both versions of his saga it is recorded that he brought with him Gisli Finnason, a fine teacher from Gautland, to teach grammatica in the school at Holar. This school became, according to Jons saga, influential in the north of Iceland and was the training ground for learned men and clerics in the country; the

Snorra Edda and the Study of Grammatica

49

first monasteries were established in the northern see, the Benedictine monasteries at Mngeyrar (1133) and MunkaJ>vera (1155), both important cradles for historical saga writing. It was, moreover, Archbishop Absalon in Lund who commissioned Saxo to write the history of the Danes, and he based his account partly on the testimonies and accounts of Icelandic poets that were known to him at the time. I will look more closely at the implications of this association with Lund in chapter 8 in the context of gold myths. At this point it is crucial to emphasize that we lack direct evidence to identify the important stepping stones in the advancement of skaldic poetics in the twelfth century that ultimately led to the writing of Snorra Edda. Nevertheless, the background of the first attempts at a systematic presentation of the skaldic material cannot be ignored, nor can the manuscript context within which they are preserved. The significance of Jomsvikingadrdpa in the context of Snorra Edda may be approached from another direction. Jomsvikingadrdpa depicts the ill-fated battle of the Vikings of Jomsborg against Earl Hakon of Hladir, who enjoyed the protection of E»orger6r holgabrudr. This battle is the central theme of the poem and precedes Olafr Tryggvason's attack on Norway and his victory over Earl Hakon in 995. The defeat of the Jomsvikingar paved the way for Olafr's victory over Hakon and effectively the victory of Christianity over paganism.23 The persuasive myth of Porgerdr Holgabru6r, who personified the penultimate heathen resistance to the Christianization of Norway by Olafr may have induced the compiler of Codex Regius to relate the poem to material in Snorra Edda. It is perhaps of some significance that the author of 1GT also referred to the myth in his treatise, calling E»orger3r HQlgatro.ll ('the giantess of Holgi') (1GT 245).24 This myth seems to have enjoyed popularity into the fourteenth century in the context of skaldic poetics. Two versions of Skdldskaparmdl written in that period, A and B, start with the section on Holgi, the father of E»orger6r, and U concludes with this section. The fourteenth-century versions of (5/0/s saga Tryggvasonar en mesta make use of the myth and there is a rare reference to a temple for E>orger6r at Qlfusvatn in the fourteenth-century Hardar saga ok Holmverja (Hard 51-2 [19]). The R manuscript has been considered by some editors of the work to preserve Snorra Edda closest to Snorri's original, and therefore it has been the text printed in most modern editions. Finnur Jonsson argued convincingly for the preference of R to W and LI.25 The difference between the manuscripts manifests itself most significantly in the order-

50

Part One: Skaldic Verse and Learning

ing of Skdldskaparmdl. It is, however, disputable whether all the other versions of Skdldskaparmdl should be judged in relation to R. The arrangement of Skdldskaparmdl in each manuscript is evaluated in chapter 5; each compilation clearly discloses independent attitudes to the work in the latter part of the thirteenth and in the fourteenth centuries. U: Codex Upsaliensis date: c. 1300-25 origin: West Iceland? 56 fols.

U is the oldest of the extant Snorra Edda manuscripts. The order of the sections within Skdldskaparmdl and the subject matter found only in this manuscript are of great interest. There have been different opinions on the relationship of U to the original version of Snorri's Edda. This remains an unsolved problem. Mogk argued that U contained a shorter version of Snorra Edda,26 which had been expanded in R, but Finnur Jonsson maintained that 17 was an abbreviated version of Snorri's Edda.27 The composition of U demonstrates that the different sections of the manuscript were written consecutively: Quire Fols.

Content

I10 1-10 First fol. empty Prologue to Snorra Edda (2r-3r18). The beginning of Gylfaginning II8 11-18 Gylfaginning III8 19-26 The end of Gylfaginning. Beginning of Skdldskaparmdl (19rl2-22v). Skdldatal (23r-25r)- The genealogy of the Sturlungar (25v1-19). LggSQgumannatal (25v20-26r12). Drawing (26V) 8 IV 27-34 Skdldskaparmdl continues (27r). V8 35^2 Skdldskaparmdl VI8 43-50 The end of Skdldskaparmdl (45r16). Three skaldic stanzas (45r18-26). The title for the 2GT at the bottom of 45r. 2GT (45v-47v19). Coded script (47v21-7). The beginnings of the first 36 stanzas in Hdttatal and names of the metres (48rl~22). Coded script (48r23-9). Hdttatal begins (48V). 6 VII 51-6 Hdttatal ends on 56rl°. The remaining space on fol. 56r and 56v is left blank.

Snorra Edda and the Study of Grammatica

51

The first quire of the manuscript contains the Prologue to Snorra Edda and Gylfaginning. Skdldskaparmdl follows Gylfaginning in the third quire, but is divided into two parts by the inclusion of Skdldatal, the genealogy of the Sturlungar, and Lggsggumannatal. A drawing of Gangleri with Harr, Jafnharr, and Pridi (figure 1) precedes the second insertion of Skdldskaparmdl, which continues after this interpolation on the first leaf of the fourth quire. Three skaldic stanzas are entered before 2GT, then seven lines of coded script follow before a listing of the first thirty-six verse forms referring to examples in Hdttatal. The codex concludes with the first 56 stanzas of Snorri Sturluson's Hdttatal. This omission is not due to lost leaves, but only indicates that the scribe made a break in the poem at this point. The Second Grammatical Treatise is preserved only in U and W. Both these manuscripts sever Hdttatal from the rest of Snorra Edda and enter Skdldskaparmdl in two parts. The division of Skdldskaparmdl is, however, not in the same place in both manuscripts and is due to different editorial practices, indicating that this part of the Edda was not a fixed text, but could be subjected to radical changes by the different compilers. The compiler of W divided the sections on kennings and heiti in Skdldskaparmdl (see below), whereas the compiler of U made a break between the prosaic and stanzaic sections of Skdldskaparmdl. The two interpolations in Snorra Edda in the manuscript, Skdldatal,28 the Genealogy of the Sturlungar, and Lggsggumannatal on the one hand, and 2GT on the other hand, serve to strengthen the overall design of Snorra Edda in U. This additional material becomes an integral part of this version of Snorra Edda. There was a heated debate a century ago about the relationship of 2GT to Hdttatal. Some maintained that 2GT served as a prologue to Snorri Sturluson's account of the metres in Hdttatal and was originally a part of Snorri's work. This position was disputed forcefully by Finnur Jonsson,29 and Fabrizio D. Raschella, who edited the treatise in 1982, sided with Finnur.30 Finnur maintained that there was no reference to any discussion of metre in the treatise, and that the title of the treatise in the manuscript - her segir afsetningu hdttalykilsins ('here follows an account of the arrangement of the metrical key': U 87) - was misplaced in the manuscript. Kurt Braunmuller, by contrast, has seen the treatise in its manuscript context. He suggests that even though there is no direct reference to metre in it, the treatise should be interpreted with reference to Snorri Sturluson's Hdttatal in this manuscript.31 The last page of the treatise in LI contains a discussion of

52

Part One: Skaldic Verse and Learning

Figure 1

DG 11 (Codex Upsaliensis), 26V.

The image of Gangleri's audition with Harr, Jafnharr, and I>riai precedes the second section of Skdldskaparmdl in U.

Snorra Edda and the Study of Grammatica

53

mdlstafir ('consonants') and hljodstafir (Vowels'), which is lacking in the other manuscript (W), where the treatise ends on a very different note. The comparison of the stafasetning ('spelling') to an instrument with lyklar ('keys') corresponds, on the one hand, to the title of the treatise in the manuscript, which I believe to be correct, and on the other to the opening discussion of the arrangement of letters and internal rhyme in the commentary of Hdttatal. The ordering of U may have been influenced by Latin treatises on metre, such as Bede's popular textbook De arte metrica, which was prefaced by a discussion of orthography directly related to his account of metre. The marriage of the 2GT and Hdttatal in this manuscript is therefore legitimate and acceptable from the point of view of grammatica. The brief look at this treatise shows that it was interpreted, at least in the Codex Upsaliensis, in the context of skaldic verse, which means that all the four grammatical treatises functioned in a skaldic context. U is the only manuscript to refer to Snorri Sturluson (U 1) as the one who put the Edda together: hana hefir saman setta Snorri Sturluson eptir peim hxtti sem her er skipat ('Snorri Sturluson has put it together in the way which is presented here').32 This clause may indicate that there existed an earlier version of the Edda, before Snorri's time. The heading at the beginning of the manuscript not only mentions Snorri's name, but alludes to the tripartite structure of the manuscript: 1 The stories of the aesir and Ymir. This emphasis in the heading on Ymir shows the importance of the creation myth in Gylfaginning, which resurfaces in Litla Skdlda in AM 748 Ib 4to and AM 757 a 4to, preserved in conjunction with Skdldskaparmdl (see chapter 7). 2 Explanation of the skdldskaparmdl ok heiti margra hluta ('the poetic diction and the names of many things') in Skdldskaparmdl 3 Snorri's Hdttatal The Sturlungar genealogy and the list of law-speakers in the manuscript link the Sturlungar family to the writing of Snorra Edda, a conclusion that is substantiated by the attribution to Snorri Sturluson at the beginning of the manuscript.33 There are striking textual similarities between the Prologue to Snorra Edda and the genealogy. Prologue to Snorra Edda

Sturlungar genealogy

Konungr het Menon (Munon eda Mennon in R); hann atti dottur

Munon e6a Menon het konungr i Troia. Harm atti Troan, dottur Priami

54

Part One: Skaldic Verse and Learning

Priamus konungs, Troiam; sonr peira het Tror, er ver kollum t>6rr.

konungs ok var beira son Tror er ver kollum E»6rr.

(U 2.13-14)

(1/48.5-6)

The king's name was Menon; he was married to Troia, the daughter of King Priamus; their son's name was Tror, whom we call POTT.

The king of Troya was called Munon or Menon. He was married to Troa, the daughter of King Priamus and their son was Tror, whom we call I>6rr.

The genealogy of the Sturlungar is probably derived from the Prologue, or from a common source. The writing of genealogy was a political undertaking of the aristocracy in the Middle Ages to establish a noble mythic background for their families.34 This genealogy goes therefore along popular lines. It begins with a reference to Adam as the forefather of all men, and moves on to the Trojans, Priam's daughter, and (3dinn, the founder of Scandinavia. The Sturlungar have this genealogical background in common with the kings of Scandinavia among others. The story of Ulfr inn oargi, a forefather of the Sturlungar, is only found in Skdldatal in U. This clause provides a further substance to the genealogy and aristocratic background of this family, which is most firmly associated with the composing of skaldic poetry and the writing of kings' sagas in the thirteenth century: Ulfr inn oargi var hersir agaetr i Noregi i Naumudali, fadir Hallbjarnar halftrglls, fadir Ketils hreings. Ulfr orti drapu a einni nott ok sagdi fra J?rekvi[rkj]um sinum. Harm var daudr fyrir dag. (SU 268)

Ulfr the courageous was a famous hersir in Norway in Naumudalr, the father of HallbJQrn halftroll, who was the father of Ketill hceingr. Olfr composed a drapa overnight, recounting his deeds. He was dead before daybreak.

This story is not known elsewhere. Ulfr is the forefather of the Hrafnistumenn, the Myramenn, and therefore of the Sturlungar. This prose section relates directly to the genealogy of the Sturlungar. The reference to Ulfr is inserted before the list of the Norwegian chieftains, starting with f>orleifr spaki, and thus the Sturlungar family is associated with the noble chieftains in Norway. The genealogy concludes with the children

Snorra Edda and the Study of Grammatica

55

of Helga Sturludottir, the sister of Snorri. Her son Egill Solmundarson (probably named after Egill Skalla-Grimsson), who inherited Snorri Sturluson's estate at Reykjaholt in Borgarfjordr, had two sons, Jon murti Egilsson, who is one of the court poets mentioned in Skdldatal in U (not in SK, the Kring/a-version), and E>6r6r lygmadr ('lawman'). The most important poets of the Sturlungar family, Snorri Sturluson, Sturla EorSarson, and (3lafr Eordarson, were also law-speakers and therefore the list of law-speakers completes the tripartite documentation of the social and cultural achievements of these kinsmen.35 W: Codex Wormianus (AM 242 fol.) date: c. 1350 origin: Mngeyrar or MunkaJ?vera 63 fols.

Codex Wormianus is the largest Snorra Edda manuscript, in size, layout, and content. It is thought to have been written in the north of Iceland, probably at the Benedictine monasteries at Eingeyrar or Munkaj^vera, about 1350.36 The manuscript contains not only Snorra Edda, but the four grammatical treatises preserved from the Middle Ages, the eddic poem Rigspula, and a version of C^kend heiti in Skdldskaparmdl (now only fragments) entered at the end of the manuscript. Johansson has recently provided a full account of the composition of the manuscript,37 and the description of gatherings is drawn from his study. The composition of the manuscript shows that the different sections of the vellum belong within its initial design: Quire

Fols.

Content

I8 1-8 Prologue (lv^v19) and Gylfaginning (4v2°) II8 9-16 Gylfaginning III8 17-24 Gylfaginning to the end (20r). The beginning of Skdldskaparmdl (20V) 8 IV 25-32 Skdldskaparmdl. Six paper fols. were added in the 17th century between fols. 30 and 31. V8 33-40 Skdldskaparmdl to the end (35V). The Prologue to the four grammatical treatises (on 36r). 1GT (36V-39V). The beginning of 2GT (40r) 7 VI 41-7 2GT to the end (41v7). The beginning of 3GT (41v8)

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Part One: Skaldic Verse and Learning

Quire

Fols.

Content

VII7

48-54

VIII8 (lacks 1,8)

55-60

IX1

61

X2

62-3

3GT to the end. The 4GT (50r18-54r). 54V was left empty by the scribe. Johansson concludes that probably the quire originally contained seven leaves. Between fols. 54 and 55 9 paper fols. added in the 17th century. Hdttatal. The first and eighth fols., containing the beginning and the end of Hdttatal, are missing. Two paper fols. were inserted in the manuscript at this point between fols. 60 and 61 in the 17th century to provide the missing part. Rigsfiula on one leaf. Five paper fols. added between fols. 61 and 62. Two fols. that contain the redaction of tikend heiti (62-63r) and Mariuvisur in a 15th-century hand on 63V

The first seven quires are an unbroken whole. The first three parts of Snorra Edda, the Prologue, Gylfaginning, and Skdldskaparmdl are linked to the four grammatical treatises in the fifth quire. The 4GT concludes on the recto side of the last leaf of the seventh quire. Hdttatal, however, commences in the next quire. The division of Hdttatal, Rigspula, and &kend heiti from other parts of Snorra Edda is clear. Hdttatal is found on six leaves in one quire after the grammatical treatises: two leaves were lost, the first containing the beginning of the poem (vv. 1-6) and the other the end of the poem (vv. 87-102). Scribbles in Latin and a poem on the Virgin Mary (Mariuvisur) in a fifteenth-century hand are entered on the verso side of folio 54 after the 4GT, which the compiler left empty, and at the very end of the manuscript (63V). VV is the only source for Rigspula. The poem is entered in a separate quire, immediately after Hdttatal and at the end of the learned material, with the exception of the section on tikend heiti. The location of the poem in the manuscript echoes that of Jomsvikingadrdpa and Mdlshdttakvsedi in R. The final stanza of Rigspula (49) about Danr relates the myths of the origin of the royal house of Denmark,38 and its striking presence in W may bear witness to the original concept behind the organization of the lore of Snorra Edda, which is also apparent in Codex Regius (see above).

Snorra Edda and the Study of Grammatica

57

The manuscript concludes with a section on 6kend heiti containing a unique redaction of the second half of Skdldskaparmdl, which the compiler had omitted earlier in the manuscript. The compiler enlarged Okend heiti by citing thirteenth- and fourteenth-century verse, along with older poetry. The poets are EjoSolfr, I>6r6r S[...]son, Asgrimr Jonsson, Sighvatr, Arnorr jarlaskald, Rognvaldr, C)lafr Leggsson, Snorri Sturluson, Gestr, Bjarni A[...]Son, Skald-E>6rir, Einarr Skulason, Egill Skalla-Grimsson, Ulfr Uggason, and Brother Ami. Brother Ami has been identified as Ami Jonsson, but Karl G. Johansson had suggested that he could also have been Ami Laurentiusson, the son of Bishop Laurentius at Holar. Ami's verse has been used to date the manuscript,39 even though the reference to Brother Ami remains obscure. Regrettably the manuscript is defective at this point, but it can be surmised that the whole section of ()kend heiti was included. This part of the manuscript seems to have been more complete at the time of Magnus Olafsson's redaction of the Edda at the beginning of the seventeenth century than it is now.40 The arrangement of W reveals the compiler's evaluation of the texts it contains. The four grammatical treatises (1GT, 2GT, 3GT, and 4GT), preceded by a special Prologue by the compiler, are entered immediately after the rendering of kennings in Skdldskaparmdl. The grammatical treatises are found together only in this manuscript, and W is furthermore the only source for 1GT and 4GT. 4GT contains thirteenthcentury verse that will be under consideration in this study (see chapter 3, 86-8).

A:AM748Ib4to date: c. 1300-25 origin: ? 22 fols.

AM 748 Ib 4to is the latter half of a manuscript, of which the first part contained eddic poems (AM 748 la 4to). Ami Magnusson (1663-1730), the collector of Icelandic manuscripts, received the manuscript in Gaulverjabaer in 1691 from Halldor Torfason, the son of Torfi Jonsson, nephew and an heir to Bishop Brynjolfur Sveinsson's estate at Skalaholt.41 The manuscript had at that time been stitched together with another manuscript of Skdldskaparmdl, AM 748 II 4to (then AM nr. 1 e(3 fol; see below). Ami Magnusson comments that the cover had previously been used for the works of Lipsius, "undoubtedly in Brynjolfur

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Part One: Skaldic Verse and Learning

Sveinsson's library/42 It is therefore likely that the volume had been owned by Brynjolfur. Elias Wessen speculates whether Halldor Torfason obtained it from his sister Ragnheidur, who was married to Jon Sigurdsson of Einarsnes. Ami Magnusson's conclusion is the more persuasive of the two, but Brynjolfur may on the other hand have obtained it in Borgarfjgrdr, judging from the list of farms in that district on folio 15r in a seventeenth-century hand. Ami Magnusson took the manuscript apart and filed it as two separate manuscripts: AM 748 4to (later AM 748 14to), and AM nr. 1 ep fol. (now AM 748 II 4to). AM 748 14to has since been dissected into two separate manuscripts: AM 748 la 4to, and AM 748 Ib 4to.

This last division was made upon the return of the second part of the manuscript to the Ami Magnusson Institute in Iceland in 1996, but AM 748 la 4to remains in its sister institute in Copenhagen. It is not clear whether the two sections were written by the same scribe, even though Wessen thinks it likely,43 or they were bound together at a later stage. The eddic poems in la are not out of place as a prologue to Ib; they could have functioned as an introduction to the mythological references inherent in the skaldic imagery that is analysed in the manuscript in the grammatical treatises and Skdldskaparmdl in the same way as Gylfaginning does in the extant versions of Snorra Edda in R, U, and W. The eddic poems that remain from the first half of the manuscript relate exclusively pagan myths, not the heroic legends of Northern Europe. The first quire of the original manuscript (now the separate AM 748 la 4to) consists of six leaves containing seven eddic poems. The beginning and the end of this part of the manuscript are lost. Harbardsljod, the first poem, begins in media res, which suggests that a whole quire probably containing eddic poems is now lacking, and the abrupt end of the prose introduction to the eddic poem Vplundarkvida indicates that the poem followed and, perhaps, more eddic material. A single leaf has also become lost between the second and third leaves. These seven remaining poems belong therefore to a manuscript that probably contained more eddic poems:

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59

Hdrbardsljod 19-60 (no title; beg. defective) Baldrs draumar Skirnismdl 1-27 (ends on fol. 2, the lacuna follows) Vaftrudnismdl 20-55 (no title; beg. def.) Frd Hraudungi kongi (Grimnismdl) Hymiskvida The beginning of the prose introduction to Vglundarkvida (end def.). The second part of the manuscript containing 3GT, Litla Skdlda, Skdldskaparmdl, the Pulur, and Islendingadrdpa, now bound as AM 748 Ib 4to, carries the siglum A in the manuscript tradition of Snorra Edda. The composition of the manuscript is as follows: Quire

Fols.

Content

I10 (lacks 3,8)

7-14

The end of 5GT (Z^-8). The 3GT (7'9-14v5). Text in rubric referring to (5lafr fcordarson's authorship of 3GT 14v6-8). The beginning of Litla Skdlda,

8

fol. 14*9

II

15-22

III8 (lacks 7, 8)

23-8

The end of Litla Skdlda (15v23). The section on Fenris ulfr (15v2*-34). The beginning of Skdldskaparmdl (15v34) The end of Skdldskaparmdl (23r19). Pulur (23r20-28r9). Latin sentence, 28r1(M1. Islendingadrdpa 28rl2-28v; end is missing.

Even though AM 748 Ib 4to is not preserved in its original state, the analysis of the composition of the manuscript demonstrates that the existing sections were entered consecutively by the same scribe and that the vellum was designed originally to form a clearly defined whole. The first folio of the first quire shows that the beginning of the manuscript is missing. Only a remnant, and the final part, of an otherwise unknown 5GT is entered on the first eight lines of folio 1. Two missing leaves (the third twin) in the first quire result in two lacunae in the transmission of 3GT. The so-called Litla Skdlda follows contiguously after a short but informative notice on the authorship of 3GT. This is the only referrence to t)lafr I>6r5arson's authorship of the treatise: Her er lykt J?eim hlut bokar er C)lafr tordarson hefir saman sett ok upphefr

This is the end of that part of the book that C)lafr f>6r6arson has put

60 skaldskaparmal ok kenningar eptir pvi sem fyrir fundit var i kvaedum hgfudskalda ok Snorri hefir sidan saman foera latit. (SEA 427-8)

Part One: Skaldic Verse and Learning together and the beginning of the poetic diction and kennings according to the examples found in the poems of the master-poets and which Snorri has since had collected together.

Litla Skdlda continues in the second quire, followed on folio 15V by a section on the Fenris-wolf with a distinct heading of the kind used for different sections within 3GT and Skaldskaparmal: frafenris ulfi ('about Fenris-wolf). The section on the wolf is distinguished from other clauses in Litla Skdlda, which are entered as one uninterrupted section. On the basis of the evidence of AM 748 Ib 4to it would a priori be right to treat Litla Skdlda and the section on the wolf separately instead of as one text, as Finnur Jonsson did in his 1931 edition of the text. If not, it would reflect better the provenance of the texts to render Litla Skdlda and Fenris ulfr as the first part of Skaldskaparmal, which succeeds immediately on the same page. It is important to emphasize the fact that the scribe does not distinguish Skaldskaparmal from the previous section; the title of the first chapter of Skaldskaparmal is simply fra holga kongi ('about King Holgi'), following logically on from the section on the wolf. The presentation of these texts in the manuscripts, therefore, influences the way we interpret their subject matter, as we shall see in chapter 5. Skaldskaparmal concludes in the third quire, followed by the Pulur, a Latin sentence on euphonia (written in a different script from the Icelandic part of the manuscript), and finally the poem Islendingadrdpa, attributed to the unknown Haukr Valdisarson in the poem's title. The first and second leaf in the third gathering (III1"2) are single leaves and this indicates that the second part of the first two twins (III7"8), containing the concluding part of Islendingadrdpa, is missing. The last four leaves (III3'6), the last remaining leaves of the manuscript, are two twins. Islendingadrdpa has been dated to the twelfth44 or the thirteenth century.45 Because of the poem's textual relationship with Snorra Edda it will be included in this study. Islendingadrdpa evokes the accomplishments of legendary heroes of early Iceland, who were the country's poets and warriors. The scribe writes with dark ink. The handwriting gets larger as his work progresses. Red colouring is used to highlight the beginning of important clauses and words in the text (see figure 2). Verse citations are indicated in the margin. It is not possible to detect a particular sys-

Snorra Edda and the Study of Grammatica

61

Figure 2 AM 748 Ib 4to, 26r. A page from the A-manuscript showing how the scribe highlights the subject categories in the Pulur.

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Part One: Skaldic Verse and Learning

tern behind these markings, except that they facilitated quicker reference to the text and are strong indicators that the manuscript was used as a reference book of some kind. There are no glosses in the manuscript, except in relation to the Latin sentence on euphonia. Such interlinear glosses, which are common in the tradition of Latin textbooks, are not found in any of the other Snorra Edda manuscripts, and it seems that Icelandic scribes followed such traditional practices only in relation to Latin texts but abandoned them in the vernacular context.46 In some cases green colouring is used in initials along with two red colours, bright red and reddish-brown. Sometimes there is only one colour or a combination of two: red and reddish-brown, red and green, reddish-brown and green. The only black initial in the manuscript is the first letter of fslendingadrdpa. The scribe abandons the use of colouring in the rendering of the poem. It is not easy to detect a system behind the variation of the colouring in the initials. The 1852 editors of AM 748 Ib 4to, the only edition of the manuscript to date, indicate whether the title is written in rubric but not the instances when the green colour is added. These instances are as follows:

3GT The beginning of Soloecismus (10r27) The beginning of Metaplasmus (llv12) Skdldskaparmdl (chapters according to table 5.1) 1 The beginning of Skdldskaparmdl (15v34) 9 Kennings for ships (17v3°) 10 Kennings for Christ (18r23) 11 The beginning of 6kend heiti (18v16) 14 Hdtfforsea(19r12) 15 Heiti for fire (19v21) (green barely visible) 16 Heiti for wolves (19v35) 17 Heiti for ravens (20r17) 20 Heiti for horses (20v7) 22i Heiti for heaven (20v26) 23 Heiti for moon (20v32) (only green; small) 31 Heiti for women (22r26) (only green) Pulur The beginning of Pulur (23r2°) (big initial, green)

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63

Haiti for giants (23vl°) Heiti for the sons of 6dinn (24r12) Heiti for women, okend (24r27) (small) Heiti for battle (24vl°) Heiti for axes (24v34) (only green) Heiti for bows (25r6) (only green now; red barely visible) Heiti for armour (25r16) (only green) Heiti for rivers (25r24) Heiti for whales (25v7) (big, green initial) Heiti for items on a ship (25v18) (big) Heiti for wood (25v32) Heft i for rams (26rl°) Heiti for bears (26r15) (only green) Heiti for wolves (26r21) (only green) Heiti for sun (26r3°) (only green) Heiti for weather (26v3) only green) Heiti for worms (26v13) (only green) Heiti for women (27r14) (only green) Heftf for hands (27r22) Heiti for women, beginning of two skaldic stanzas (27v29) Heiti for islands (27r7) Heiti for seeds (27r21) The scribe is more generous with the green colour in the latter half of the manuscript, and again it is impossible to detect any rule in his application of this colour at the beginning of these sections and not in others. The first reason to suggest itself is that this practice made the manuscript more user-friendly, as it were, particularly in the Pulur, which is only a list of names with no prose to accompany them. The scribe maintains the custom of writing the heading of each section or subject matter in bright red throughout the manuscript. This manuscript is very important for an appreciation of the context within which Skdldskaparmdl and 3GT were studied at the beginning of the fourteenth century. It is the only manuscript to contain the remnant of the 5GT, which shows that more grammatical literature existed in Iceland in the fourteenth century apart from that included in W. Bjorn M. Olsen judged the defective text of 3GT to be superior to that found in W.47 It is also significant that the beginning of the treatment of the skaldic diction is distinguished from other parts of the work and even more important that it begins with Litla Skdlda, and not a version of Snorri

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Sturluson's Skdldskaparmdl. This arrangement is not unique to this manuscript, but is reflected in the later manuscript B, compiled around 1400. The 3GT, Litla Skdlda, a fragment of Skdldskaparmdl, and the Pulur are entered in the same order in B, producing, in effect, a new skaldic treatise, as I will demonstrate in chapter 5. A provides an expanded version of the Pulur, which relates to that found in B but is different from R and T. B:AM757a4to date: c. 1400 origin: North Iceland? 13 fols.

AM 757 a 4to came in very rough condition into Ami Magnusson's possession from Asgrimur Magnusson at Hofdi on Hofdastrond in the north of Iceland.48 It is not possible on this evidence alone to assert that the manuscript was written in the north of Iceland. The writing is dark and difficult to read, and there are holes in the manuscript.49 The manuscript is not complete and its composition does not allow us to ascertain whether the two parts of the codex, the first quire and the religious verse in the remaining quires, were written consecutively or were bound together at a later stage. The external features, however, strongly support this former relationship. Even though the size of the leaves varies, it is on the whole similar throughout the vellum. The same hand is found throughout the whole manuscript. The composition of the manuscript is as follows: Quire Fols. Content I10 (lacks 6)

3GT l-3r4. Litla Skdlda 3r^v18. The section of Fenris ulfr 3vl8-25. Skdldskaparmdl 3v25~8r2. Pulur 8r3~9v. End is missing. II2 10-11 Heilags anda visur (beg. def.) 10rl~38. Leidarvisan 10r39-llr38. Beg. of Liknarbraut llr39 1 III 12 End of Liknarbraut 12r42. Beg. of Harmsol (attr. to Gamli kanoki in the margin) 12r43. IV1 13 End of Harmsol 13v18. Mariudrdpa 13vl8-14v9. Gydingsvis14vend (End def •>ur I4vlo_ 1-9

The material in B is ordered in the same way as in A B starts on fol. 1 with the beginning of 3GTby Olafr t>6rdarson, followed by Litla Skdlda. There

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65

is a gap for the initial S at the start of Litla Skalda, which has not been inserted. This is the only indicator of the beginning of a new section. The section on Fenris ulfr is not distinguished by a separate title, as in A, but runs in direct succession to the end of Litla Skalda. The theoretical part of the manuscript concludes with a version of Skdldskaparmdl and Pulur, which follows the redaction in A, but not the one in R (and T). One leaf is missing between fols. 5 and 6. This indicates that this quire contained four twins (1+10,2+9,3+8,4+5) and two single leaves (6 [missing] and 7). The manuscript was not complete when it was originally put together. Throughout there are gaps left for initials to be inserted at a later stage. In the 1852 edition of the manuscript these omissions are noted. There is no initial at the beginning of 3GT, which starts on fol. 1. The omission of the capital letter S at the beginning of Lit la Skalda suggests the opening of a new part and the title is written in the middle of line 3r5: Her byriaz kenningar skalldskapar ('here commence the kennings in poetry'). There is, however, no distinct title to indicate the beginning of Skdldskaparmdl; the first section on King Holgi starts merely with the title: kenningar gullz ('the kennings for gold'). This seems to reflect the writer's view that the complete account of the poetic diction in the manuscript, starting with Litla Skalda and continuing with Skdldskaparmdl and Pulur, is an unbroken and complete whole. This is also the impression left by the transmission of these texts in A. Skdldskaparmdl is not necessarily a constituent part of the Edda as it is transmitted in R, W, and U, but a text defined in the context of other writings on skaldic diction: the 3GT, Litla Skalda, and the Pulur. There are also titles for individual sections throughout Skdldskaparmdl and the Pulur. These headings are written in black and are inserted in the text, so they are not easily discernible, even though they are sometimes written in a slightly darker ink (some probably highlighted later) than the rest of the text, particularly in the Pulur. The initials would have brought out the beginning of the sections and made a consultation of the manuscript easier. However, these markings were not completed and followed the chapter divisions as indicated in table 5.1, with the exception that kennings for each pagan god and goddess are particularized (E»6rr, Baldr, Njordr, Heimdallr, Tyr, Bragi, Vali, Hodr, Ullr, Hcenir, Loki, Frigg, and Freyja) and that chapters 18 to 20, which correlate with the end of Bragarcedur and the address to young skalds, are entered as one section. The Pulur begin with a listing of heiti for kings, which is omitted in R but entered after the heiti for sea-kings in A. The end of the Pulur is

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missing from this manuscript. The last leaf of the first quire is the second part of the first twin, and therefore it is likely that the end of the Pulur was written in another quire. In contrast to the presence of mythological and heroic verse in A, starting with eddic poems and concluding with Islendingadrdpa, a poem about Icelandic heroes from the time of settlement, B cites only religious verse. The latter part of the manuscript is devoted to religious skaldic poems, which are preserved only here: Heilags anda visur, Leidarvisan (a few stanzas in AM 639 4to), Liknarbraut, Harmsol by Canon Gamli, Mariudrapa, and Gydingsvisur. Two of these poems have been dated to the twelfth century (Harmsol and Leidarvisan), Heilags anda visur and Liknarbraut have been dated to the thirteenth century and are included in this study, but the remaining two, Mariudrapa and Gydingsvisur, are probably younger. The composition of this manuscript defines further the relationship between 3GT, Litla Skdlda, Skdldskaparmdl, and the Pulur that has become apparent in relation to A. The first gap results in a lacuna in Skdldskaparmdl, and from the second gap it follows that the end of the Pulur is missing. The presence of the religious verse in the manuscript is of particular interest. It marks a third type of poetic references in the Snorra Edda tradition, the first being the inclusion of Orcadian and Danish material in R and W, the second the emphasis on Icelandic auxiliary material in A, U (not poetry, but a list of poets), and C, and the third the deference to religious verse. The religious leaning of the compiler of B tallies with the views heralded in the Prologue to the four grammatical treatises in W, where the writer, probably writing in a monastery, defends the use of skaldic imagery in religious verse despite its origin in pagan culture.50 The period between the composition of the Prologue in the middle of the fourteenth century and the writing of B was the last stage in the active practice of skaldic art, and religious poems were indeed the most lasting flowering on the old skaldic branch, when the interest of those composing secular verse was drawn to the rimur or new metrical forms. C: AM 748II 4to (previously AM nr. 1 e$ fol.)

date: c. 1400 origin: West Fjords region 13 fols.

AM 748 II 4to contains only fragments of Skdldskaparmdl. The manu-

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67

script was bound with AM 748 I 4to when it came into Ami Magnusson's library in 1707 (see above). Now it is bound separately with Ami Magnusson's transcript (4 paper folios in 4to) of the genealogy of the Sturlungar family, which is found on the last page of the manuscript, and the genealogy of the Skard family (in the west of Iceland) written in a seventeenth-century hand (2 paper folios in 8vo). The composition of the manuscript is as follows: Quire

Fols.

Content

I8 (lacks 6-8)

1-5

II8

6-13

Skdldskaparmdl begins in media res. There is a lacuna (3 fols.?) at the end of the quire. Skdldskaparmdl ends llrtl. Pulur lltU-iy». The genealogy of the Sturlungar, 13v!0 to the end of the page.

It is clear that only fragments are preserved of the original vellum. It is of course impossible to speculate on what preceded Skdldskaparmdl in the manuscript. Only three single leaves and one twin (fols. 4-5) are preserved of the first quire. This suggests that at least three folios are missing at the end of the quire. The second quire is complete and clearly the last part of the original manuscript. The Pulur end at the top of 13v, and the genealogy of the Sturlungar follows. The codicological evidence supports Finnur Jonsson's conclusion, based on the position of the genealogy, that Hdttatal had not been included in this manuscript.51 The C manuscript demonstrates, just as R, A, and B do, that the Pulur are an integral part of Skdldskaparmdl. In all these four manuscripts they are entered directly after Skdldskaparmdl and follow the section of tikend. heiti. The inclusion of the genealogy of the Sturlungar at the end of the Pulur, on the last page of the manuscript, links this manuscript to the Sturlungar family, just as U does. The genealogy is traced down to Petr Jonsson of Vatnsfjor3r, a direct descendant of Snorri Sturluson through his daughter t>6rdis (who was married to E»orvaldr Snorrason). The genealogy may indicate the family background of the scribe, the person who commissioned the writing of the manuscript, or even its owner. There are no headings for the sections as we find in A and B, only a few black initials. These are found at the beginning of the following sections:

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Skdldskaparmdl (chapters according to table 5.1) 2 The beginning of the section on Fr66i's gold (2r26) 3 The beginning of the section on Hrolfr kraki (2v25) 5 The beginning of the section on Holgi (4v5) 7 Kennings for man (gold) (4r24) 8 Kennings for women (gold) (4v4) 11 Kennings for armour (5r20) 13 Heiti for pagan gods (619) 17 Heiti for the earth (6r24) 22 Heiti for worms (6v32) 26 Heiti for the sea (7r27 and 7vl4) 28 Heiti for the hours (8r21) 30 Heiti for kings (Halfdan) (8v21) 31 Hertz for man (9vl°) 33 Heiti for people (10r5) 35 Heiti for woman (10r25) Pulur The beginning of the Pulur (llr12) Heiti for giantesses (llr29) Heiti for battle (12r4) Heiti for axes (12r25) Heiti for helmets (12v7) Heiti for snow (12v17) Heiti for fish (12v27) Heiti for whales (12v34) Heiti for ships (13r2) It is not possible to detect any system in the editorial marking policy, especially in these sections in Skdldskaparmdl and the Pulur. As in the case of A and B, it is most likely that the objective would have been to make it easier to consult the manuscript. CONCLUSION The external features of the manuscripts of Snorra Edda (e.g., layout and colouring) reveal their intended function in Icelandic textual culture as reference books or school texts. The different ways that the work, particularly Skdldskaparmdl, is associated with the grammatical material demonstrates the popularity of the work in the thirteenth and

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69

fourteenth centuries. Skdldskaparmdl was edited and rewritten until the end of the fourteenth century, clearly demonstrating an active and consistent interest in the work from its original composition in the first quarter of the thirteenth century to the end of the fourteenth century. Each of these redactions, and the context in which they are found in the manuscripts, presents an independent text of Skdldskaparmdl. It is, therefore, misleading to judge these compilations as containing fragments of Snorra Edda,52 implying that a part of the text is missing, when in fact these versions mark different points of view in the development of skaldic poetics. It is outside the scope of this study, and moreover a futile undertaking, to determine which version of Snorra Edda, and Skdldskaparmdl in particular, is closest to Snorri Sturluson's original. The three complete medieval versions of Snorra Edda provide three different versions of the work and only one (R) presents the text as one unbroken whole. The evidence of T illustrates that the ordering of Snorra Edda in R was not singular in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and this fact may support Finnur Jonsson's contention that the R version is closest to Snorri's original. The argument put forward above that Codex Regius may reflect an early stage in the presentation of the skaldic art, also evident in the twelfth-century poem Hdttalykill, may strengthen the eminence of this manuscript while not devaluing the importance of the later development of Snorra Edda apparent in LZ and A in particular. The flexible nature of Snorra Edda, particularly the Skdldskaparmdl section, suggests that more than one version of this part of the Edda would already have been in circulation by the end of the thirteenth century. Codex Wormianus was put together by a writer with a rare overview of the grammatical literature and Snorra Edda, and the exclusion of the Pulur from this manuscript and U shows that the object behind the compilation of these two codices was different from that of R. The compiler of W did not, however, include all grammatical material existing in the vernacular, as the fragment of the 5GT in the earlier manuscript A indicates, and we are not in a position to judge the extent of what has been lost. The position of the Pulur in the manuscripts - in R and T on the one hand, and A, B, and C, on the other hand - is always in direct succession to Skdldskaparmdl. There is no clear break in any of these manuscripts between Skdldskaparmdl and the Pulur, thus confirming that the Pulur - though not always the same version - were an integral part of Snorra Edda in these manuscripts. The compilers of W and LI distinguish Hdttatal from the rest of Snorra

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Edda by introducing grammatical material between Skdldskaparmdl and the poem: in U the 2GT precedes the discussion of the sounds in Hdttatal; in W the relationship between the grammatical material and Hdttatal is not as direct, yet the grammatical treatises precede the poem and serve to lay its theoretical foundation. The provenance of Snorra Edda in the medieval manuscripts indicates that Hdttatal, the Prologue, and Gylfaginning were the less functional and popular parts of the work, perhaps because they were not as directly relevant to the practice of skaldic art as Skdldskaparmdl, which the writers or compilers of the manuscripts treated according to their own objectives. The very nature of Skdldskaparmdl as a compilatio lends itself readily to reordering and reorganizing. The 3GT is also found in A and B, not as a part of Litla Skdlda, Skdldskaparmdl, and the Pulur, but as a prelude to these works, which in these manuscripts form a unified whole. The 3GT was not the only grammatical treatise in A. This analysis of the different redactions of Snorra Edda has demonstrated the importance of scrutinizing the design of each manuscript, of placing the work in context not only with the grammatical treatises but with all the other texts existing in the codices. These auxiliary texts can give an idea of the wider context within which the theoretical presentation of skaldic art, both in Snorra Edda and the study of grammatica, took place. They can also point to the intended audience of the manuscript. For the sake of clarity the poetry preserved in conjunction with Snorra Edda can be divided into three sections, indicating, perhaps, different types of students of skaldic art in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. 1 Danish and Orcadian material (the influence of the school at Oddi) R (T): Jomsvikingadrdpa and Mdlshdttakv&di W: Rigspula 2 Icelandic material (the influence of the later generation of Sturlungar) U: Skdldatal, Logsogumannatal and the genealogy of the Sturlungar (integral part of Skdldskaparmdl). Only attribution of Snorra Edda to Snorri Sturluson AA: Islendingadrdpa. Only attribution of 3GT to 6lafr I>6rdarson C: Genealogy of the Sturlungar (at the end of the manuscript; not as directly related to the manuscript as in U)

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71

3 Religious material (the influence of the Church) B: Heilags anda visur, Leidarvisan, Liknarbraut, Harmsol, Mariudrdpa, Gydingsvisur This grouping does not necessarily indicate stages in the development of skaldic poetics, but rather that they exist at the same point in time and reflect different objectives of the compilers and patrons. If the contention raised above can be sustained that Codex Regius belongs to the first phase in the development of skaldic poetics at the internationally oriented school at Oddi where Snorri Sturluson studied as a young man, then the manuscripts of the second group most closely linked with the later generations of the Sturlungar family (LI, A, and C) reflect the aristocratic bias of that family. The third group is determined by the religious material and is represented by only one manuscript, even though W could be added. The fourteenth-century Prologue to the grammatical treatises in W argues the case for the use of skaldic poetics in religious verse, which is the implicit message of B. This division of the manuscripts is only a guideline towards a greater understanding of the practice of skaldic verse. The picture that emerges from the thematic analysis is to some extent similar to that offered by Finnur Jonsson's traditional stemma based on a comparison of the manuscripts of Snorra Edda, particularly his close analysis of Skdldskaparmdl. He did not, however, take into account the other texts in the manuscripts: Archetype

A and B are similar in their presentation of the grammatical material, and the discussion on skaldic poetics in Litla Skdlda, Skdldskaparmdl, and the Pulur and are probably derived from the same prototype, but the context within which this material is placed is fundamentally different and reflects diverse cultural milieus. C's text of Skdldskaparmdl is

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clearly linked to R, but the manuscript is associated with the Sturlungar family through the genealogy of the Sturlungar, which is added in another hand from that of the main text. The composition of these six manuscripts demonstrates that they do not merely string together related material on skaldic verse in no precise order, but that they were planned consciously by each compiler. Even though the manuscripts are arranged differently, the close relevance of the grammatical material to Snorra Edda and to the practice of skaldic art in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries has become clearer. Furthermore, and perhaps most surprisingly, the religious and secular skaldic poems in four of the manuscripts (R, A, W, and B) and other material relate directly to the theoretical treatment of skaldic verse. The broad appeal of skaldic verse is apparent not only from Snorra Edda manuscripts, but from the context within which the thirteenthcentury verse is preserved in the sources. Skaldic verse is preserved in different types of thirteenth-century narratives, in a saint's life as well as in historical works, in learned treatises, and in biographies of thirteenthcentury Icelanders. These sources and the lives of the thirteenth-century poets will be explored in the next part of the book.

PART TWO

The Sources and the Thirteenth-Century Poet

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chapter three Sources of Skaldic Verse

Thirteenth-century skaldic verse is not preserved in the poets' original copies but only in fourteenth-century transcripts. We find skaldic stanzas integrated in prose narratives, sagas, or grammatical treatises, or preserved as complete poems independent of the prose texts. Almost two hundred years, at the most, divide the date of composition and the time of the earliest manuscript, but in most cases the time difference is considerably narrower. The original circumstance of the composition of a stanza may be unknown, but the prose narratives and manuscripts containing the verse suggest the environment in which it was transmitted during the period immediately after its conception. One poet, Sturla E>6r3arson, even provided his own verse with a framework in his saga of King Hakon Hakonarson (1217-63) within which it is preserved. Sturla is also the author of Islendinga saga, which depicts events in Iceland in the thirteenth century and contains nearly one hundred stanzas by known and unknown poets. His brother, the poet t)lafr E»6r3arson, wrote the Third Grammatical Treatise, wherein he cites contemporary skaldic poetry to illustrate his translation of book 3 of Donatus's Ars maior. Such information on the writings and accomplishments of individual poets makes it possible to achieve a more reliable view of the thirteenth-century poet than the provenance of the verse may at first indicate. The manuscripts are our access to the poets' world. We know frustratingly little of how most fourteenth-century manuscripts in Iceland came into being. Nevertheless it has sometimes been possible to link manuscripts to a particular scribe or group of scribes and thus to gain some insight into the circumstances surrounding their composition.1 The subject matter and content of manuscripts can reflect the inten-

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Part Two: The Sources and the Thirteenth-Century Poet

tions, interests, and social background of those who put them together, and therefore the context within which the verse has come down to us can be indicative of the cultural milieu where skaldic verse was practised and enjoyed. The attitudes of those who put skaldic verse to writing are borne out by the testimony of these fourteenth-century manuscripts.2 In this chapter the sources of thirteenth-century skaldic verse will be placed under scrutiny to elucidate this textual background. Two points concerning the provenance of the verse will be of particular note in the discussion: the contents of the manuscript where the verse is preserved and the way the stanza relates to a saga or a treatise in which it is preserved. Twelve works, some in more than one version and most in more than one manuscript, contain skaldic verses that can with some certainty be dated to the thirteenth century. The differences between these texts as far as subject matter and stylistic features are concerned indicates the wide applicability of skaldic verse at all levels of the textual culture and in different genres. These sources can be divided into five groups: 1 Textbooks and treatises Snorra Edda (SnE) The Third Grammatical Treatise (3GT) The Fourth Grammatical Treatise (4GT) The 'Fifth' Grammatical Treatise (5GT) 2 Translations from Latin Merlinusspd in Breta sggur (Bs) 3 A translated saint's life Jons saga postula IV (JpIV) 4 Historical writing Sturlunga saga (Stu) Hdkonar saga Hdkonarsonar (HdkEir, HdkFris, HdkFlat, HdkSla) 5 Native biographies or Icelandic saints' lives Pals saga byskups (Pal) Gudmundar sogur byskups (GA, GB, GC, GD) Hrafns saga in serstaka (HrA, HrB) Arons saga (Ar) The examination here will follow this order.

Sources of Skaldic Verse

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TEXTBOOKS AND TREATISES Skdldskaparmdl in Snorra Edda Snorri Sturluson refers exclusively to eddic poetry in Gylfaginning, with the exception of the first two skaldic stanzas by Bragi Boddason (not in U) and t>j6661fr of Hvin, and therefore Gylfaginning, as far as its poetic testimony is concerned, is not discussed in this shady.3 Skdldskaparmdl, however, contains an extensive discussion of skaldic imagery with a direct reference to the example of eminent poets of the skaldic canon. Through a systematic study of the kennings and listings of various heiti, the poetic diction of skaldic verse is explained and elucidated by reference to verse by named poets. In the Codex Regius version of Skdldskaparmdl there are poetic citations by sixty-four poets, from the earliest skald Bragi Boddason to the poets of the late twelfth century. The youngest poet to be quoted is Mani, a court poet of King Magnus Erlingsson. Mani lived into the thirteenth century and was known to have sung the praise of Snorri Sturluson (Stu I, 328 [v. 43]). Snorri does not cite any other poetry from the thirteenth century. The verse in Skdldskaparmdl is therefore not relevant to our study, even though it should be stressed that throughout the present analysis of skaldic imagery the evidence of Skdldskaparmdl and the influence it extended over the practice of skaldic verse-making in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries will be given particular consideration.4 The manuscript evidence testifies to the appeal of Skdldskaparmdl to thirteenth- and fourteenth-century writers. It is therefore of some interest to note which poets of the skaldic canon are afforded the most elevated status in the work, that is, are cited more frequently than others, and how some of the poets preferred by Snorri in the work are omitted in the grammatical treatises written at a later date. We would expect the verse of the most revered poets of Skdldskaparmdl and the grammatical treatises - whether reliably attributed to them or not - to have had influence on the readers of these works. If such a link can be established - as discussed in chapter 6 - it is a further indication of the context in which the poets learned skaldic versifying. The following list is drawn from the version of Skdldskaparmdl in R.5 Seventeen poets are cited more than five times: Arnorr jarlaskald Pordarson (21), Bragi Boddason (14 and Ragnarsdrdpa [10]), Egill Skalla-Grimsson (9), Eilifr Godrunarson (4, and Porsdrdpa [19]), Einarr skalaglamm (14), Einarr Skulason (35),6 Eyvindr skaldaspillir (15),

78

Part Two: The Sources and the Thirteenth-Century Poet

Hallfrear 6ttarsson (11), Hallvardr Hareksblesi (6), Hofgaraa-Refr (14), Kormakr Qgmundarson (7), Markus Skeggjason (7), Ormr Steinj^orsson (6), (3ttarr svarti (12), Ulfr Uggason (13), I»j6(561fr Arnorsson (14), and J>j6S61fr of Hvin (3 and Haustlgng [20]). The poetic citations are drawn from the whole corpus, from the ninth century to the twelfth century. These are the established court poets of the skaldic canon and their verse is cited in the historical kings' sagas and the grammatical literature; only Ormr SteinJ>6rsson and Ulfr Uggason are not listed in Skdldatal and their verse is only preserved in SkdldskaparmdL Ormr is unknown, but scholars have observed his use of learned diction and argued that he must have lived in the late twelfth century.7 I>j6d61fr Arnorsson and (3ttarr svarti, who were discussed in relation to the First Grammatical Treatise, are on the list. Sighvatr I>6r6arson, who is among the hgfudskdld mentioned in Einarr Skulason's poem Geisli, is conspicuously missing. His verse is known for its simple and direct phrasing and would therefore not lend itself easily to Snorri's analysis. Einarr Skulason is the most popular poet and is placed at the head of the skaldic canon in this version of SkdldskaparmdL He continued to have a strong position in the textual culture, as will be further discussed in chapters 5 and 8. Sighvatr t»6rdarson is quoted five times in Skdldskaparmdl, and so are Glumr Geirason and Skuli Porsteinsson. Viga-Glumr Eyjolfsson, E»orvaldr blonduskald, Valgar5r, t»orbJQrn hornklofi, and Eilifr kulnasveinn are quoted four times. Fourteen skalds are quoted two or three times,8 and the remaining twenty-eight skalds only once.9 Bjarne Fidjest01 noted that there is virtually no overlap between the skaldic corpus in the kings' sagas and Snorra Edda, on the one hand, and the Sagas of Icelanders, on the other hand.10 Even though we find verse by the same poets, it is not necessarily drawn from the same corpus of verse. This is an important point when we assess the dating of the verse in the Sagas of Icelanders; it does not belong to the corpus of historical verse most firmly associated with the writing of chronology11 Hallfredr, Kormakr, and Egill are among the most important poets of the skaldic canon and they are also cited in the Sagas of Icelanders. These three were recognized court poets and are listed in Skdldatal and cited in Skdldskaparmdl, and therefore belong to the authoritative section of the canon.12 However, the verse cited by Kormakr and Hallfredr in Skdldskaparmdl is from their court poetry, not the corpus of verse in their respective sagas that is perhaps not as historically reliable. Egill Skalla-Grimsson is the exception. He is a known

Sources of Skaldic Verse

79

court poet from Skdldatal, but his verse is only known from his saga, which resides on the boundary of the kings' sagas and the Sagas of Icelanders. None of the historiographers, however, authenticated his verse by citing it in a historical context of the kings' sagas. E»orm66r Kolbrunarskald is conspicuously missing from Skdldskaparmdl. Four poets known from the Sagas of Icelanders are quoted there. VigaGlumr is cited three times and two of these half-stanzas are also known from his saga. Havardr halti's half-stanza in Skdldskaparmdl is not known elsewhere, but other verse attributed to him is in the saga of his name. The two references to Gunnlaugr ormstunga and Grettir Asmundarson are known from their sagas. Gunnlaugr's half-stanza is taken from the stanza he composed at Al^ingi when he set his eyes on Helga fagra after he fought the duel with HramQnundarson (Gunn 96 [11] v. 19).13 Grettir composed his stanza at the assembly at Hegranes when he had been promised grid ('truce') (Gre 234 [79] v. 63). It is of note that both stanzas are cited at a legal assembly. All of these poets originate in the west and north of Iceland, in the Sturlungar's area of power. Skdldskaparmdl is broken into two parts in Codex Wormianus: the section relating to the kennings is entered after Gylfaginning, and a unique redaction of the second part of Skdldskaparmdl, called dkend heiti, is introduced at the end of the manuscript of which only two single leaves remain. This redaction is singular in the way it uses contemporary verse to illustrate poetic diction, not only verse from the established skaldic canon (before 1200), as was Snorri Sturluson's practice. The thirteenth-century poets discussed in this study are marked by an asterisk (*) before their name in table 3.1. The poets drawn from the classical canon known from Skdldskaparmdl are I>j6661fr Arnorsson, Sighvatr I>6r6arson, Arnorr jarlaskald, Einarr Skulason, Egill SkallaGrimsson, and Ulfr Uggason. The notable additions are from the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries. Asgrimr Jonsson, t»6r6r S[...]son, Bjarni A[...]son, Gestr, and Skald-E»6rir are unknown, but Rognvaldr is possibly Rpgnvaldr kali, earl in Orkney. Only the stanzas by Snorri Sturluson and Olafr Leggsson can with certainty be dated to the thirteenth century; it is difficult to date the anonymous poems Morgunsol and Mariuflokkr. Brodir ('Brother/ or monk) Ami has been identified either as Ami Jonsson, who composed verse about Bishop GuSmundr Arason, or Ami Laurentiusson, the son of Bishop Laurentius at Holar 1324-31.14 These suggestions remain unproved. More than a hundred years separate the Codex Wormianus's redac-

80

Part Two: The Sources and the Thirteenth-Century Poet

TABLE 3.1 Skaldic citations in Codex Wormianus's Okend heiti Poet

Number

SEN

OHHM924

Fragment 1 Pj606lfr [Arnorsson] PorQr S[...]son Asgrfmr J6nsson Sighvatr [£6rflarson] Arn6rr [jarlaskald] Rognvaldr *6lafr Leggsson *Snorri Sturluson Gestr

1 2 3 4 5,7 6 8 9 10

496 497 497 497 498 498 498 498 498

104 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105

11, 12 13

499 499

111 111

14,22 15,24

499, 500 499, 500

111,112

16 17 18 19

499 499 499 499 500 500

Fragment II Bjarni A[...]son Skald-Porir *Snorri Sturluson Einarr Skulason Anon. Morgunsdl Egill [Skalla-Grfmsson] Ulfr Uggason *6lafr Leggsson Anon. Mariuflokkr Brodir Ami

20,21 23

112 112 112 112 112 112 112

tion of Okend heiti and Snorri's composition of Skdldskaparmdl and there has ocurred a marked change in this period in the interpretation of the skaldic canon in relation to the explication of skaldic diction. (3lafr J>6r6arson's choice of skaldic citations in his Third Grammatical Treatise from the complete skaldic canon (from the ninth century to the thirteenth century; see below) may have been a formative influence on the compiler of W, who chooses to substantiate the account of the heiti with examples from thirteenth- and fourteenth-century poetry. The author of this particular version of Okend heiti has assimiliated Snorri Sturluson and (3lafr Leggsson into the established skaldic canon. Hdttatal in Snorra Edda Snorra Edda is the main source for one of the most important poems of the thirteenth century, Snorri Sturluson's Hdttatal The poem is a

Sources of Skaldic Verse

81

clavis metrica, and its subject matter, like that of its predecessor, Hdttalykill, belongs in the framework of royal historiography. Whereas Hdttalykill contains a chronological and mythic account of the Norwegian kingdom, Hdttatal is a praise poem, composed in honour of King Hakon and Earl (later Duke) Skuli BarSarson (d. 1240). Hdttatal is not merely a poem by Snorri Sturluson but contains a commentary on the clavis metrica that includes a full explanation of the skaldic metre, and therefore it can be transmitted independently from the other parts of the Edda. The only source for Snorri Sturluson's authorship of Hdttatal is in U, where a reference is made to the poem's contents: Hattatal er Snorri Sturluson orti um Hakon konung ok Skula hertoga. (LI 94.1)

Hattatal, which Snorri Sturluson composed about King Hakon and Duke Skuli.

Snorri's authorship is also attested in other sources. References to ten of Hdttatal's stanzas are found in two grammatical treatises, (3lafr Pordarson's Third Grammatical Treatise and the Fourth Grammatical Treatise, and fittingly in Sturla E>6r6arson's Hdkonar saga. The stanzas that are found in these works are as follows (manuscript sigla and page numbers from Olsen's edition of the treatises): 3GT: 5^ (A 107), 157~8-161 (W 24; A 94), 28^ (W19; A 79), 40^ (W 24; A 95), 731"4 (W 25; A 95), S35-6 (W 9; B 52). 4GT: 12 (W 136-7), 14 (W 136). 6HW: 2s-8 (v. 14, table 3.1); 407"8 (v. 9, table 3.1) Hdk: 63-4, 66 (table 3.5). The poem's textual history is simple. The only manuscript to preserve it complete is R, some parts of which are illegible.15 Part of the poem exists in other Snorra Edda manuscripts: U contains only the first 56 stanzas. T 1-61 (last leaves of the manuscript are lost). W 7-86 (beginning and end of the poem are lost). Hdttatal is not preserved in the three manuscripts that contain only the Skdldskaparmdl section of Snorra Edda (A, B, and C). U has before the heading of the poem 'a list of the names of most of the first thirty-six

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Part Two: The Sources and the Thirteenth-Century Poet

verse-forms together with the opening lines of the corresponding stanzas ... Since many of the names of the verse-forms are omitted from the other manuscripts, this is a most welcome addition to the text/16 Faulkes concludes in his discussion of the manuscripts of Hdttatal that the poem is badly preserved and that it is not possible to reconstruct the original. He supports Finnur Jonsson's findings in his edition of Snorra Edda that U has different readings from R, T, and W. Faulkes bases his edition of Hdttatal on R, but supplies variants from the other manuscripts. Hdttatal is preserved in conjunction with Gylfaginning and Skdldskaparmdl in only one medieval codex, JR. The other two medieval manuscripts detach Hdttatal from the other two parts by placing grammatical treatise(s) in between. Separate poems in Snorra Edda's manuscripts It is worth listing at this point the poems preserved in conjunction with Snorra Edda in the manuscripts. As the analysis of the manuscripts revealed in chapter 2, it can be argued that these poems have a direct bearing on the content of the manuscripts and the time of their writing. 1 Jomsvikingadrdpa and Mdlshdttakv&di are entered at the end of the R manuscript of Snorra Edda. They are in the same hand as the main part of the manuscript and belong to the original composition of the codex. Both poems were composed probably in Orkney and are not part of this study, but they throw light on the context within which Snorra Edda was transmitted. 2 Islendingadrdpa by Haukr Valdisarson is only found in A, at the very end of the manuscript. Haukr is unknown, but the poem has been dated to either the twelfth or thirteenth centuries. It is included in this study. 3 Religious verse in B: Heilags anda visur Leidarvisan (a few stanzas in AM 639 4to) Liknarbraut Harmsol by Canon Gamli Mariudrdpa Gydingsvisur Only Harmsol is attributed to an author. Two of these poems have been dated to the twelfth century (Harmsol and Leidarvisan); Heilags anda visur

Sources of Skaldic Verse

83

and Lfknarbraut belong to the thirteenth-century corpus and are included in this study, but Mariudrdpa and Gydingsvisur are probably younger.17 Apart from these skaldic poems the eddic poem Rigspula is preserved only in W. All the manuscripts, except for LZ and C, contain additional verse in the context of Snorra Edda and the grammatical material. LI and C contain material of a different kind, such as genealogies that connect the Srurlungar family to the mythic past of Scandinavia and serve to strengthen their aristocratic identity. The Third Grammatical Treatise W AM 242 fol. (Codex Wormianus; w: AM 756 4to) A AM748Ib4to B AM757a4to Olafr I>6r6arson's Third Grammatical Treatise (3GT) is found almost complete in two manuscripts containing Snorra Edda, W and A, but only the first part of the treatise concluding with the chapter on barbarismus is in B. The fourth manuscript is descended directly from W, and thus is called w. There are two lacunae in A, which is the manuscript considered by Bjorn M. Olsen, the editor of the treatise, to offer the best text; there is one lacuna in the first part of the treatise, and a second in the chapter presenting tropes. W offers the most complete text of the treatise, even though Olsen judges it to be inferior to A18 The 3GT is not only the most important indication of the high level of the shady of poetics in the thirteenth century, but also an important source of verse, most of which is anonymous and not known elsewhere. Some of it may have been composed for the purposes of the treatise. The treatise is divided into two parts: 1 Olafr's adaptation of Priscian's Institutiones. Only two skaldic stanzas are quoted in that part of the work, the first by Snorri Sturluson, and the other, though not attributed to him in the treatise, by EormoSr Kolbrunarskald. 2 Olafr's translation and adaption of Donatus's book 3 of Ars maior, The discussion is laced with citations from skaldic poetry and can be divided into five parts: 1 De barbarismo (chap. 11) 2 Soloecismus (chap. 12) 3 Tin lestir ('ten vices/ chap. 13)

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Part Two: The Sources and the Thirteenth-Century Poet

4 Metaplasmus (chap. 14) 5 De scemalexeo (chap. 15) 6 De tropo et metaphorae (chap. 16) All the poets are listed in table 3.2. Thirteenth-century poets discussed in this study are marked with an asterisk (*) before their name. About half of the verse is quoted anonymously, some stanzas are known elsewhere, but a number of them cannot be attributed to a known poet. (3lafr's reason for citing the verse is not to authenticate the treatment of the skaldic diction, as had been Snorri Sturluson's intention in Skdldskaparmdl, but to find the most suitable examples to illustrate the figures and metaphors. The list of skalds in table 3.2 is also interesting with regard to establishing the known poetic canon in the thirteenth century, as we saw in relation to Skdldskaparmdl. Gisli SigurSsson has pointed out that most of these poets originated in the west and north of Iceland, that is, in that part of the country where the Sturlungar family lived, and reflected their own perspective and knowledge of the canon.19 It is moreover of interest that the poets known from the Sagas of Icelanders are lacking, again with the exception of Hallfredr vandraedaskald, Egill SkallaGrimsson, and Kormakr Qgmundarson (this stanza is elsewhere attributed to Bjorn Hitdcelakappi), who belonged to the court poets. It shows that CMafr's canon is the same as that used in the established skaldic canon of historical saga writing, in the kings' sagas and Sturlunga saga, and in Snorra Edda. These are the poets who are cited in the learned literature. Bjorn Hitdcelakappi was not, however, an established court poet in the thirteenth-century literature (not noted in SMldatal). Sections of his saga are interpolated into the Big Saga of t)lafr helgi Haraldsson in fourteenth-century redactions, such as Bxjarbok (AM 71 a fol.), and Bjorn is noted as one of Olafr's court poets in the articles attributed to the well-known writer Styrmir Karason (d. 1245) in Flateyjarbok (Flat III, 244) and only preserved there. This attribution has not been contested. Bjorn's verse is only cited (except for one stanza) in the saga of his name and anonymously in the thirteenth-century 3GT. Bjarni Gudnason has suggested on thematic grounds that Bjarnar saga was not written until 1300 or later, and the apparent interest in Bjgrn in these fourteenth-century works may support his claim.20 AThe citations can also profitably be compared to Skdldskaparmdl. The poets quoted more than once by name in 3GT are Arnorr jarlaskald (4), Egill Skalla-Grimsson (6), Einarr Skulason (3), Eyvindr skaldaspillir

Sources of Skaldic Verse

85

TABLE 3.2 Skaldic citations in the Third Grammatical Treatise Poet

Number

Anonymous (known)

2 (Pormdar Kolbrunarskald), 16 (Bjprn Hi'tdoelakappi), 17 (Einarr skalaglamm's Vellekla), 71 (Snorri Sturluson), 102 (t^rdr Kolbeinsson) 8, 10, 14, 15, 19, 22, 23, 24, 27, 30, 33, 36, 37, 39, 43, 44, 47, 48, 52, 56, 57, 58, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 69, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 83 (pula), 85, 86, 90, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 101, 103, 105, 106, 108, 109, 110, 111, 117, 119, 123 1,26,35,70,79,99,100, 121 3,51,81, 107, 118, 120 4 5 6,68 7, 29, 40, 55 9 11,21, 113 12,88 13 18 20,87 25 28 31,45,92,94 32 34,60,62, 112 38 41 42 46 49 50 53 54 59 61 80 82 84 89,93 91 104 114,116 115 122

Anonymous (unknown)

*Snorri [Sturluson] Egill [Skalla-Grimsson] Harekr in Pj6tta Audunn illskaelda Glumr [Geirason] Arndrr jarlaskald Eih'fr GoOrunarson Einarr [Skulason] Skraut-Oddr Starkadr *6lafr Leggsson Eyvindr skaldaspillir t^orleifr jarlsskald Haflidamal Pj656lfr [Arn6rsson] Halldorr skvaldri Sighvatr [Porfiarson] *Kolbeinn [Tumason] *Gu5brandr Sneglu-Halli Gudlaugr *6lafr [l^drOarson] Hallar-Steinn Bragi Boddason Kormakr [Qgmundarson] H6lmgongu-Bersi (Bjprn in mss.) Bjugarvisur HallfreOr

Grimnismal (47) *Mani skald Markus Skeggjason Ormr Steinbbrsson LeiOolfr Sveinn Kugadrapa Nikulas aboti

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Part Two: The Sources and the Thirteenth-Century Poet

(2), Glumr Geirason (2), Markus Skeggjason (2), Sighvatr Pordarson (4), Skraut-Oddr (2), Snorri Sturluson (8), Sveinn (2), and I>j6d61fr Arnorsson (4). The verse is drawn from the whole canon. The only thirteenth-century poet on the list is Snorri Sturluson and he is quoted most often; other thirteenth-century poets are only cited once. Arnorr jarlaskald, Egill Skalla-Grimsson, Einarr Skulason, Eyvindr skaldaspillir, Markus Skeggjason, and E»j6d61fr Arnorsson are also among the most important skalds in Skdldskaparmdl, as are Sighvatr Pordarson and Glumr Geirason, who are quoted four times. Sveinn is probably the same as the one who composed Nordrsetudrdpa cited in Skdldskaparmdl. Skraut-Oddr is only known from this source. Kolbeinn Tumason, Gudbrandr, Mani, Olafr Leggsson, and 6lafr f»6rdarson are only cited once in the treatise. These five poets are, along with Snorri Sturluson, among the most established poets in the thirteenth century, and therefore it is conspicuous that two of them, Gudbrandr and (3lafr Leggsson, who are also cited in the fragment of a grammatical treatise in A (5GT), are virtually unknown. The legendary hero Starkadr is cited in the context of the historical poets in 3GT. His name is recorded in both versions of Skdldatal as the first professional poet, even though his verse is not associated with a particular patron, as we will see in chapter 4. Starkadr is regarded as a historical figure by thirteenth-century learned men and his verse as belonging to the established canon of skaldic poetry. The reference to Starkadr is an important reminder that the traditional boundaries between 'historical' (as commencing in the late ninth century with the rule of Haraldr harfagri) and 'prehistoric' verse reflect modern, rather than medieval, notions of authenticity. Starkadr and Ragnarr lodbrok clearly belong within the Danish historical framework, as we shall explore in chapter 8. The only eddic poem that is referred to in the treatise is Grimnismdl. This poem had a special standing in the context of skaldic poetics and cosmological imagery in the thirteenth century, as will be explored in detail in the discussion of Litla Skdlda in chapter 5 and of Gylfaginning in chapter 7. The Fourth Grammatical Treatise W AM 242 fol. (Codex Wormianus) The Fourth Grammatical Treatise is preserved only in Codex Wormianus.

Sources of Skaldic Verse

87

TABLE 3.3 Skaldic citations in the Fourth Grammatical Treatise Poet Porleifr jarlsskald Eirikr vi'Osja Porleifr [Porkelsson skuma] Eilffr [GoOrunarson] Arn6rr jarlaskald Einarr Skulason Snorri [Sturluson] Olafr [F>6raarson]

Order in 4GT

Quoted elsewhere

1

3GTv. 25 He/dv. 17

2 27 28 32

3GTv. 29

56 (anon.) 18, 35 (anon.), 36 (anon.) 19,20

The unknown author of the treatise knew Olafr t>6r6arson's 3GT and wrote with a reference to it (see chap. 11 in 4GT), and is following Alexander's Doctrinale and Eberhard of Bethune's Graecismus,21 4GT contains 62 poetic quotations: 11 examples of which are by eight known poets and 51 are of unknown origin. Table 3.3 lists the eight poets cited in the treatise. Two of Snorri Sturluson's stanzas from Hdttatal (4GT 35-6; table 3.3) are quoted anonymously, and 6lafr £»6r6arson's patronymic is not given. The third column indicates whether the verse is cited in another source. Two stanzas (24, 25; perhaps three, no. 6) are quoted from an otherwise unknown poem called Nikuldssdrdpa. The 51 remaining stanzas of unknown origin cannot be attributed to a particular author. Of the known poets only two are from the thirteenth century, Snorri Sturluson and Olafr I>6rcorleifr jarlsskald is also cited once in all three works, but Eirikr vidsja (whose stanza is also cited in Heidarviga saga; Skj IA, 210.7; Heid 323 [40] v. 17) and t»orleifr f»orkelsson skuma (whose stanza is cited in Jomsvikinga saga; Skj IA, 117) are an interesting addition to the corpus of skaldic citations in the grammatical literature. Codex Wormianus was probably written in the Benedictine monastery at Pingeyrar,22 and Heidarviga saga has been connected with the same monastery.23 Bergur Sokkason has been identified as a possible author of 4GT,24 which is thought to have been written in connection with compilation of Codex Wormianus.25 One poetic citation is obviously a

88

Part Two: The Sources and the Thirteenth-Century Poet

small indication of the origin of the manuscript, but the inclusion of Eirikr vidsja's stanza in the 4GT may be an additional indication that these two works, Heidarviga saga and 4GT, originated in, or in the vicinity of, J>ingeyrar.26 It is furthermore of interest, in light of the discussion in the previous chapter of the Danish material in Codex Wormianus, that torleifr's stanza is also cited in Jomsvikinga saga. There is a strikingly more religious leaning in the choice of illustrative examples in 4GT than in 3GT, which is only natural if the place of composition was a religious centre such as Pingeyrar. The point of reference of this fourteenth-century author is markedly different from that of (3lafr f>6r5arson's a hundred year earlier. The anonymous poetic examples in the treatise have been included in this study, even though it is difficult to ascertain whether they were composed in the thirteenth or the fourteenth century. The 'Fifth ' Grammatical Treatise A AM748Ib4to This short fragment of a grammatical treatise has tentatively been named the Fifth Grammatical Treatise?7 The fragment contains only a few lines, including three skaldic fragments by one Einarr (probably Einarr Skiilason), GuSbrandr, and (3lafr Leggsson. These poets were among the authorities or auctores in the context of Icelandic grammatical literature. All three are quoted in 3GT (even the same couplet by Gudbrandr), Olafr and Einarr are cited in tikend heiti in Codex Wormianus, and Einarr Skulason is prominent in Skaldskaparmal. TRANSLATIONS FROM LATIN Breta sggur Merl in Breta sogur in AM 544 4to (fols. 36-53) Merlinusspa is Gunnlaugr Leifsson's verse translation of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Prophetiae Merlini, which is inserted into the prose translation of Geoffrey's Historia regum Brittaniae.28 Gunnlaugr follows the Latin prose original closely, but renders it in the eddic fornyrdislag. He also shifts the order of the two main sections of the work. The translation echoes indigenous imagery found in Icelandic skaldic and eddic

Sources of Skaldic Verse

89

verse, and therefore it is a significant contribution to Icelandic poetry in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.29 Merlinusspd is only preserved as part of Breta sggur in Hauksbok. Hauksbok is not preserved complete. It seems to have been whole when it came into Ami Magmisson's possession, but was then broken up into three parts, AM 371 4to, AM 544 4to, and AM 675 4to, which are all defective.30 Hauksbok is a compilation of various medieval texts made by the Lawman Haukr Erlendsson (d. 1334), it seems, for his private library. Hauler's hand is found in the compilation, and his is the oldest known hand of an identified Icelander. His hand, among others, is on AM 544 4to, fols. 36-53, where Breta sggur are found. A SAINT'S LIFE Jons saga postula IV JpIV AM 649 a 4to (1350-1400) Skaldic poems relating the lives of saints are preserved independently of the saints' lives (e.g., Pldcitus drdpa, Katrinardrdpa), except in one instance, the so-called fourth version of the Saga of John the Apostle. At the end of the saga the author quotes stanzas by three well-known figures who composed skaldic poems in praise of St John the Apostle. The verse is not integrated into the narrative. Two of the poets lived in the twelfth century, Abbot Nikulas at MunkaJ>vera, and Canon Gamli at the Augustinian monastery of t>ykkvibcer. Nikulas is probably also the author of Leidarvisir, a guide for pilgrims on their journey to Rome and Jerusalem,31 and Canon Gamli composed Harmsol. The third poet is the chieftain Kolbeinn Tumason of the Asbirningar family in the north of Iceland.32 The introduction to the quoting of the skaldic stanzas by the twelfthcentury poets, Nikulas and Canon Gamli, are of note. Poetic inspiration is the gift of God: Skaldin letu set ok girniligt synask at scema {>enna gu3s astvin med J?eiri list er Jjeim veittisk af gudi. Ma J>ar til nefna fremsta personu Nicholas fyrsta ok fremsta, I^verar munklifis abota i Eyjafirdi, er baeSi var

The poets showed themselves keen to honour this beloved friend of God with the art which had been given to them by God. We can mention first of all the outstanding person of Nicholas Abbot

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Part Two: The Sources and the Thirteenth-Century Poet

gceddr natturugjgfum ok vpldum mannkostum. Hann orti drapu saelum Johanni... Annan mann til 6dg0rdar signadum Johanni nefnum ver Gamla kanunk austr i I>ykkvabce. Hann orti drapu dyrligum Johanni. (JpIV 509-10)

of the I>vera monastery in EyjafJQrdr who was both endowed with natural gifts and distinguished with exceptional personal qualities. He composed a drdpa for the holy Johannes. Another man who composed poetry for the blessed Johannes was Canon Gamli east in Pykkvibcer; he composed a drdpa for the glorious Johannes.

The interest in the composition of religious verse in the skaldic metre seems to have been widespread in the twelfth century. This activity can be deduced from the existing poetic examples from this period, such as Pldcitus drdpa, which is the oldest preserved example of a skaldic poem in the manuscripts, written about 1200 (AM 673 b 4to). The manuscript is a copy of an older manuscript, which sets the date of composition even further back.33 The poet of the drdpa makes extensive use of pagan imagery, which demonstrates the easy adaptation of skaldic imagery in Christian poetry, probably because of its compatibility with classical Latin myth. Two other drdpur are preserved from the twelfth century in the B manuscript of Skdldskaparmdl (AM 757 a 4to, see above), Harmsol by Canon Gamli and the anonymous Liknarbraut. HISTORICAL WRITING Sturlunga saga I AM 122 a fol. (1360-60); and Ip (paper copies) II AM 122 b fol. (1375-1400); and Up (paper copies) Sturlunga saga is a contemporary chronicle of events in Iceland in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and one of the most important sources of thirteenth-century verse.34 It contains in all 149 (150) skaldic stanzas: 25 in the sagas relating twelfth-century events, 17 of them in Porgils saga ok Haflida alone; and 124 (125) in the sagas of the thirteenth century, where the narratives most densely accompanied by poetry are Islendinga saga (94) and Pordar saga kakala (19 [20]). Verse by known and unknown poets is imbedded into the narrative throughout the work. The distribution is indicated in table 3.4.

Sources of Skaldic Verse

91

The compilation is preserved in two fourteenth-century vellum codices, Kroksfjardarbok (AM 122 a fol.) and Reykjarfjardarbok (AM 122 b fol.), both dating from the latter part of the fourteenth century and now defective. Kroksfjardarbok, the older of the two, is more complete, containing 110 out of 141 leaves in the original book, yet both the beginning and the end are missing, along with lacunae within the saga.35 Reykjarfjardarbok contains only 30 out of the 180 original leaves; Sturlunga saga is found on 24 leaves,36 and fragments of Arna saga and Gudmundar saga on the remaining six leaves. These fragments suffice to show that Porgils saga skarda was included only in Reykjarfjardarbok. The codices differ in many other respects and therefore it is legitimate to speak of two versions of Sturlunga saga. The splendour of these two volumes bears witness to the esteem in which the subject matter was held. Many paper manuscripts from the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries descend from the vellums at a time they were more complete than they are now. These, however, do not contain exact copies of either manuscript but a blend of the two. This makes a reconstruction of the Reykjarfjardarbok, which is by far the more defective manuscript, difficult.37 There is every reason to put faith in the saga's attribution of the verse to named poets. The individual sagas were written only a few decades after the events took place, and the Sturlunga saga compilation was put together about 1300, probably by the lawman f»6r3r Narfason (d. 1308).38 He was of the Hitdcelir family, listed among the powerful families in JEttartglur of Sturlunga saga (see Introduction and Genealogy 4). There are, however, not many opportunities to compare the verse in both vellums. Only seven stanzas out of the total of 150 exist in both manuscripts, but by some good fortune these represent four well-known poets of the period: Kolbeinn Tumason, Snorri Sturluson, Gizurr t»orvaldsson, and Pall f»orsteinsson, along with one anonymous rhyme (see stanza numbers 24-5, 75, 106, 132-3, and 134 in table 3.4). The two versions do not differ as far as the ordering and number of the verse is concerned. By comparing Reykjarfjardarbok and Kroksfjardarbok, where they are both extant, and the two groups of paper manuscripts, it seems clear that most of the verse is preserved in both manuscript groups. There are, however, some exceptions: 1 Kroksfjardarbok contains one stanza more than Reykjarfjardarbok (no. 110), in Pordar saga kakala.

TABLE 3.4 Skaldic verse in Sturlunga saga Poet

Year

Twelfth-century verse Bragi gamli Boddason (G£) Anonymous verse: (PH)

? 1118-21

Ingimundr prestr Einarsson f^rCr Porvaldsson Pbrflr Rufeyjaskald Porgils Oddason J6n P6rarinsson (SO PorvarOr Porgeirsson (PG) Qgmundr PorvarOsson (Gd) Dagstyggr P6r5arson (Gd)

1119-20 1119 1120 1121 1180 1163 1196 1196

Thirteenth-century verse Kolbeinn Tumason (Gd, Is) Egill Skalla-Grfmsson (dream) (is) Anonymous verse (fs)

1197-1207 1205 1209-61

Sighvatr Sturluson (fs) Anonymous verse (Hr) GuCmundr Galtason (Hr, fs) Mani skald (fs) GuOmundr Oddsson (fs) Snorri Sturluson (fs)

1212-38 1203-8 1210-29 1217 1220-32 1221-38

AM 122afol. (I, Ip)

1

2-4, 10, 14(9, 11 om. in Ip), 17-18 (1 7 om. in Ip) 5, 13, 15 6 (om. 8 in Ip)

12

16 19 20 21 22

23-5 (Gd), 27-8 (Is) 26

29-30, 31-3, 41, 42, 46, 49, 53, 55, 58, 61, 75, 78, 79, 81-2, 83-104, 138-45, 151 34,85

35-9

40 (Hr), 59 (fs), 62 (fs), 65 (fs) 43

44, 50, 52, 63, 66, 73, 76-7 45,487,64,106

AM 122bfol. (II, lip) 1

2-4, 7, 9-1 1, 14, 17-18

5,13, 15 6,8 12 16 19 20 21 22

23, 24, 25, 27-8 26 29-30, 31-3, 36-8, 41, 42, 46, 49, 53, 55, 58, 61, 75, 78, 79, 81-2, 83-104, 138-45, 151 34 35-9 40, 59, 62, 65 43 44, 50, 52, 63, 66, 73, 76-7, 45, 48?, 64, 106

TABLE 3.4 - concluded Skaldic verse in Sturlunga saga Poet

Year

AM 122afol. (I, Ip)

AM 122bfol. (II, lip)

Loptr Palsson (Is) Brandr (Is) Sturla Baraarson (is) 6lafr E>6rflarson (is) Amundi smiOr Arnason (Is) Ormr Svinfellingr J6nsson (is) Ami 6reiOa Magnussson (is) Sturla Sighvatsson (Is) Svertingr Porleifsson (is) Olafr Brynj6lfsson (Is) GuOmundr Asbjarnarson (Is) Pbrir jpkull (Is) Sturla PbrOarson (is)

1221 1222 1222-8

47

47 51

1225 1227 1229 1229 1229 1229 1229-30 1237 1238 1242-61

56 57 67 68 69

56 57 67 68 69

70-1 72, 74?

70-1 72, 74?

80 105

80 105

107-9, 131, 137, 146-7 (Psk), 150 (1/2 repeated in Sfjb:150b)

107-9, 131, 137, 146-7, 137?, 150 (150b)

Anonymous: (P/r: in 1) Ingjaldr Geirmundarson (P/c) Skald-Hallr (Pk) Gunnarr (Reyk; Ps/c) Gizurr Porvaldsson (is) Pall l^orsteinsson (is) Guttormr Helgason kortr (Is) t^orvarOr trefbtr (is) Anonymous (Psk: in II)

1244 1244-5 1245 1245 1253-4 1254 1255 1255 1257

110

51 (anon.) 54,60

111-13,114-19,126-9 120, 121-3, 124-5

54,60

111-19,126-9 120-5

130

130

132-3

132-3

134 135 136

134 135 136

148-9

148-9

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Part Two: The Sources and the Thirteenth-Century Poet

2 Reykjarfjardarbok contains three more stanzas in Porgils saga ok Haflida (8,9,11) and the ones in Porgils saga skarda (130,146-7,148-9). 3 The beginning of Kroksfjardarbok is missing, and therefore the first part of the saga of f»orgils and Hafli6i, but the paper manuscripts derived from Kroksfjardarbok do not contain these four stanzas, and not even stanza 17, even though it exists in the latter. This discrepancy shows that it is not possible to ascertain whether Ipmanuscripts accurately copy the vellum as far as the verse in Porgils saga ok Haflida is concerned. There are a total of 140 stanzas in Kroksfjardarbok (and Ip) and 149 in Reykjarfjardarbok. By counting verses existing in both manuscripts there are 150 stanzas in all. The distribution of poetry in the compilation is uneven: Geirmundar pdttr heljarskinns: 1 stanza by Bragi Boddason Porgils saga ok Haflida: 13 stanzas in I; 17 stanzas in II Sturlu saga: 1 half-stanza by Jon f»6rarinsson Prestssaga Gudmundar goda: 1 stanza by E>orvar6r t»orgeirsson Gudmundar saga dyra: 5 stanzas Hrafns saga Sveinbjarnarsonar: 6 stanzas Islendinga saga: 94 stanzas Pordar saga kakala: 20 stanzas in I; 19 stanzas in II Porgils saga skarda: 5 stanzas, only in II Sturlu Ipaiir. 1 half-stanza (repeated) The verse is interwoven into the fabric of the narrative in Sturlunga saga, most successfully in Sturla f>6r5arson's own Islendinga saga, where the verse plays a distinct role in the course of events. By contrast, the verse cited in Pordar saga kakala by Pordr's followers provides a commentary and assessment of I>6r5r's and his enemies' actions comparable to such appraisals in the kings' sagas. The poetry in Pordar saga kakala serves the distinct purpose of showing I>6rdr in the light of Scandinavian rulers who had professional poets in their company documenting the crucial moments in their careers, and in whose company I>6rdr is seen to belong. Table 3.4 lists the verses in the order in which they occur in the two groups of manuscripts, using Kalund's numbering in his edition of the saga (which is the same in St 1988). Verses preserved in the two vellum manuscripts are written in bold type, whereas plain print denotes the

Sources of Skaldic Verse

95

sections where the codices are defective and where the two groups of paper copies have to be relied on. Some of the verse preserved in Sturlunga saga exists in other sources, such as in the sagas of Bishop Gudmundr (table 3.6), Awns saga (see table 3.6 and below), and Hrafns saga Sveinbjarnarsonar (table 3.7). One stanza, the first by Gudmundr Oddsson, is also found in Hdkonar saga Hdkonarsonar (table 3.5). In these cases it is important to compare the different versions of the stanzas. Most of the verse is found exclusively in Sturlunga saga. The structure of the Sturlunga saga compilation indicates that the poet is shown to have a distinct role to play in thirteenth-century society, despite the uneven distribution of the verse within the work. This intention of the compiler is made clear by the subject matter of the two psettir at the beginning and the end of the work. It seems puzzling that the first poet to be quoted in this twelfth- and thirteenthcentury historia is the half-mythical Bragi gamli Boddason. His role in Geirmundar pdttr heljarskinns, the opening section of Sturlunga saga, is to unveil the truth to the king and this important social function of the poet Bragi in the pdttr throws into relief and foreshadows the role of the poet in the society of Sturlunga saga, as the critic and clairvoyant of society. The poet speaks up when others keep their silence and their verse can cause upheavals. Bragi is also the first poet to be cited in Heimskringla, Snorra Edda, and Skdldatal, and by prefacing events in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries with a reference to Bragi the compiler of Sturlunga saga emphatically places the compilation in the context of these works. The same stanza by Bragi is preserved in Landndmabok (Ldn S 112, H 86, M 30, v. 6) and Hdlfs saga ok Hdlfsrekka (Hal 198 [11] v. 78). The beginning of Sturlunga saga therefore firmly highlights the intertextuality of the work with texts relating the myth of the settlement of Iceland. 9 The end of both vellums is missing. Sturlu pdttr framed the compilation in Reykjarfjardarbok. Sturlu pdttr is a typical tale of an Icelandic poet at the court of a foreign monarch. The only verse in the pdttr is the second half of stanza 150 by Sturla f>6r6arson, also quoted in Islendinga saga. This narration belongs to the pxttir genre in the kings' sagas and echoes the beginning of Sturlunga saga at Hjprr's court, where Bragi's intuitive and poetic talent unveils tricks and betrayal in the royal family. Sturla is moulded in the shape of a penniless wanderer arriving at the Norwegian court completely at the mercy of the royal family, which was then a fierce enemy of the Sturlungar family. Sturla has, however, a powerful ally at the court, Gautr of Mel, who arranges a

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Part Two: The Sources and the Thirteenth-Century Poet

meeting with Sturla and King Magnus, Hakon's son and successor to the throne. This tale of Sturla is curiously reminiscent of Egils saga's description of Egill Skalla-Grimsson's visit to King Eirikr b!660x in York, where Egill narrowly escaped execution by composing a headransom poem. Hgfudlausn (Eg 175-95 [59-61]). Through rapturous storytelling on the king's vessel Sturla captures the attention of the queen and later of the king, who gives him permission to recite his skaldic poem about King Hakon, which saves his reputation at the court. The year is 1263. The account of Sturla's recital of his poem shows the ambivalence to skaldic poetry at the Norwegian court towards the end of the thirteenth century. Sturla receives royal recognition and respect through his verse-making, but it is not clear whether the royal couple understood the verse: Drottning maelti: 'Latid hann kveda, £>vi at mer er sagt, at hann se it mesta skald, ok mun kvaedit vera agaeta gott.' Konungr bad hann kveda, ef hann vildi, 'J>at er |?u J?ykkisk um mik ort hafa.' Pa kvad Sturla, til J?ess er lokit var. Drottning maelti: 'I>at aatla ek, at kvaedit se vel ort.' Konungr maelti: 'Kanntu mjpk gerla at heyra?' Hon maelti: 'Ek vilda, at y5r j^aetti sva, herra.' Konungr maelti: 'Spurt hefi ek, at Sturla kann at yrkja.' Kvaddi Sturla konung ok drottningu ok gekk til rums sins. (Stu II, 326)

The Queen said: 'Let him recite his verse, because I have been told that he is a fine poet and the poem must be very fine.' The King bade him recite the poem, if he wished 'the one you claim to have composed about me.' Then Sturla recited the poem till it was completed. The Queen said: 'As far as I can tell, this poem is well composed.' The King said: 'Can you make that out so clearly?' She said: 'I would wish that you were of that opinion, Sire.' The King said: 'I have been told that Sturla knows how to compose poetry.' Sturla took his leave of the King and Queen and went to his berth.

The king summons Sturla again in the evening and asks him to recite the poem he had composed about his father. After the recital he said: pat xtla ek, at pu kvedir betr en pdfinn ('it is my opinion, that you declaim better than the pope'). Later in the pattr the predictive powers of Sturla are emphasized and thereby the compiler has highlighted the intuitive powers of the skald at the beginning and end of the compilation, indicating the importance of skaldic verse throughout the work.

Sources of Skaldic Verse

97

Hdkonar saga Hdkonarsonar HdkFris AM 45 fol. (Frissbok; 1300-25) HdkEir AM 47 fol. (Eirspennill; 1300-25) HdkFlat GKS 1005 fol. (Flateyjarbok; 1387-95) HdkSla AM 81a fol. (Skdlholtsbok hin yngsta; 1450-75) Hdkonar saga Hdkonarsonar is the work of Sturla EorSarson and also the main source for his verse.40 Of the 104 stanzas attributed to him in medieval sources, 96 are contained in Hdkonar saga. The saga is also the most important source for his brother (3lafr EorQarson's verse, preserving 15 out of the 20 stanzas quoted by him in the sources.41 Hdkonar saga is preserved almost complete in four codices containing kings' sagas; in HdkEir and HdkSla the end of the saga is missing and the manuscripts defective in places. Parts of the saga are also found in Holm. Perg. no. 8 fol. (8a: 1340-70; 8b: c. 1500), various fourteenthcentury parchment fragments (in AM 325 viii 5a-c and x), and paper manuscripts descended directly from the vellum manuscripts and therefore not of independent textual value. Where the codices lend themselves to comparison they agree for the most part on the number of verses and where the poetry intersects the prose narrative. 1 HdkEir and HdkSla come to a halt at the same point towards the end of the saga. This means that Hrafnsmdl and the two last stanzas of Hdkonarflokkr (10-11) are missing in these manuscripts. Eirspennill omits verses 30 and 31 from Hdkonarkvida and stanza 3 from Hdkonarflokkr. 2 HdkFris is the only manuscript to contain the half-stanza beginning Nu er fiatflaust orfestum (HdkFris 492), by t)lafr E>6r6arson about Skuli's gathering of ships against King Hakon. 3 The fourteenth-century fragment AM 325 x 4to contains fragments from the last part of the saga. These fragments suggest that Hrafnsmdl 12 was omitted in this version. Table 3.5 shows the distribution of the verse in the manuscripts and demonstrates the consistency among them as far as the order of the verse is concerned. According to Skdldatal in Codex Upsaliensis, eight court poets sang Hakon Hakonarson's praise and they are listed as Snorri Sturluson, (3lafr J>6r6arson, Sturla f>6r6arson, Jatgeirr Torfason,

TABLE 3.5 Skaldic verse in Hakonar saga Hakonarsonar

Eir

Fris

Flat

81afol.

Holm 8

325 viii

325 x

STURLA P6RBARSON Hrynhenda Hakonarkvida

1-19 1-29, 32-42

1-21 1-42

1-21 1-42

1-19 1-42

15,17,19 4-5

14,18

Hrafnsmal Hakonarflokkr Poem on Magnus lagaboetir

ms. defective 1-20 1-2, 4-9 1-11 ms. def. 1-2

1-20 1-11 1-2

ms. def. 1-9 ms. def.

2-4,10-19,20-1 1-3,7,10-18, 20-2, 25-30, 32, 34-42 1-2,7-11,18-20 1-2,7-10 1-2

GUDMUNDR ODDSSON One stanza

1

1

1

1

6LAFR PORBARSON Fragment Hrynhenda Two stanzas (1-2)

1 1-12 2

1 1-12 1-2

1 1-12 2

1 1-12 2

6-9,11-12

3-4

JATGEIRR TORFASON One stanza

1

1

1

1

1 63-4, 66

1 63-4, 66

1 63-4, 66

1 63-4,66

? 63-4

1

Hattatal GIZURR PORVALDSSON One stanza

1

1

1

1

4

1

SNORRI STURLUSON

1,9

7-11, 15-1 6(12 om.) 7

1 2

Sources of Skaldic Verse

99

Gizurr t>orvaldsson, Ami langi, Olafr Leggsson, and Guttormr kortr. Guttormr kortr is not listed in Skaldatal in Kringla. Five of Hakon's poets are represented in his saga: Snorri Sturluson, (3lafr J>6rdarson, Sturla f»6r6arson, Gizurr Porvaldsson, and Jatgeirr Torfason. Some of (3lafr Leggsson's verse is preserved in the grammatical treatises (3GT, 4GT, and 5GT) and only one stanza by Guttormr kortr Helgason is preserved in Sturlunga saga. Ami langi is unknown to us and none of his verse is known. Sturla Eordarson is the only known thirteenth-century Icelandic poet who provided his own verse with a saga framework in which it is preserved.42 His selective presentation of Hakon Hakonarson's poets in the saga reveals his manipulation of his sources; he cites only a halfstanza by Gizurr and Jatgeirr, who both were excellent poets43 and chooses to ignore Guttormr kortr, (3lafr Leggsson, and Ami altogether. BIOGRAPHIES Pals saga byskups Pal Holm. Papp. no. 4 4to, AM 204 fol., and AM 205 fol. Pals saga byskups is preserved in three seventeenth-century manuscripts in which the saga follows Hungrvaka and Porldks saga. Pals saga relates the life of Bishop Pall Jonsson, the illegitimate son of Jon Loptsson and Ragnheidr I>6rhallsd6ttir, the sister of Bishop l?orlakr l?6rhallsson at Skalaholt. Pall succeeded his uncle Eorlakr as bishop at Skalaholt in 1195 and his saga is thought to have been written in conjunction with Porldks saga. The manuscripts agree on the four stanzas by Amundi Arnason quoted in the saga. Amundi Arnason is referred to by the author of the saga as a witness (vitni [Pal 423]) to events in Pall's life, and all the stanzas in the saga are by him. The stanzas do not relate to events in the saga nor are they woven into the saga to authenticate the author's narrative; instead they provide a character description of Pall and his family. The citation of the verse contributes to the portrayal of Pall Jonsson as an aristocrat on a par with Scandinavian rulers, in the same way as the verse on Pordr kakali in Sturlunga saga. Both Pall and t»6rdr kakali linked themselves to the Norwegian aristocracy: Pall was related to the Norwegian royal family, and t»6rdr kakali served King Hakon Hakonarson as his courtier (hirdmadr). The poetic representation of these two

100

Part Two: The Sources and the Thirteenth-Century Poet

men in their sagas reflects a clear hierarchical perspective, and it serves to align Pall's life culturally with that of his aristocratic family members, as much as with the lives of other Icelandic bishops. The poets serve them as their private poets. They extol their masters' achievements in verse, which functions as a class symbol in their sagas and in society. The first stanza describes Pall's children (424) and the last three are composed after the death of Pall, cited as an epilogue to Pall's life at the very end of the saga (43S-6).44 GuSmundar sogur byskups GA GB GC GD

AM 399 4to (c. 1330-50). AM 657 c 4to (c. 1340-90). Holm. Papp. no. 4 4to (c. 1600-50). Holm. Perg. no. 5 fol. (c. 1350-65).

Gudmundar saga byskups is preserved in four versions (the main manuscript of each version is listed above): A the oldest saga in the 1858 volume of Biskupa sogur and printed in Editiones Arnamagnaeanae B6 (1983) B Midsagan in the 1858 volume of Biskupa sogur C unpublished, but to appear in Stefan Karlsson's forthcoming edition of all versions of the saga in Editiones Arnamagnaeanae D Abbot Arngrimr Brandsson's version of Gudmundar saga in the 1878 volume of Biskupa sogur The alphabetical order of the manuscripts does not indicate their descending age, only how far removed from their sources they are. It cannot be stated with certainty whether GA or GB appeared first, but GD is certainly the youngest version, relying on GC.45 The four versions were written over a forty-year period, from about 1320 to 1361, the year of Arngrimr Brandsson's death. They demonstrate how attitudes to the application of skaldic poetry in relation to Gudmundar saga varied during a relatively short period, and indicate that the different versions must have been aimed at different audiences. The complex relationship between the four versions will be explored in the discussion below, which is based on Stefan Karlsson's thorough study of all the versions and their sources, and his edition of GA (see above). Gudmundr Arason is the only one of the six bishops who had sagas

Sources of Skaldic Verse

101

written about them (JonQgmundarson, I>orlakr l?6rhallsson, Pall Jonsson, Ami frorlaksson, and Laurentius Kalfsson) to have been commented on in his lifetime by poets who were in his company. There is no skaldic verse in any of the versions of Porldks saga, Arna saga biskups, or Laurentius saga. There is one stanza by Gisl Illugason in the Bversion of Jons saga biskups that is drawn from a text on the poet Gisl interpolated into this version and not directly relevant to Jon's life. The only exception is the saga of Bishop Pall Jonsson of the Oddaverjar family (see above on Pals saga). Gu6mundr was also remembered posthumously in the fourteenth century by clerics such as Arngrimr Brandsson and Ami Jonsson, monks and abbots at the Benedictine monasteries at Mngeyrar and MunkaJ>vera, and the lawman Einarr Gilsson. They framed Gudmundr's life in religious poems in the drottkvxtt metre (drdpur) in connection with the writing of his vita in conjunction with attempts to have Bishop Gudmundr canonized by the pope in the fourteenth century. These attempts were unsuccessful. The emphasis on verse in relation to Gudmundr's saga is extraordinary in a saga of a Christian saint or apostle. The only other example of verse associated with such a saga is Jons saga postula IV (see above), but there the verse is cited as an appendix to the saga, not intervowen in the narrative, as is the case in the four versions of Gudmundar saga, although to a varying degree. This skaldic interest can be explained by the vibrant poetic activity within Gudmundr's immediate community in the north of Iceland. Gudmundr was himself of a family of distinguished poets and influential chieftains (see Genealogy 9). His paternal uncle f»orvardr Porgeirsson, who inherited the family estate at Hvassafell in EyjafJQrdr, was a court poet of King Ingi Haraldsson (d. 1161)andislistedinSkdldatal*6Hewasinstrumentalinpersuading Gudmundr to take on the high office as bishop at Holar (GA 127 [99], also in Stu 1,258), acting as the head of the family. I>orvardr's daughter, and Gudmundr's first cousin, Gydridr, was married to the renowned poet Kolbeinn Tumason, who composed verse in conjunction with dramatic events in Bishop Gudmundr's and his own life. Gydridr's halfbrother (by the same father), Qgmundr sneis Porvardsson, a playmate of Gudmundr, was also a poet. A stanza by him is cited in two versions of Gudmundar saga (GB and GC);47 another stanza by him is in Gudmundar saga dyra in Sturlunga saga (Stu 21; table 3.4). Another of Gudmundr's paternal uncles, Ingimundr E>orgeirsson, became his fosterfather (/osfri)48 upon the death of his father. He clearly became his teacher:

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Part Two: The Sources and the Thirteenth-Century Poet

at kenna honum ok fostra harm, ok tekr hann pat fyrst i fpdur bcetr at hann var bardr til boekr. Hann var olatr mjgk, ok botti bat begar audsaett at honum mundi i kyn kippa um athpfh hans ok odaelleika, pvi at hann vildi rada at sinum hluta, ef hann maetti, vid hvern er hann atti. En fyrir pat var fostri hans hardr vi5 hann ok red honum mjgk. (GA 34 [11])

to teach him and to foster him and his [Gudmundr's] first compensation for the death of his father was that he was forced to study Latin. He was very unruly and it seemed obvious that he would take after his family in his behaviour and unruliness because he wanted to decide his own lot if he could in his dealings with any and everybody. Because of this his fosterfather was very strict with him and chastised him a great deal.

Ingimundr was a learned man, but he was not known as a poet like his brother J>orvar6r. The famous story relating the loss of his book trunk at sea indicates his passion for reading: pvi at pa var farit yndi hans er bcekrnar voru farnar ('because then his enjoyment was gone when his books were gone') (GA 44 [14]). Gudmundr's close family included poets and learned men alike, and the abundance of verse composed in his immediate community may lead us to assume that Gudmundr had some knowledge of the medium. GA

GA contains 30 stanzas and half-stanzas relating to events in Gudmundr's tumultuous life. GA is a compilation of material from Prestssaga Gudmundar goda (PG), Hrafns saga Sveinbjarnarsonar (Hr), Islendinga saga (Is), Arons saga (Ar), and annals.49 These sources relate events contemporary to Gudmundr's life (PG and Is), or depict the lives of people close to him, such as his friend Hram Sveinbjarnarson and loyal follower Aron Hjorleifsson. The compiler adds little material of his own, while slavishly copying his sources. The saga is thought to have been written about 1320-30. The sources precede the saga chronologically, and this implies that where GA repeats a stanza after one of them, the source has precedence. It is, however, important to point out that PG, Hr, Is, and Ar are not preserved in the same manuscripts as those used by the author of GA, and readings in them should not necessarily supersede those in GA, as scribal errors or verbal changes may have entered into them at a later stage. The end of GA is missing. There

Sources of Skaldic Verse

103

is only one example of GA containing a stanza relating to Aron Hjorleifsson where Ar has none (GA 24: 213). This indicates that GA is following a fuller version of Ar than the Ar that now exists. Most of the verse in GA, except for that by the fourteenth-century skald I'ormodr Olafsson, is relevant for this study.50 GB

GB is, in the same way as GA, a compilation of different sources on Bishop Gudmundr's life. Its author depends on the same sources as GA, apart from Arons saga and the annals. This version, therefore, lacks the material and verse relating to Aron Hjorleifsson, such as Pormodr (3lafsson's stanzas. The saga contains 23 stanzas, 10 in common with GA (see Table 3.6) along with 13 additional ones. Among the stanzas in Hrafns saga, Prestssaga Gudmundar gofia and Islendinga saga that are not in GB are those quoted during the dispute between Kalfr Guttormsson and Hallr Kleppjarnsson in EyjafJQrdr in the north of Iceland (4 stanzas: GA 9-12; table 3.6),51 but this omission is probably due to a lacuna in the manuscript. The author quotes only verse composed by contemporaries of Bishop Gudmundr and more specifically by Gudmundr's immediate community, as the additional stanzas by Kolbeinn Tumason and Qgmundr sneis f>orvardsson indicate. The 13 additional stanzas are as follows: 1 Six additional stanzas on Gudmundr's voyage to Norway, which are drawn from Hrafns saga Sveinbjarnarsonar in serstaka (see table 3.7: HrA 14,15,16,17,18, 20). 2 Four stanzas by Kolbeinn Tumason that show him in a more pious light than is afforded by GA, i.e., a stanza (also in GC and GD), where Gudmundr is compared to Thomas Becket, and the hymn Heyr himna smidr (3 stanzas; also in GD), quoted before Kolbeinn's death in 1208. 3 One stanza by Qgrmmdr sneis t»orvar6sson, Gudmundr's first cousin, cited after Kolbeinn Tumason's killing. 4 One stanza by Gudmundr klasi (also in GC). 5 One stanza by Einarr Porsteinsson in the final part of GB about the chieftain Hallr Kleppjarnsson (GB 1858,593). The main manuscript, AM 657 c 4to, is defective at this point, but the stanza is rendered in a fragment of Reykjarfjardarbok (122 b fol. 28vb; also in GC).

TABLE 3.6 Skaldic verse in GuOmundar sogur Poet

G/*(chap.) GB

PorvarOr Porgeirsson

'

Gri'mr Hjaltason

'

6 additional stanzas on GuOmundr's consecration voyage (see HrA: table 3.7) Kolbeinn Tumason (add. stanza) hymn: 3 stanzas Qgmundr sneis PorvarOsson Anonymous (dream) Anonymous (nfd) Sighvatr Sturluson Anonymous Anonymous Gudmundr klasi Gudmundr Oddsson ^ormtfOr Otefsson Anonymous Brandr ^ormbflr 6l£fsson GuOmundr Oddsson Porm65r 6l£fsson

1:4 2 : 5 3:114 4:115

5-6:127

x x x x

x x

x

x

X

X

x

7-8:138 9-11:149 12:153 13:182 14:184

GC

GD

PG (Stu) Is (Stu) table 3.4

2 0 xanon.

HrA table 3.7 Ar(\nd.)

XronlyinGX\

13 19 14-18,20 27-8

X

x

x x

xanon. x 15:191 x 16-18:198 19-20:199 21:205 xanon. xanon. 22:205 23:207 x 24:213

29-30 31-3 34 defective def.

x x

x x def. def.

x x

50 51 anon. 52 om.

TABLE 3.6 - concluded Skaldic verse in GuOmundar spgur Poet

G/4(chap.)

Anonymous Porm60r 6lafsson Anonymous PormdOr Olafsson Olafr P6rOarson Einarr ^orsteinsson

25-6:214 27:217 28:220 29:220 30:223

GB

GC

x X

GD

PG (Stu) Is (Stu) table 3.4

56

HrA table 3.7 X\V(ind.)

Xlronly in GA

p. 621 p. 626 p. 629* p. 629 p. 631

X

'Attributed to 6l£fr hvftaskald in Ar. The stanzas in GA are numbered according to the order in which they occur in the 1983 edition of the saga (verse:chapter). It is noted in the other columns whether the verse occurs in other versions of Gudmundar saga. Notes on the other columns: (1) The numbers of stanzas in PG and Is refer to table 3.4. (2) Only two stanzas in GA are drawn from Hr, and they are only found in HrA (see table 3.7). (3) Ardns saga is accounted for in two columns: (a) the parts of Ardns saga that are preserved independently (Ar; see below), and (b) where it is clear that GA depends on Ar, and where Ar is now lost.

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Part Two: The Sources and the Thirteenth-Century Poet

GC

GC exists incomplete in two seventeenth-century manuscripts: Holm. Papp. no. 4 4to and AM 395 4to. The saga contains nine stanzas, six of which are in GA (2, 3, 5-6, 21, 30; table 3.6). The order of the verse is as follows: 1 t>orvardr Porgeirsson's stanza on Gudmundr's father (Stu 20 [table 3.4] and GA 2 [table 3.6]). 2 The first stanza by Grimr Hjaltason on the consecration voyage (GA 3:114, GB, GD, and HrA). 3-5 Two stanzas by Kolbeinn Tumason, which are also in GA, GB, and Islendinga saga (Stu 27-8 [table 3.4], GA 5-6 [table 3.6]) composed in the year 1207. The third is an additional stanza composed on the same occasion, also found in GB and GD. The first two lines are the same in these versions, except in one of GD's fourteenthcentury manuscripts (AM 396 4to) which clearly has the correct, and probably the original, reading from a metrical point of view: GC/GB/GD (Holm. Perg. no. 5 fol.)

GD (AM 396 4to)

Gud hefir Gudmund gprvan glfkan Thomasi at riki

Ara vill Gudmundr g0rvask glikr Thomasi at riki... erfingi...

God has made Gudmundr like Thomas in his authority.

Gudmundr, the heir of Ari, wants to become like Thomas in his authority.

The internal rhyme is corrupt in the first example: Gud-Gud is the wrong rhyme in a skothending, where half-rhyme is required, whereas Ara-g0rvask fulfils the metrical requirements. This change fundamentally shifts the meaning; instead of attributing Gudmundr's resemblance to Thomas Becket to Gudmundr's own intentions, the likeness is assigned to God's benevolence in the later versions of the stanza. 6 A stanza by Gudmundr klasi, one of Sighvatr's men, also in GB, composed during the confrontation between the bishop and Arnorr Tumason and Sighvatr Sturluson at Helgastadir in 1220. 7 Brandr's verse, cited anonymously (see GA 21 [table 3.6]), at Grimsey in 1221.

Sources of Skaldic Verse

107

8 6lafr I>6raarson's stanza about Aron (GA 30 [table 3.6], Stu I, 379, v. 56 [table 3.4], and Ar [ind.]). 9 Stanza by Einarr Porsteinsson, also in GB. The verse in GC follows that of GB, rather than GA. It does not contain any of the verse exclusive to Arons saga. Sturlunga saga is the most likely source for 6lafr £6rdarson's stanza. The stanza by Gudmundr klasi is found only in GB and GC. GD

GD is found complete in two versions and they differ fundamentally in the number of verses: 5 stanzas (perhaps 7 originally) in AM 398 4to (fragment in AM 219 fol.) and 116 stanzas in Holm. Perg. no. 5 fol. (AM 396 4to). It is the opinion of Jon Helgason that the former version preceded the latter. GD is probably a translation of a Latin vita of Gudmundr that was intended for a foreign audience.52 There were five (or seven) stanzas in the original version of the saga: (1) Grimr Hjaltason's stanza (GA 3); no attribution to Grimr's authorship in the saga. (2) Four (or six) stanzas by Kolbeinn Tumason. Kolbeinn's hymn beginning with Heyr himna smidr and the stanza (Gud hefir Gudmund gyrvan) composed by Kolbeinn Tumason in 1208, that is also in GB and GC. The original version furthermore contained the other two stanzas composed by Kolbeinn on the same occasion and preserved in all the other versions of Gudmundar saga. The original version of GD, therefore, included four stanzas by Kolbeinn Tumason not quoted in GA in that section of the saga depicting Gudmundr's conflict with Kolbeinn. This is the same verse that distinguishes GB from GA in this part of the saga. The focus on Kolbeinn Tumason's inner life in the episode relating his dispute with Bishop Gudmundr is particularly noteworthy. Kolbeinn is shown to have realized Gudmundr's resemblance to Thomas Becket in Arngrimr's Gudmundar saga and, by attributing this perceptive remark to Gudmundr's main enemy, Kolbeinn is granted a more sympathetic standing in this more pronouncedly saint's life than in the historical version afforded by GA. The hymn furthermore gives the portrayal of Kolbeinn, along with his killing, the stamp of a deeply religious man. This striking interpretation of the turbulent events that occurred at the beginning of the thirteenth century in Iceland achieves a reconciliation between the attitudes of the laymen and the Church.

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The stanzas by Einarr Gilsson and Arngrimr Brandsson, which preserve a fourteenth-century poetic interpretation of Bishop Gudmundr, are quoted in Holm. Perg. no. 5 fol. (not Einarr's Gudmundardrdpa 1-4) and the fragment in AM 396 4to. Jon Helgason showed that they were later interpolations into the saga, written shortly after the composition of its original Icelandic version.53 Arngrimr's drdpa about Gudmundr is also referred to in the saga. Ami Jonsson's Gudmundardrdpa is preserved only at the end of AM 398 4to. The verse by these poets is outside the scope of this study, but it indicates, as does that composed by t>ormodr Olafsson, the placing of the saga of Gudmundr (and also the saga of Aron) within the generic limits of vita. These late poets were commentators and interpreters of the bishop's life but not contemporary witnesses. In this way they share a similarity with the twelfthcentury poets of John the Apostle (see above). Verse in the Gudmundar sogur The four versions of Gudmundar saga vary in their presentation of the poetry relating to Gudmundr's life (see table 3.6). Even though they differ fundamentally in the number of verses, the verse is always cited at important junctures in Gudmundr's life, particularly his dealings with secular chieftains in the country. Only two events are commented on in verse in all four versions of the saga: Gudmundr's consecration voyage and his dealings with Kolbeinn Tumason. The author of GD omits the verse recurring in Gudmundr's combat with Sturla Sighvatsson and Sighvatr Sturluson, and this omission is in line with his editorial principle.54 It is not easy to define the method behind the treatment of verse in the four versions. Their varying emphasis on verse results from their differences in style. In the words of Stefan Karlsson, 'GA [is] a straight compilation of older sources, GB ... a compilation with a prologue and interpolations by the compiler, GC revised and expanded with considerable changes in composition and style, and finally GD, with still more radical changes, compiled with a view to giving the world at large a view of the Bishop's admirable works and to contributing to his recognition as a saint.'55 Arngrimr Brandsson in his version of Gudmundar saga written for a foreign audience cuts the number of the verses drastically, but in the versions of GD written for the local audience the poems by Arngrimr, Ami Jonsson, and Einarr Gilsson are added to the saga. These verses

Sources of Skaldic Verse

109

are not from the traditional corpus of verse relating to Gudmundr, but are poetry by fourteenth-century poets. This version shows different attitudes to the use of verse than is apparent in GB, GC, and partly in GA, where the verse is clearly an integral part of the development of the narrative. The example of Kolbeinn Tumason's additional stanza in 1207 cited in GB, GC, and GD has shown one manuscript of GD to contain the most reliable version of the stanza. Arngrimr was a poet and therefore the rendering of verse in GD should carry weight in comparison to other versions, in spite of his omission of verse contemporary with the life of Gudmundr. The only stanza that exists in all versions of the saga is Grimr Hjaltason's first stanza on Gudmundr's consecration voyage to Norway (quoted anonymously in GD). It is taken from Hrafns saga, and it is only in GB that verse by other skalds on this voyage is included. GC and GD are more conservative in their use of skaldic verse and lessen the impact of the voyage by quoting only one of Grimr's two stanzas in GA and GB. The fundamental difference between GA, GB, GC, and GD is that the three last-mentioned versions enhance the picture drawn of Gudmundr's dispute with Kolbeinn Tumason in verse. They include the additional stanza by Kolbeinn in 1207 where he detects Gudmundr's likeness to Thomas Becket (see above). GB and GD furthermore add Kolbeinn's hymn composed by Kolbeinn before his death in the battle with the bishop's men; the poem may have been composed earlier than the saga suggests.56 This emphasis on Kolbeinn's clairvoyance and his repentance when facing death softens the overall picture of Kolbeinn in the saga. The representation of him as a deeply religious man is attested by this additional verse and also by the verse quoted in the saga of John the Apostle.57 The recognition of Gudmundr's sanctity by his enemy is important in the context of the hagiography. GA clearly represents a different tradition in the interpretation of the clash between Kolbeinn and Gudmundr. The stanza by Gudmundr's cousin, Qgmundr sneis, originates in the same community, as does an additional stanza by Gudmundr klasi cited only in GB and GC, at Gudmundr's confrontation with two powerful chieftains in the north, Arnorr Tumason and Sighvatr Sturluson, at Helgastadir in 1220. Klasi is standing next to Sighvatr when he is hit with a stone and this frightens him to the point of urging retreat. He addresses his master as Sighvatr sxll ('blessed'), evoking hagiographic vocabulary. This episode conveys an interesting sympathy

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Part Two: The Sources and the Thirteenth-Century Poet

with Sighvatr, the former chieftain of Eyjafjgrdr and Kolbeinn Tumason's brother-in-law, who usually found himself on the opposite side to Gudmundr. Hrafns saga in serstaka HrA AM 155 fol. (1639-62), and other copies of a fourteenth-century vellum HrB AM 557 4to (1420-50) remnants; copies AM 552 4to (1574-1655) Hrafns saga Sveinbjarnarsonar is the only saga in the Sturlunga saga compilation to exist as a complete and independent saga. It depicts the life of Hrafn Sveinbjarnarson, a chieftain of the Seldcelir family in the West Fjord region in Iceland (see Genealogy 6), who was killed by his enemy torvaldr Snorrason, chieftain of the Vatnsfirdingar family, in 1213. Gudrun P. Helgadottir writes that the saga 'exists in two versions, called A and B. A has the fuller text and must represent the original better than B, which is demonstrably abridged. B may nevertheless preserve some readings more authentic than those in A.'59 The fourteenth-century manuscript of the A version became lost in Copenhagen in 1780-6, but several transcripts were independently made, so in general it can be reconstructed. The abridged recension of Hrafns saga in the B version exists in remnants in AM 557 4to written about 1420-50, but copies were made before leaves disappeared from the codex. Gudrun P. Helgadottir concludes that 'the verse is best represented in A, which contains 34 stanzas or half-stanzas. B has twentyeight.'60 We do not know the context in which Hrafns saga was preserved in the fourteenth century, but AM 557 4to, written by (3lafur Loptsson about 1420,61 gives us valuable clues to the reception of the saga at a later point in time. The B version of Hrafns saga succeeds Valdimars saga, Gunnlaugs saga ormstungu, and Hallfredar saga vandraedaskdlds in AM 557 4to, and is then followed by Eiriks saga rauda, Rognvalds pdttr ok Rauds, Ddmusta saga, Hroa pdttr heimska, Eiriks saga vid/Qrla, and then three short pxttir.62 This collection of different types of sagas in the codex shows that the saga of Hrafn was considered to belong in the company of Sagas of Icelanders and chivalric romances (riddarasggur) in the fifteenth century. The relationship between HrA, GA/GB, and Is as far as the verse is concerned is as follows:

Sources of Skaldic Verse

111

HrA and Is Islendinga saga has six stanzas in common with HrA. Reykjarfjardarbok is defective at this point in the compilation, but the paper copies made in the seventeenth century suggest that Hrafns saga offered by Up 'is often superior to the text preserved in [Kroksfjardarbok].'63 Stanza 22 by Heinrekr in HrA is quoted anonymously in Sturlunga saga (Stu 35; table 3.4) as well as the four dream stanzas (Stu 36-9; table 3.4). Stanza 29 by Gudmundr Galtason finds its way into Sturlunga saga (Stu 40; table 3.4). HrA and GA/GB GA quotes two of Grimr Hjaltason's stanzas (GA 3-4; table 3.6) from HrA (these stanzas are not in the abridged version in HrB). GB quotes six more, all occurring on Hram's voyage with Bishop Gudmundr to Norway (HrA 14,15,16,17,18, 20; table 3.7). There is a lacuna in AM 557 4to at this point in the saga, but the paper copies omit only Grimr Hjaltason's verses on GuSmundr's voyage (maybe because they were known in GA; the seventeenth-century copyist is Bjorn of Skar6sa). Stefan Karlsson suggests that GA and HrB have readings in common against GB and HrA; HrB's omission of Grimr's stanzas would point to the opposite.64 The C and D versions of Gudmundar saga contain only the first stanza (GA 3) by Grimr Hjaltason, as the bishop's vessel passes Scotland. The independent Hrafns saga Sveinbjarnarsonar has greater wealth of verse than is afforded by its version in Sturlunga saga. The edition of Gudrun P. Helgadottir uses the A version as the base text while supplying readings from the B version and from the sections of Hr interpolated into Gudmundar saga and Sturlunga saga. Gudrun P. Helgadottir divides the verse in Hrafns saga, apart from the dream stanzas, into three groups according to the different ways the verse is presented in the narrative:65 1 as belonging to the moment described in the narrative; 2 as a contemporary comment belonging to the time soon after the action referred to; 3 as authoritative description, confirming what the author tells.

TABLE 3.7: Skaldic verse in Hrafns saga (A and B version) Poet GuOmundr Svertingsson 11 11 11 11 11 11

Anonymous Dream stanza Anonymous Gellir Anonymous Eilffr Snorrason Magnus t'brOarson Grfmr Hjaltason 11 Eyj6lf r forni Grfmr Hjaltason Heinrekr GuObrandr Anonymous H Dream stanzas GuOmundr Galtason 11 Sturla BaYfiarson

Hrafns saga A version

Hrafns saga 8 version

1-3 12 14 15 20 21 33-4 4 5 6

1-3 (4, 5) 11(25) 12 (27) omitted 16 (30) 17(31) 27-8 (54-5)

7 (half-stanza); last 2 lines same as in Celtic's 8, 11,32 9-10 13 19 16 17-18 22 23 24 25 26-8 29 31 30

Sf/s

GA

GB

GC

GD

x

xanon.

x x x

om.

4(12) 5(14) 6(15)

7(16), 10 (22), 26 (51) 8-9(20-1) om. om. 13(28) 14-15(28) om. om. 18 (35) 19(37) 20-2 (38-9) 23 (42) 25 (45) 24 (45)

3 4

x

x x x x

x x x

Note: This table lists the stanzas according to the numbering in the edition of GuOrun P. Helgad6ttir, but the B version is found in Hasle's edition from 1967 (page nos. in brackets).

Sources of Skaldic Verse

113

Arons saga HJQrleifssonar Ar AM 551 d p 4to (beginning of the 15th century; AM 212 fol. and AM 426 fol.) Arons saga Hjgrleifssonar is the biography of Aron Hjorleifsson (11991255), a staunch follower of Bishop Gudmundr Arason. Aron was of the Seldcelir family in the west of Iceland (see Genealogy 6). The saga tells of his enmity with his former foster-brother Sturla Sighvatsson, his pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and finally his acceptance as a courtier at King Hakon Hakonarson's royal household in Bergen. Arons saga is not preserved complete: 'a greater part of it is very badly preserved.'66 Jon Erlendsson copied this manuscript in the seventeenth century, when the manuscript was more complete than it is now.67 This copy, AM 212 fol., is now defective, but it too was copied before leaves became lost (AM 426 fol.). By comparing Arons saga with GA, which drew material from an earlier version of Ar than now exists, it is possible to discern some parts that are lost in Ar. These sections must be used with caution, as they may be laced with paragraphs from Islendinga saga, which the author of GA is also using at this point. There are eighteen stanzas in that part of GA where Islendinga saga and Arons saga are used intermittently (see table 3.6); sixteen of these originate in Arons saga: 1 Eleven stanzas in GA exist in the fragments of Arons saga (GA 16-20, 25-30). The verse by E»orm66r (Mafsson (see table 3.6) is not cited in the same place in Arons saga and GA, indicating that it was added to the original version of Arons saga.68 2 Four stanzas in GA correspond to the lost part of Arons saga, and can be deduced to have belonged to Ar originally (GA 13-14,21-2). 3 One stanza by fcormodr (Mafsson is found in the Aron section of Gudmundar saga, which is not in Arons saga (GA 24); Stefan Karlsson concludes that the stanza probably belonged to an older version of Ar.69 4 Two remaining stanzas by Gudmundr Oddsson (Stu 50 [table 3.4], GA 15, and Stu 52 [table 3.4], GA 23) were probably only in Islendinga saga. The last stanza in Arons saga by Olafr E»6r6arson from a eulogy of Aron is found in GA (30) and in 7s (Stu 56; table 3.4). A stanza cited anony-

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Part Two: The Sources and the Thirteenth-Century Poet

mously in GA (28) is attributed to Olafr I>6r6arson in Arons saga. Eormodr (3lafsson wrote stanzas about Aron that are quoted in GA. Jon Helgason was of the opinion that they did not belong to a longer poem but were composed for the purposes of the saga.70 It is difficult to talk of Arons saga as a complete saga, independent of the other sources. It seems probable that the saga was written in the wake of the interest in having Bishop Gudmundr canonized around 1320. There are strong religious elements in the depiction of Aron in his saga, which are in striking contrast to the description of him in Sturlunga saga.71 CONCLUSION The evidence afforded by the examination of the sources for thirteenthcentury skaldic verse indicates that the citation of verse in saga narratives did not depend on the genre, but on individual authors. The Saga ofSt John the Apostle IV is clearly the only saint's life translated into Icelandic to contain skaldic verse, and the verse by Nikulas Bergsson, Canon Gamli, and Kolbeinn Tumason is not interwoven into the narrative but added as an epilogue to the saga. The authors of the sagas of the two bishops, Pall Jonsson and Gudmundr Arason, are alone in citing verse as a part of a bishop's biography or vita. These two bishops are closely linked to skaldic or learned activity, and this fact may have induced the writers to authenticate their sagas by citing the evidence of poets in their vicinity. However, it is done in a different way. The verse in the sagas of Gudmundr comments on the sagas (except in the later version of GD), whereas the verse in Pals saga applauds Pall and his family. Skaldic verse was clearly available to the writers of sagas in the thirteenth century, but not all of them chose to make use of this particular stylistic feature in their works, a decision that may reveal that there were conflicting opinions as to the general applicability of skaldic verse in the textual culture at the time. This is true of the Sagas of Icelanders (see table 4.2), but a case in point is the different sagas integrated in the Sturlunga saga compilation. Two-thirds of the verse cited in Sturlunga saga are found in Sturla t»6r6arson's Islendinga saga, which is the largest saga in the compilation; skaldic verse is an integral part of Sturla's narrative. Porgils saga ok Haflida and Pordar saga kakala also contain a great number of verses. In Pordar saga kakala stanzas from larger poems are used as commentaries about crucial events in the saga; otherwise the verse is not inter-

Sources of Skaldic Verse

115

woven into the narrative. Other sagas contain six (Hrafns saga in the compilation) or fewer stanzas. The authors of the contemporary sagas were therefore not in agreement in their choice of narrative methods in representing historical events, any more than the authors of the Sagas of Icelanders. It is equally important to point out that the writers who did insert verse in their sagas deliberately chose the verse to fit their own purposes. Sturla E»6r3arson demonstrates this point of view in his Hdkonar saga. Sturla largely ignores the poets who had known King Hakon and composed verse while at his court, but chooses instead to cite his own verse as a commentary on Hakon's action in his saga, which may seem odd in view of the fact that Sturla never met Hakon. This calculated approach to the use of skaldic evidence does not undermine the importance of Sturla's verse in his narrative, but rather underscores its integral role in the composition of the saga. His verse is not source material, in the same sense as the skaldic evidence is in Snorri's Heimskringla, but rather a commentary on or elaboration of what he has said in the prose. The textbooks on poetics and grammatica are singular in their representation of skaldic verse; no work of this kind ignores the evidence of skaldic poetry. Their authors focus on the model and characteristics of skaldic verse in their elucidation of figurative language, not only in Snorri Sturluson's manual of skaldic poetics but also in the grammatical treatises. Skaldic verse resides comfortably in the context of these learned treatises of language and literature, and is thus at the heart of the textual culture and the formal education of the privileged classes. This does not mean that skaldic verse-making was limited to the elite, only that the preservation of the verse largely depended on their writing. It is, however, eminently clear that the saga writers did not agree on skaldic verse's relevance to the prose narratives and the lore of the past. The origin of the majority of the manuscripts discussed in this chapter is unknown, but the subject matter of the sources, or an attribution to a known author, seems to concentrate skaldic activity in threequarters of the country: 1 In the south of Iceland, the Oddaverjar family (Pals saga byskups) 2 In the west and north of Iceland, the Sturlungar family (Sturlunga saga, Hdkonar saga, Snorra Edda, 3GT) 3 In the West Fjords, e.g., the Seldcelir family (Hrafns saga Sveinbjarnarsonar, Arons saga)

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Part Two: The Sources and the Thirteenth-Century Poet

4 In the north of Iceland, e.g., the family at Hvassafell in Eyjafjgrdr and the Asbirningar in Skagafjprdr (Gudmundar saga), as well as at the Benedictine monastery at Pingeyrar (4GT, Merlinusspd). The poets of the drdpur on Gudmundr Arason lived in the north of Iceland: Arngrimr Brandsson, monk and abbot at I>ingeyrar, Ami Jonsson, abbot at the Benedictine monastery at MunkaJ?vera, and Einarr Gilsson, a lawman in the north and west of Iceland in 1367-9. The regional distribution of the sources is indicative of skaldic activity in Iceland in the thirteenth century, and it will be further corroborated in the next chapter where I focus on the origin of the poets who are known from the thirteenth-century sources. Five families can be identified as taking an active part in the preservation of skaldic verse, either as authors or as subjects of the sources - Oddaverjar, Sturlungar, Seldoalir, Asbirningar, and Hvassfellingar - and two Benedictine monasteries. To achieve a fuller picture of skaldic verse-making in this period it is important to identify all the poets composing verse in the thirteenth century. Where did they come from? What was their role in society? This is the subject of chapter 4.

chapter four

The Poet's Profession

The names of the saga writers of the thirteenth century are for the most part unknown. The anonymity of the authors is not limited to the Sagas of Icelanders or to the sagas of heroes of the distant past and of chivalry (fornaldarsggur and riddarasggur), but applies equally to many historical works, such as the sagas of the Norwegian kings, the sagas of the bishops, and Sturlunga saga. The uncertainty about these writers has given rise to much speculation about their identity, family background, and social position. Scholarly discussion about the possible characterization of the saga authors has largely neglected to embrace the exciting heritage left by the thirteenth-century poets, many of whom are known individuals. The handful of saga authors referred to in the sources were learned men, belonging to the elite in society. They were either chieftains and poets, such as Snorri Sturluson, Sturla E»6rdarson, and Olafr £»6r3arson, or clerics, such as Gunnlaugr Leifsson (also a poet), Oddr Snorrason, and Karl Jonsson, all three at the Benedictine monastery at Mngeyrar. But the list of known poets from the thirteenth century is infinitely longer. It counts sixty-eight poets. An appreciation of the life and social background of these poets can add a new dimension to our appreciation of cultural and intellectual life in Iceland in the thirteenth century. The thirteenth century in Iceland is a well-documented era compared to the preceding centuries. Sturlunga saga, the sagas of the bishops, and the annals, written in the thirteenth century and enlarged in the fourteenth century, provide the framework in which to place individual poets in this period. Some are known by name only, even though their poetry may be altogether lost or a stanza or half-stanza may be all that is preserved of the most prolific poets. Their accom-

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plishment was secured for posterity if their verse met the requirements of historians and grammarians, rather than on account of their artistic excellence. The selectivity of the medieval sources inevitably limits our understanding and appreciation of skaldic activity in this period, yet a picture of the poets' circumstances in life and their family and social background can be deduced from only a few lines in the sources. Who then made up the group of skalds in the thirteenth century? Of the sixty-eight poets mentioned in the sources, only thirty-eight are cited and an additional five are more than a name. Thirty-two of them belong to, or are associated with, the privileged section of society, the ruling families or clergy, but at least six come from an undetermined social background or their verse was not honoured by a citation in the learned literature: Brandr, Eyjolfr forni, Gunnarr, Heinrekr, Snaekollr, and Skald-Hallr (see Excursus). The remaining twenty-five are only a name, and it is even impossible to determine their nationality; some of them may even have been of Norwegian or Orcadian descent. Even though the greater majority of known poets from the thirteenth century belong to a curiously homogeneous social group, that of the elite in society, we should be careful not to be deceived, by the historians' selective account of literary activity in the country. But why do we find the majority of the poets among the elite? I will first look for an answer in the function of skaldic verse in the culture. Skaldic verse played a crucial role in the formative years of Icelandic textual culture, as we noted in chapter 1: first it became the tool with which the grammarians and learned men of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries forged a link between native traditions and classical learning, and then it was adopted as source material in royal historiography. Our appreciation of literary activity is conditioned by the recorders of skaldic verse, the historians and grammarians, who belonged to a distinct social milieu. It is not surprising to find that the majority of the poets who are cited in sagas and the grammatical treatises belonged to the same social group as that of the known authors, and similarly that poets of a less privileged background were not referred to in the sources. The existence of a systematic study of skaldic verse in the context of grammatica does not exclude the active study of the art form outside the schoolroom. It is likely that poets continued to learn their art in the same way as had been the practice of illiterate poets of the past. We cannot exclude the possibility that the unknown poets represent a group distinct from the more privileged skalds: a group filled with

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poets from undistinguished families who sought to strengthen their position in society by mastering the favoured art form of the aristocracy. Moreover, we must acknowledge that access to learning does not mean that all members of the elite were necessarily educated, only that education was most readily available to those belonging to the privileged classes to the exclusion of the less privileged and the community at large.1 Some poets who belonged to the ruling class could even have studied skaldic verse-making outside the schoolroom. Twelfth- and thirteenth-century sources rarely mention whether a person was educated; it is nevertheless possible to deduce from his activity in life whether he could read or write in an intellectual capacity.2 However, the difficulty remains that we have little means by which to ascertain the role that skaldic verse played in society generally, other than by analysing the historical sources, grammatical treatises and Snorra Edda. The following account of the profession of the thirteenth-century poet reflects only the tangible evidence displayed by the manuscripts; that is, it will reveal the elite's interest in and control of the information technology of the time, book production, which gave it a wider control in society. Skaldic verse that did not meet the elite's interests will regrettably remain hidden. In the Excursus to this chapter each poet known from the thirteenth century (as well as those mentioned in Sturlunga saga from the twelfth century) is profiled on the basis of the contemporary sources of his/her life. These short biographies are fundamental to the discussion in this chapter. The following questions were at the centre of the investigation: 1 What was the poets' family background? 2 Where were they placed in the family? 3 Do their social circumstances or family connection indicate they would have had an opportunity to be educated? 4 Did they travel abroad? 5 Whom did they marry? 6 What was their occupation and activity in life? 7 Were they defined in terms of their poetry, called skald? The analysis of the poets' backgrounds, presented in the Excursus, has revealed that the poets can be divided into three main categories: 1 Professional poets, divided into two subgroups:

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a Court poets who gained recognition from kings or royal dignitaries abroad and are listed in Skdldatal; b Poets for the Icelandic aristocracy who were in the company or household of Icelandic chieftains and partly or wholly earned their living by composing verse in their service. 2 Private poets, mainly influential secular chieftains, who are not seen to benefit financially from their verse-making but participate in poetic exchanges in society. 3 Clerics who compose religious verse. The discussion in this chapter will describe each of these categories. This division is not unequivocal in that an Icelandic chieftain can be pigeon-holed in all three categories: as a court poet at a court in Scandinavia, a private poet once he returns to Iceland, and, finally, ordained in the Church. PROFESSIONAL POETS Court poets The court poets were a select group among the skalds. They composed verse for kings, earls, and chieftains abroad, and received honours or financial reward in return. Poets could earn their living by composing for a king or earl and gained social status through their verse-making. The Ipattr of Sturla Eorflarson in Sturlunga saga typifies this appreciation of the professional court poet in the late thirteenth century, and similar short episodes are interwoven into the sagas of the kings for whom they composed. A list of professional skalds from this period is to be found in the two versions of Skdldatal, which has offered the guidelines for the study of skaldic verse in the kings' sagas. In it we find poets from the ninth century to the end of the thirteenth listed alongside their royal or aristocratic patrons, whose exploits they extolled in verse. The patron is recorded only once, but a poet's name may be repeated under different patrons. Skdldatal does not provide a full list of practising poets in the thirteenth century, only of court poets who had earned recognition abroad for their art. Those who composed for the Icelandic aristocrats are not included in the list. Skdldatal can be of particular importance when drawing the line between professional and 'amateur' poets, or those who composed

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more for pleasure than for financial or political reasons. Skdldatal is often treated as a single easily defined text having no textual problems, with the younger version assumed to be only an expanded version of the older. This view ignores the subtle differences between the versions, which are partly due to their provenance in the manuscripts.3 Skdldatal existed in two versions in Snorri Sturluson's works: 1 In the Kringla manuscript of Heimskringla (written c. 1258-64, now only in paper copies, apart from one leaf, Lbs. fragm. 82) 2 In Codex Upsaliensis of the Snorra Edda Other manuscripts of Snorra Edda and Heimskringla do not contain Skdldatal, and therefore it has been questioned whether the list accompanied these works originally or whether it became associated with them after their composition. The Kringla manuscript of Heimskringla perished in the fire in Copenhagen in 1728. Only a single leaf remains of the entire volume. Copies were made of the codex in the seventeenth century by Asgeir Jonsson (one preserved in AM 35, 36, and 63 fol. and parts of the codex in Oslo OUB 521 fol. and AM 70 fol.) and Jon Eggertsson in 1681-82 (Holm. Papp. no. 18 fol.). Asgeir Jonsson omitted Skdldatal in his transcript of Kringla, but Jon Eggertsson made a full copy and placed it at the end of his copy of Heimskringla. Ami Magmisson also copied Skdldatal from Kringla, and his transcript in AM 761 a-b 4to is used in the edition of Skdldatal in Snorra Edda 1880-7. The Kringla text of Skdldatal accompanied Peder Clauss0n Friis's translation of Heimskringla, published posthumously by Ole Worm in 1633. Worm inserted his own transcript of Skdldatal based on the Kringla text and placed it at the end of the translation of Heimskringla* On the evidence available to us, we may assume that Skdldatal came at the end of Heimskringla in Kringla. Skdldatal is not only a catalogue of poets, but primarily a list of successive kings and earls in Scandinavia. The composition of the list belongs clearly to the writing of chronology and genealogy, and of compiling records of the past, that formed the basis for historical writing in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The affiliation of the list to the writing of kings' sagas is borne out by the fact that not all the kings and earls listed in Skdldatal had poems composed for them. Yet they earn their place in the catalogue. It is also clear that the list in Kringla is only intended to include the poets of the rulers, but not of their queens. In Sturlunga saga it is noted that Snorri Sturluson composed a poem on

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Hakon galinn's wife at Hakon's request. However, Kristin is not mentioned among Snorri's patrons (Stu I,331), only Hakon. The ordering of the kings and earls reflects the hierarchy among the kings in Scandinavia, as it is set forth in Heimskringla. Skaldatal in Kringla begins with the heading Skaldatal Danakonunga ok Svia. The legendary hero StarkaSr is listed as the oldest known skald, and Ragnarr lodbrok, his wife, Aslaug, and their sons are also skalds. The first and only Danish king mentioned at this point in Skaldatal, however, is King Ragnarr lodbrok, who is named first, and his poet Bragi Boddason. This emphasis on the origin of skaldic art with Starkadr and Ragnarr lodbrok's family testifies to the mythologizing of the origin of the Norwegian dynasty, which was evident in the twelfth-century poem Hdttalykill. After placing Ragnarr lodbrok as the first historical king, the catalogue leaves Danish territory and turns to Swedish kings (and then earls), who are listed into the thirteenth century. It is significant that the Swedish kings are placed before their counterparts in Norway. Ynglinga saga discloses the mythical roots of Swedish kingship out of which the Norwegian tree of kings grows. This similarity between the ordering of material in Skaldatal and Heimskringla is further attested by the reference in Skaldatal to the poem Ynglingatal by f»j6661fr of Hvin, which was the source for Ynglinga saga. This reference is preceded by a new heading distinguishing a new chapter in Skaldatal: Her (hefir) upp Skaldatal Noregskonunga. The Norwegian kings are listed from Haraldr harfagri to Hakon, the son of Hakon the crowned king Hakonarson. The chronological framework of Skaldatal agrees with that of Heimskringla. They belong to the same tradition. These headings are not in SU. Another break in Skaldatal is introduced at the end of the list of the Norwegian kings, when the catalogue of the Norwegian earls is preceded by a reference to Eyvindr skaldaspillir's Haleygjatal, another genealogical poem. The list begins with Hakon Grjotgardsson, a contemporary of Haraldr harfagri, and concludes with Knutr Hakonarson (d. 1261). There is no break, however, in the list between the catalogue of Norwegian earls and that of the Danish kings and earls. The last man mentioned in SK is the chieftain t»orleifr inn spaki. The list is longer in SU, not only because SIC finished counting by about 1260 and SU by about 1300, but also owing to the addition of English kings and Norwegian chieftains to the list (see below). On another level the catalogue is a list of sources for the writing of the kings' sagas, and it is probable that it originated in conjunction

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with the writing of Snorri Sturluson's Heimskringla.5 Bjarni Gudnason calls it 'the first literary history of Iceland/6 and this is a fair description. Skdldatal in Kringla functions as a footnote to the testimony of the skalds in Heimskringla and thereby strengthens Snorri Sturluson's claim in the Prologue that ... sumt ]?at, er finnsk i langfedgatali, J>ar er konungar eda adrir storsettadir menn hafa rakit kyn sitt, en sumt er ritat eptir fornum kvaedum eda sQguljodum, er menn hafa haft til skemmtanar ser. (Hkr 1,3-4)

some of this material is found in genealogical lists traced through the male side, through which kings and other men of noble descent have traced their kinship, but some of this is written according to old poems or epic lays, which men have had for their amusement.

And a little later: Med Haraldi konungi varu skald, ok kunna menn enn kvaedi J?eira ok allra konunga kvaedi, J?eira er sidan hafa verit i Noregi, ok tokum ver {>ar mest doemi af, J>at er sagt er i £>eim kvaedum, er kvedin varu fyrir sjalfum hofSingjunum e6rr are entered later in Codex Regius, after the account of kennings for poetry and most of the male gods. The compiler of 17 leaves Skdldskaparmdl at this point to insert three lists: Skaldatal, the genealogy of the Sturlungar, concluding with Helga Sturludottir's (Snorri Sturluson's sister) children Egill and Gyda, and a list of law-speakers in Iceland up to Snorri's day. These lists or records have been judged to l>ear very little, if any, relation to the other subjects dealt with in the book/91 maintain, on the contrary, that the writer of U had a specific reason for placing them, and Skaldatal in particular, in the manuscript precisely at this junction. What is Skaldatal? It is a list of poets who composed for kings and earls, exactly those poets whom Snorri Sturluson regarded as the most trustworthy sources in his Prologue to Heimskringla. The catalogue is furthermore a record of the achievements of the most celebrated Icelandic skalds who had gained recognition from the rulers of Scandinavia, the descendants of (36inn. As a result of the new arrangement of Skdldskaparmdl in U, no skaldic verse has so far been cited in the vellum to illustrate the wealth of the poetic diction, and therefore Skaldatal serves to lay the groundwork for the poets' testimony. The citations and references to the poets in the latter part of Skdldskaparmdl are therefore to be placed in the context of the chronology of the kings of Scandinavia, and with a particular deference to Heimskringla. The U version, more than any other version of Snorra Edda, makes clear the debt of Snorra Edda to the writing of the kings' sagas, which applauded the art and the historical importance of the skalds. The U manuscript is closely attached to the Sturlungar family, and Skaldatal, as well as the genealogy of the Sturlungar and the list of law-speakers, allude to the cultural achievements (poets and law-speakers) and aristocratic affiliation of this family.10 The two versions of Skaldatal earn their place in the context of Snorra Edda and Heimskringla because of the catalogue's relevance to the content of the respective manuscripts. The most significant differences between the versions further highlight their different roles in the two codices. 1 SIC refers only to rulers of Scandinavia, but SU adds two English kings to the list: King Athelstan and his poet Egill Skalla-Grimsson

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and King Ethelred and his poet Gunnlaugr ormstunga. It is clear that a reference to kings outside Scandinavia is inappropriate in the Nordic context of Heimskringla, and this shows how intricately Skdldatal in Kringla is linked to the content of that manuscript. The textual context is quite different in U. The sagas of Egill and Gunnlaugr (both of which relate stories concerning the forefathers of the Sturlungar) may have inspired the writer of U to introduce these two English kings into the list. 2 Many highly placed men in the service of the Norwegian kings were praised by the Icelandic court poets, as is attested by Heimskringla. SK mentions only one of them at the very end of the list, E>orleifr inn spaki Horda-Karason, the first in line of important chieftains in Heimskringla. These men do not belong to the royalty and therefore are excluded from (or omitted in) the catalogue in Kringla. The writer of SU, however, has no such qualms, and lists eighteen additional chieftains starting with Arinbjorn hersir, Egill's friend, and concluding with the thirteenth-century chieftain and adviser to the king, Gautr of Mel. The relationship of the Sturlungar to Gautr, the one-eyed councillor to King Hakon, was changeable in the thirteenth century. While in the company of Skuli Bardarson, Snorri Sturluson composed a stanza about Gautr, comparing him to the devious god (33inn. Gautr is one of t)6inn's names. This stanza is found in both Sturla J>6r5arson's Hdkonar saga and Olafr ]?6r6arson's 3GT, where the allusion to Odinn in the stanza is explained: her er deiginlig liking milli Odins ok nokkurs illgjarns manns ('here is a figurative likeness between C)6inn and a certain malicious man') (3GT116). The stanza is clearly not laudatory. When Sturla t>6r3arson goes on his 'hofudlausn'-excursion to the court of King Hakon in 1263, which is recounted in Sturlu pdttr in Sturlunga saga, Gautr of Mel proves his only supporter; he, in the same way as Arinbjorn in Egils saga, risks his own position at court to help Sturla. Skdldatal does not list Sturla among Gautr's poets. Only one member of the Sturlungar family composed verse in praise of him, Steinvor Sighvatsdottir, the niece of Snorri Sturluson, but regrettably none of her verse is preserved. 3 The two versions of Skdldatal relate differently the poets who praised Skuli Bar6arson:

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SK

SU

Skuli jarl Snorri stvrlo son olafr J?orJ?ar son Hdkon galinn Snorri Sturloson Steinn Ofeigsson Liotr scald I'orsteinn Eyiolfsson

Hdkon jarl galinn Jvarr kalfs son Steinn kalfs son Steinn ofeigs son

Skuli hertogi Snorri Sturloson Olafr J>orJ>arson Jatgeirr scald Liotr scalld Alfr Eyiolfsson Sturla BarJ^arson Gudmundr Oddzson Teitr scald Rodgeirr Aflason froralfr prestr

Skuli hertogi liotr skalld J>orsteinn ofeigs son Snorri Stvrlo son Olafr J?orJ>ar son iatgeirr torfa son liotr skalld alfr eyiolfs son Stvrla f)orj>ar son

SU makes a distinction between the poets of Earl Skuli and Duke Skuli, but SK refers only to the second title, which he held during the last period of his life. Snorri and (3lafr are the only poets recorded during his earldom. This list of thirteenth-century poets, the contemporaries of Snorri Sturluson, is noteworthy for another reason. We have a tendency to doubt the existence of poets of ninth- and tenth-century kings if there is no evidence of their verse. Of the ten poets listed alongside Duke Skuli in SK, only five are known as poets from other sources: Snorri Sturluson, (3lafr tordarson, Jatgeirr Torfason, Sturla Bardarson, and Gudmundr Oddsson, and of those five only Snorri and t)lafr are quoted in connection with Skuli's life in Hdkonar saga. Skaldatal celebrates the professional accomplishments of poets at the courts of kings and earls in Scandinavia, starting with the half-mythic Starkadr, Ragnarr lodbrok, Aslaug and their sons, and Bragi Boddason. It records their achievements in a historical context and thus places their work firmly in time. The catalogue is not written as a comprehen-

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sive list of skaldic poets, but rather as a source list for the writing of kings' sagas. Kringla's Skdldatal was expanded in Codex Upsaliensis and none of the poets that only composed verse in the service of Icelandic aristocrats in the thirteenth century, such as Gudmundr Svertingsson and Ingjaldr Geirmundarson, is listed. Their verse is outside the scope of the writers of royal history; they had clearly not enjoyed royal approval, even though their services were probably rendered in return for financial rewards. Twelve thirteenth-century court poets are recorded in the sources. Among these are four chieftains who continued to compose skaldic poetry at home in Iceland: Snorri Sturluson, Sturla I>6rdarson, (3lafr f>6rdarson, and Gizurr I>orvaldsson. Some were professional poets at home and abroad, such as Guttormr kortr Helgason and Sturla Bardarson. One is known only for his court poetry, Jatgeirr Torfason, and t)lafr Leggsson is known only for his verse in the learned literature. The remaining two, Steinvor Sighvatsdottir and Jon murti Egilsson, are known figures but none of their verse is preserved. Verse by only two poets has been preserved outside this group of aristocratic poets, Skald-Mani and Gudmundr Oddsson. A further twenty-seven court poets of unknown origin are known by name only. The high number of poets on that list throws into relief the imperfect representation of skaldic poetry in the thirteenth-century sources known to us. The poetry of these professional poets may have been written down in the thirteenth century - at least its existence was acknowledged by the thirteenth-century redactors of Skdldatal. These poets are (in alphabetical order, with their patrons; see also table 4.4): Alfr Eyjolfsson (Skuli Bardarson), Ami langi (Hakon Hakonarson), Bragi Hallsson (King Sverrir and Hakon Sverrisson), Dagfinnr Gudlaugsson (Gautr of Mel), Grani Hallbjarnarson (Eirikr Knutsson, Sweden), Gudmundr skald (Eirikr Magnussson), Gunnarr (not in Skdldatal: Brynjolfr Jonsson), Hoskuldr (Ingi Bardarson), Ingi (Hakon Sverrisson), fvarr Kalfsson (Hakon galinn), Ljotr Sumarlidason (Sverrir Sigurdarson, Hakon Sverrisson, Ingi Bardarson, Skuli Bardarson, Hakon galinn), (Mafr Herdisarson (Arinbjorn Jonsson and Gautr of Mel), Rodgeirr Aflason (Skuli Bardarson and Knutr Hakonarson), Runolfr skald (Ingi Bardarson), Snaekollr (not in Skdldatal: Hakon Hakonarson), Steinn Kalfsson (Hakon galinn), Steinn 6feigsson (Hakon galinn), Suguvaldi or Sugandi (Valdimarr gamli, Denmark), Sumarlidi skald (Sverrir Sigur6arson, Sorkvir Karlsson, Sweden), Teitr skald (Skuli Bardarson, Knutr Hakonarson), t»6ralfr (Skuli Bardarson

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and Knutr Hakonarson), t»orgeirr Danaskdld (Valdimarr gamli, Denmark, Sorkvir Karlsson), f»orsteinn Eyjolfsson (Hakon galinn), f»orsteinn Ingjaldsson (Eirikr Magnussson), I>orsteinn t)feigsson (Skuli Bardarson), Porsteinn Qrvendilsson (Eirikr Magnussson), and I>orvaldr Helgason (Eirikr Magnussson). This impressive list serves as a reminder of the cruel, albeit inevitable, discrimination involved in the writing and preservation of literary texts over many centuries. Only a quarter of the poets established as court poets and listed in Skdldatal are known. The remainder are only remembered in Skdldatal and stand as a powerful token of skaldic activity in the thirteenth century. Their work was not proclaimed by the historians and grammarians who controlled book production in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The reason why this was so will be addressed in the concluding remarks at the end of this chapter. Poets for the elite in Iceland There were a number of poets in the thirteenth century in the service of influential chieftains in Iceland and they form a distinctive group. Most of these poets are of unknown descent, and it is likely that they belong to the group of poets who learned their art outside the schoolroom and were appreciated in their community for their mastery of the art form. They can be seen to be in the company of chieftains over a period of time and composed verse at important junctures in their lives. Skaldic verse was worthy of royalty. The professional poets earned their living through their verse-making at the courts of Scandinavia and the British Isles, according to the kings' sagas and Skdldatal. Leaving aside the historical reliability and authenticity of this verse, the poets are clearly presented in thirteenth-century sources as reliable witnesses to royal history, recording the achievements of kings and earls in elaborate praise poems and elegies. Snorri's Prologue to Heimskringla endorses this view. The court poet provided the earl or the king with elaborate poems and this profession was highly respected from the ninth century to the beginning of the fourteenth. In the late twelfth century there was, however, a detectable expansion in the audience of the court poet. The new audience was in Iceland. Before this time there is little evidence of praise poems and eulogies for Icelanders. Two poems are mentioned in Eyrbyggja saga, Illugadrdpa by Oddr skald (Eyr 31 [17]) and fcormodr Trefilsson's Hrafnsmdl, where the cleverness and cunning of Snorri godi Porgrimsson are praised (Eyr

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124 [44], 156 [56], 168 [62]). A memorial poem by Arnorr jarlaskald on Gellir Eorkelsson is mentioned at the end of Laxdcela saga (Lax 229 [78]). The reference to such memorial poems in both Eyrbyggja saga and Laxdcela saga associates the writing of the earliest Sagas of Icelanders with royal historiography. Both saga authors acknowledge skaldic poetry as contributing to the portrayal of these three chieftains, who are the forefathers of thirteenth-century aristocrats; they deserved skaldic eulogizing in the same way as the rulers of Scandinavia. That this is a deliberate authorial device is best shown by pointing out that Arnorr's poem is not cited in the saga; the desired effect is achieved by merely mentioning that such a poem existed. Two poems are composed in honour of dead friends or relatives: Egill Skalla-Grimsson composed Sonatorrek after the death of the poet's sons, Bodvarr and Gunnarr (Eg 246-56 [78]), and I>orm66r Kolbninarskald his Porgeirsdrdpa in memory of his foster brother Porgeirr Havarsson (Post 152 [7], 156 [8], 181 [12], 209 [17]). Egill and I>ormodr are not composing in the service of these men. The poems are personal in their expression of praise and lament after the death of a loved one. In the late twelfth century Icelandic chieftains assumed the role previously dominated by foreign dignitaries in having verse composed for them. Why did the poets regard the Icelandic chieftains as worthy receivers of their art? It is difficult to chronicle the shifts of emphasis in ideology and cultural life, but it seems that the emergence of this new audience coincided with the leaning of the Icelandic ruling families towards aristocratic codes of behaviour. But is there a connection between the two? Icelandic chieftains began to identify themselves with European aristocrats in the twelfth century, and particularly in the thirteenth, through the writing of royal histories, genealogies, myths of the settlement, and skaldic poetry. The intellectual endeavours of the Oddaverjar and Haukdcelir in the twelfth century were described in chapter 1, particularly in the context of Hattalykill, and further in chapter 2 with reference to the Codex Regius of the Snorra Edda; they are highly pertinent to their social aspirations. Oddaverjar linked their lineage directly to the Norwegian dynasties. The poem Noregskonungatal, composed for Jon Loptsson, Snorri Sturluson's foster-father, about 1180 and only preserved in Flateyjarbok, links the family at Oddi with Magnus berfcettr, the grandfather of Jon. If scholars are right in associating works such as Skjoldunga saga and Vylsunga saga with Oddi, that would be a further indication of the Oddaverjar's interest in the heroic and royal past of

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their family.11 Gizurr f>orvaldsson, the first earl of Iceland, had the privilege of calling King Hakon Hakonarson his frxndi ('kinsman'), thanks to his kinship with the Oddaverjar (Stu I, 493). This blood association with King Hakon is emphasized in Sturlunga saga, probably owing to endeavours on the writer's part to substantiate the legitimacy of Gizurr's earldom. His family was 'royal' in an Icelandic context, as is attested by Hungrvaka.12 The genealogy of the Sturlungar, probably not written until the thirteenth century and preserved in conjunction with Skdldatal in Codex Upsaliensis, is a clear expression of a preoccupation of the Sturlungar with the noble origin of their family. The Oddaverjar, Haukdcelir, and Sturlungar were the three families most overtly engrossed in their relationship with the Norwegian royal house in the thirteenth century. Haukdcelir and Sturlungar were in direct competition for the earldom in Iceland. The fourth family was the Seldcelir, the descendants of Hrafn Sveinbjarnarson. The latter was not considered of royal descent, but his saga depicts him as an overtly religious man, almost a saint-like figure, commanding the divine gift of healing presented to his great-grandfather through the mediation of King (3lafr Haraldsson, St t)lafr. Hrafn Oddsson, his grandson and Sturla Sighvatsson's son-in-law, became the most powerful man in Iceland after the death of Gizurr E»orvaldsson in 1268. It is evident from the comparison between accounts of twelfth- and thirteenth-century chieftains in Sturlunga saga that the practice of keeping poets in their household grew popular with chieftains belonging to the powerful families in the thirteenth century. Of the twelfth-century chieftains depicted in Sturlunga saga only t»orgils Oddason at Stadarholl in Saurbcer (d. 1151) is known to have paid a poet, E>6r6r Rufeyjaskald, for his poetic services. t»6r6r did not live with I>orgils but resided on his own property. f»orvar6r t'orgeirsson, who was a known court poet, composed a eulogy about his brother Ari t>orgeirsson. Some of the professional poets had the opportunity to travel abroad and earn recognition for their skaldic poetry from foreign dignitaries before offering their services to their compatriots (see table 4.1). Gudmundr Oddsson composed verse for King Hakon Hakonarson, according to Skdldatal and Hdkonar saga, but upon his return to Iceland he seems to have entered the service of Sturla Sighvatsson, for whom he composed poetry over an eleven-year period (1221-32). Guttormr kortr Helgason is also listed as the poet of King Hakon Hakonarson, but none of his verse for the king is preserved. He is depicted only in the company of Hrafn Oddsson and Eyjolfr Porsteinsson, for whom he

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interpreted a dream and composed a stanza. It is unlikely that he was in their service as a poet. He was probably a well-appreciated companion because of his family background (see Genealogy 6). Sturla Bardarson (a nephew of Snorri Sturluson) is recorded in Kringla's version of Skdldatal as the poet of Earl Skuli Bardarson. In Iceland he is first seen in the company of Hrafh Sveinbjarnarson and later, after Hrafn's killing, with Snorri Sturluson at Reykjaholt. He also came of a notable family. The categorization of the poets with their patrons in table 4.1 brings to light interesting information about the geographical division of the practice of skaldic verse-making in the country that evokes the regional distribution of the sources, presented at the end of last chapter. The chieftains are from the south, west, and north of Iceland, but none lives in the East Fjords. The scarcity of skaldic poets in the east in the thirteenth century may be explained by the concentration of known establishments of learning and book production in the south, west, and north of Iceland, where the practice of skaldic verse was nurtured. There was no known monastery in this territory, that is, east of Eyjafjordr stretching to the south-east corner of Iceland, until Skriduklaustr in Fljotsdalr was established in 1493. The contemporary sagas deal almost exclusively with events in the south, west, and north of Iceland and this editorial point-of-view must also have had a hand in this presentation, or misrepresentation, of intellectual life in the thirteenth century. This is certainly not true of the Sagas of the Icelanders, which narrate events in the settlement period in the East Fjords. It is, however, of note that skaldic verse is cited in only one of these sagas, Droplaugarsona saga (preserved in AM 132 fol., Mgdruvallabok). This verse is by poets who are also commemorated in Haukr Valdisarson's poem Islendingadrdpa (vv. 6, 7, 8), preserved in the A manuscript of Snorra Edda. In the previous chapter I drew attention to the uneven distribution of skaldic verse in the Sturlunga saga compilation, which indicates either that the saga writers intended their works for different audiences or that the authors had different ideas as to the role of skaldic verse in prose narratives. This discrepancy is also evident in the Sagas of Icelanders, as is set out in table 4.2, and it is worth highlighting in this context the two groups of sagas that emerge when the numbers of skaldic verses in the Sagas of Icelanders are counted. It is clear that sagas of both groups were written simultaneously and in the same part of the country. Laxdcela saga and Eyrbyggja saga were written in the thirteenth century in the west of Iceland, but their

TABLE 4.1 Icelandic aristocrats and their poets South

West

West Fjords

North

Pall Jonsson Amundi Arnason

Snorri Sturluson GuOmundr Galtason Sturla B^rflarson

Hrafn Sveinbjarnarson GuOmundr Galtason Sturla B^rOarson GuOmundr Svertingsson GuObrandr Eyj6lfr Snorrason Eilffr Snorrason?

Bishop GuOmundr Arason Gri'mr Hjaltason

Porflr Sturluson and Svertingr Porleifsson Ol^fr Brynj6lfsson Sturla Sighvatsson GuOmundr Oddsson |36rir jokull Steinfinnsson

Porvaldr Snorrason Heinrekr Porgils Oddason (12th century) P6rOr Rufeyjaskald Hrafn Oddsson PorvarOr tr6f6tr

Sighvatr Sturluson Brandr Kolbeinn ungi Arnorsson GuOmundr Asbjarnarson t>6rdr kakali Ingjaldr Geirmundarson Skald-Hallr Eyjolfr ofsi PorvarOr tr6f6tr

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TABLE 4.2 Verse citations in the Sagas of Icelanders Fewer than 5 stanzas

More than 5 stanzas

Bandamanna saga M (6) Bandamanna saga K (1) Bardar saga Sn&fellsass (6) Ein'ks saga rauda (3) Bjarnar saga Hitdcelakappa (39) Finnboga saga ramma (0) Droplaugarsona saga (6) Fljdtsdcela saga (0) Eg/7s saga (60+ longer poems) Fldamanna saga (1) Eyrbyggja saga (37) Grcenlendinga saga (1) Fdstbrcedra saga (44) Gull-P6ris saga (0) Gunnars saga Keldugnupsfffls (0) G/'s/a saga Surssonar (39 short version; 38 longer version) Hrafnkels saga (0) Grettis saga (72) Hoensa-Pdris saga (0) Gunnlaugs saga ormstungu (25) Kjalnesinga saga (0) Hallfredarsaga (33 Aversion; 24 Oversion) Kroka-Refs saga (3) Hardar saga ok Hdlmverja (19) Laxdcela saga (5) Havardar saga Isfirdings (15) Ljdsvetninga saga (0) Heidarviga saga (17) Reykdcela saga (1) Kormciks saga (85) Valla-Ljdts saga (0) /vy^/s saga (23+ the poem DarraOarljddin Aversion). Vatnsdcela saga (1) More verse in Reykjabok and K6lfalaekjarb6k Vapnfirdinga saga (0) manuscripts of the saga. Porsteins saga Svarfdoela saga (17) Sfdu-Hallssonar (0) Viga-Glums saga (13) Porsteins saga hvi'ta (0) Vfglundar saga (22) Pdrdarsaga hredu (12)

authors make different use of the corpus of skaldic verse. The author of Laxdcela saga makes a point of noting long poems that relate to characters in the saga, such as Gellir torkelsson, but refrains from citing any verses, whereas the writer of Eyrbyggja saga cites examples from such poems known to him. Both authors recognize the cultural significance of skaldic verse-making. The reasons for the choice or the omission of skaldic verse indicate authorial preferences that depend most likely on the intended audience of the sagas. The most ardent students of the indigenous skaldic art are found in all parts of the country (even though the east of Iceland is badly represented in the sources) and the sagas of the skalds would seem to serve their interest and preference. The group of sagas for those who preferred the art of storytelling to sagas interlaced with skaldic verse is equally large. Skaldic art held a prominent place in this society while it was practised, encouraged, and

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enjoyed by the elite members of society, and this lasted until the end of the fourteenth century. The evidence of the thirteenth- and fourteenthcentury sagas shows that the taste in skaldic verse, particularly when it was applied to prose narratives, was not shared by everyone writing in this textual culture. The only man in the south of Iceland to have skaldic verse cited in relation to his life was Bishop Pall Jonsson of the Oddaverjar family (see Genealogy 1). The poet and craftsman Amundi Arnason composed a eulogy, dedicated to him and his family, of which only four stanzas, preserved in the saga of Pall, are known. The saga does not specify who commissioned the poem, whether Pall or his wife Herdis Ketilsdottir, who also came of a family of learning, the Hitdcelir (see Genealogy 4). She was the sister of t>orlakr Ketilsson, who fostered (or taught) Sturla Sighvatsson and Aron Hjorleifsson.13 Two men of the Sturlungar family in particular, Snorri Sturluson and Sturla Sighvatsson (see Genealogy 5), created around them a community that included poets. Snorri was a court poet. Sturla is not known for his verse-making (one stanza is sometimes attributed to him; see Excursus). He is, however, known to have copied the sagas by his uncle Snorri, which clearly points to his mastery of the tools of textual culture, and he must have been capable of appreciating the verse by his own private poet, Gudmundr Oddsson. The poet E»6rir jokull Steinfinnsson was also in Sturla's company. Snorri Sturluson kept in his company two fine poets, Sturla Bar6arson and Gudmundr Galtason, both of whom had previously been in the service of Hram Sveinbjarnarson. Olafr Brynjolfsson seems to have been a professional poet, named in the company of E>6r6r Sturluson and Svertingr t>orleifsson. The latter was himself an accomplished poet. I>6r6r was not a known poet; but two of his sons, Olafr and Sturla, were among the finest poets of the thirteenth century. Hrafn Sveinbjarnarson became a focal point for skaldic verse-making (see Genealogy 6). He was a learned man, reputed for his versemaking, even though none of it was preserved at the time of the writing of his saga (HrA 2 [3]). The independent saga of Hrafn describes him as an aristocrat. Six poets are associated with Hrafn: Eyjolfr Snorrason, GuSbrandr, Gudmundr Galtason, Gudmundr Svertingsson, and Sturla Barflarson, and his first cousin, Eilifr Snorrason. Nothing is known of him; only that he composed verse about Hrafn Sveinbjarnarson. The first four mentioned are unknown, but they left verse that bears witness to their artistic skill. GuSmundr Svertingsson com-

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posed the poem Hrafnsmdl after Hrafn's death, but is not mentioned as having been in Hrafn's company. Gu6mundr Galtason and Sturla BarSarson fled the West Fjords upon Hrafn's death and settled down with Snorri Sturluson, continuing to comment on the unfolding action in verse. Eyjolfr Snorrason accompanied Hrafh on the consecration voyage with Bishop Gudmundr. Gudbrandr is unknown, but is acclaimed through citations of his verse in the grammatical literature. The actions of Hrafn's adversary, J»orvaldr Snorrason, are commented on once in a stanza by the poet Heinrekr, who was a pingmadr of E>orvaldr. Heinrekr was not, however, in his household. In the north there is one clear instance of a poet in the company of his master, the monk Grimr Hjaltason with Bishop Gudmundr, even though it is difficult to maintain that he was a professional poet. As became clear in the discussion of Gudmundar sogur in the previous chapter, there is a strong tradition of skaldic verse-making in Gudmundr's family from Hvassafell in Eyjafjordr (see Genealogy 9). There is no verse preserved by Bishop Gudmundr himself, but his saga reflects active interest in skaldic poetry in his milieu. Sighvatr Sturluson, the brother of f>6rdr and Snorri, moved from the western part of Iceland in 1216 and settled down in Eyjafjordr. He was an accomplished poet, and there is a reference to a man called Brandr in his company who provided poetic commentary to the action. The stanza is not attributed to Brandr in Sturlunga saga, only in the A version of Gudmundar saga; it contains praise of Sighvatr's enemy. The three remaining examples illustrate the role of the poet as a commentator and recorder of the action. Guttormr kortr is a known court poet and was temporarily in the company of Hram Oddsson (of the Seldcelir family in the West Fjords) and Eyjolfr ofsi torsteinsson in Skagafjordr, as was torvardr trefotr. Gudmundr Asbjarnarson was in the company of Kolbeinn ungi when he composed a stanza on Kolbeinn's men. It is of interest not only to unveil the activity of these professional poets in Iceland but to highlight the chieftains who created an environment in which a poet could function (see table 4.1). These were Bishop Pall Jonsson, Snorri Sturluson, Sturla Sighvatsson, Hrafh Sveinbjarnarson, and Bishop Gudmundr. The two bishops came from an intellectual milieu that nurtured skaldic verse-making and where it was traditionally used in praise of family members, Pall from Oddi and Gudmundr from Hvassafell in Eyjafjordr. The three secular chieftains were forthright in their quest for royal recognition: Hrafh remained in an aristo-

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cratic milieu when he was abroad. Snorri Sturluson and Sturla Sighvatsson each became a lendr madr ('landed man') and had powerful friends in Norway. Two men, apart from those mentioned here, had poems or eulogies composed about them after their death: t>orgils skardi Bodvarsson by his uncle Sturla t»6r5arson and Aron Hjorleifsson by Olafr Pordarson. ARISTOCRATIC POETS IN ICELAND Skaldic verse-making was not limited to the professional poets who composed poetry for members of the royal households in Scandinavia or the aristocracy, either abroad or in Iceland. In the sources there is strong indication of a general appreciation and practice of skaldic verse among the ruling families in Iceland. This cultural phenomenon has gone largely unnoticed by scholars because of the limitation of our sources in their depiction of cultural life in Iceland in the thirteenth century. The known authors of some sagas (Sturla I>6r6arson) and the treatises (Snorri Sturluson, Olafr f»6rdarson) are men belonging to the elite of society and we would expect them to quote poets from their immediate community. It is nevertheless necessary to acknowledge that the only known poets are those either belonging to or serving the elite of society. Each of the ruling families is represented in table 4.3. If the information offered in tables 4.1 and 4.3 is merged, an interesting insight into skaldic verse-making in Iceland in the thirteenth century is achieved. The Oddaverjar family is represented by two men: Bishop Pall Jonsson, who had verse composed for him (as did his father, Jon Loptsson, in the poem Noregskonungatal), and his son Loptr Palsson, who participated in poetic exchange, even though the ditty spoken by him is hardly representative of his learning. Steinvor Sighvatsdottir, the wife of the chieftain of the Oddaverjar family Halfdan Saemundarson and daughter of Sighvatr Sturluson, was brought up in the north of Iceland. Gizurr fcorvaldsson is the only one of the Haukdcelir family to have left behind evidence of skaldic verse-making (see Genealogy 2). He gained a reputation for his poetry at the court of King Hakon and is listed as his court poet. Ami 6rei6a Magnussson was another important chieftain in the thirteenth century, of the so-called Amundaaett family, the family of the allsherjargodi. Pall f>orsteinsson's family is unknown, but he must have been of a reputable family as he is called

TABLE 4.3 Poets belonging to the elite West

South Oddaverjar Loptr Palsson Steinvor Sighvatsd6ttir

G CP

Haukdcelir Gizurr Porvaldsson

G-CP

Amundaaett Ami 6reioa Magnussson

G

Unknown family Pall Porsteinsson Svfnfellingar Ormr Svmfellingr J6nsson

Sturlungar Snorri Sturluson Sturla Sighvatsson Sturla E>6rOarson Olafr |36rOarson Oroekja Snorrason Svertingr Porleifsson Sighvatr Sturluson Steinvgr (see Oddaverjar) J6n murti Egilsson

F G

Lundarmenn Jatgeirr Torfason Olafr Leggsson

West Fjords

G-CP G G-CP CP G CP G

CP CP CP CP

G = godr, F = farmers, landowners; CP = court poets; P = poets

North

Reyknesingar Porgils Oddason

G

Stadarholsmenn Ingimundr Einarsson

G

Seldoelir Guttormr kQrtr Helgason Sturla Baroarson and Eilffr Snorrason; see Hrafn Sveinbjarnarson's poets Vatnsfirdingar ^6rCr Porvaldsson

Asbirningar Kolbeinn Tumason Hvassfellingar t'orvarOr Porgeirsson Qgmundr sneis PorvarOsson

F-CP CP Laufajsingar P J6n t>6rarinsson Dagstyggr P6r6arson

G

G G-CP G

P F

Mpdruvellingar and Fljdtamenn Asgrfmr Ketilsson

G-CP

Melmenn Tannr Bjarnarson

F

from Reykjahlfd Einarr draumr Porsteinsson

F

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one of inir beztu menu ('the most respectable men') when he is aiding Gizurr t>orvaldsson in 1253. The west of Iceland was dominated by the Sturlungar family. Snorri Sturluson and Sighvatr Sturluson were both poets; Sighvatr moved to EyjafJQrdr in his forties. Their brother f»6rdr Sturluson is not a known poet. His sons, t)lafr and Sturla, however, were among the best poets of the century. Snorri's son (3rcekja is remembered for his versemaking once in the sources, at the court of King Valdimarr in Denmark, but none of his verse is preserved. Two of Sighvatr's children were poets, Sturla Sighvatsson (probably) and Steinvor Sighvatsdottir. Steinvor is the only known poetess in the thirteenth century. She not only composed verse, but is known for her poetry in Skdldatal, in association with Gautr of Mel. Svertingr I>orleifsson, the nephew of Snorri, t»6r5r, and Sighvatr, was also a poet. It seems that Hrafn Sveinbjarnarson created a milieu that was a centre for skaldic poetry. Two of his kinsmen, Eilifr Snorrason and Sturla Bar3arson, lived with him and the sources cite verse by them while they are in his company. Guttormr kortr Helgason was his grandson, the son of PuriSr Hrafnsdottir, and a known court poet. Another grandson (son of Steinunn Hrafnsdottir) and later hirdstjori in Iceland, Hrafn Oddsson, had two poets in his company in 1254: f»orvar6r trefotr and (possibly) his cousin Guttormr kortr. Two important chieftains in the twelfth century may be added to the list of poets from the West Fjords: Ingimundr Einarsson and f»orgils Oddason. Hrafn's opponent Eorvaldr Snorrason is not known for his verse-making, even though one of his followers commented on his actions in a skaldic stanza; however, his grandfather J>6r6r Porvaldsson is recognized for his verse-making (see Genealogy 7). There were three families actively composing verse in the northern districts of Iceland. Kolbeinn Tumason (d. 1208), one of the finest poets of his generation, composed verse on various subjects (see Genealogy 8). His nephew, Kolbeinn ungi Arnorsson, had one man in his company composing verse. Kolbeinn's sister, Halldora Tumadottir, was married to Sighvatr Sturluson and they moved to EyjafJQrdr in 1216. Halldora was an exceptional woman for her time. Her daughter Steinvor was the only known Icelandic poetess in the thirteenth century. The second important family in the north were the men at Hvassafell in Eyjafjordr. f»orvar5r Porgeirsson was a well-known court poet in the thirteenth century and his son Qgmundr sneis Eorvardsson was known for his verse-making, even though he did not gain a reputation for his skaldic

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art during his long stay in Norway. I>orvar6r's nephew, Bishop Gu6mundr Arason, did not compose skaldic verse, but there was an unusually high number of poets in his immediate circle, thus indicating interest in skaldic verse in his milieu.14 The third family was from Laufass in Eyjafjordr. Jon t»6rarinsson, the brother of t>6r6r t»6rarinsson and halfbrother of Gudmundr dyri l?orvaldsson, and Pordr's son Dagstyggr composed their verse in the latter part of the twelfth century. In addition to these there were two poets of prominent families: Tannr Bjarnason and Einarr draumr f>orsteinsson. There was also the twelfth-century poet Asgrimr Ketilsson, mentioned in Gudmundar saga dyra. CLERICS AS POETS Clerics were important poets in the twelfth century. Einarr Skulason was a priest and a court poet. He earned his living by singing the praise of kings and earls in Scandinavia. In his poem Geisli he achieved an amalgamation of the praise poem genre and Christian poetry. He adopts traditional skaldic imagery embedded in pagan religion in a strictly Christian context and furthermore pays his respect to two of C>lafr Haraldsson's court poets, Sighvatr t>6r5arson and C»ttarr svarti. This poem may have been of paramount importance in establishing the skaldic verse form as the platform for Christian poetry in the twelfth century. Important Christian drdpur are dated to the twelfth century. Canon Gamli is a known poet. He composed Harmsol, preserved in AM 757 a 4to, and also a poem for St John the Apostle, preserved in conjunction with Jons saga postula IV. Two other poets living in the twelfth century composed verse in praise of St John, Nikulas aboti and Kolbeinn Tumason. By the end of the twelfth century it is clear that religious verse in Iceland was cloaked in skaldic form. There are not many known clerics composing verse, but many religious poems are preserved anonymously, such as Leidarvisan and Pldcitus drdpa in the twelfth century, and Liknarbraut and Heilags anda visur in the thirteenth. Gunnlaugr Leifsson is an exception. He was a monk at the Benedictine monastery at Pingeyrar and a well-known saga writer. He translated Geoffrey of Monmouth's Prophetiae Merlini into verse form. Another monk, Grimr Hjaltason, also from the north of Iceland, is in the company of Bishop Gudmundr Arason, and his verse is preserved in all versions of Gudmundar saga. Some thirteenth-century chieftains and known poets were in orders:

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Gizurr Porvaldsson (subdeacon), Ingimundr Einarsson (priest), Loptr Palsson (became a canon late in life), and (Mafr £6r3arson (subdeacon). Their verse is not necessarily Christian in content; skaldic diction was determined by the subject matter. The most deeply religious poet of the thirteenth century, Kolbeinn Tumason, was not ordained. CONCLUSION The immediate reaction to this survey of known poets in Iceland in the thirteenth century might be one of surprise. The poets were powerful men, either a godi, powerful farmer, or members of the distinguished families in the country, or professional poets staying with, or in the company of, these same aristocratic chieftains. The picture is curiously uniform. But I also maintain that this result was predictable. It was precisely writers belonging to these families who secured the preservation of their verse and they would not include skaldic verse that was not favourable to them or composed outside their circle. The geographical distribution of the verse tallies with that of the sources depicted in the previous chapter; this is the same, uniform textual culture controlled by the elite of society. The discussion of the court poets has revealed the imperfect nature of our sources as far as thirteenth-century skaldic verse is concerned. Only a fraction of the verse is preserved. We can neither ignore the twentyfive thirteenth-century poets who are known only from Skdldatal, nor can we determine their social position. Even though their names are not found elsewhere in the sources, it does not necessarily follow that they stemmed from the lower classes in society. However, it would be improbable that men outside the privileged classes and the elite would have had the means to travel to Norway, Sweden, or Denmark and gain recognition at royal courts for their skaldic verse. Some of them may be of Norwegian, Orcadian, or Danish origin. Their profession as skalds points to a privileged background. Nonetheless, they clearly did not belong to the principal families that ruled Iceland in the thirteenth century and left behind extensive genealogies, for instance, in the JEttartQlur in Sturlunga saga: Oddaverjar, Haukdcelir (in a separate fidttr), Sturlungar, Seldcelir, Vatnsfirdingar, Asbirningar, Hitdcelir, and Svfnfellingar. These families furnished the verse with a framework within which it is preserved. The preservation of skaldic verse in thirteenth-century sources serves to contribute to the image of the new aristocracy in Iceland. Skaldic verse and its association with myth became

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one of the important tools in the endeavours of the ruling families to forge their cultural identity, which was crucial for their political success in society. It seems therefore that the preservation of the verse is determined not merely by the applicability or quality of the verse but rather by the social importance of the poet, that is, the poet's belonging to the ruling families in Iceland and being known to the aristocratic writers. It is a striking fact that all except two of the well-known poets in Skdldatal are represented in the sources: Steinvor Sighvatsdottir, a woman composing verse about the Norwegian Gautr of Mel, and Jon murti Egilsson, whose verse for King Eirikr Magnussson falls outside the limits of kings' sagas in thirteenth- and fourteenth-century writings. One group of skaldic verse found in the thirteenth-century sources must not be ignored in this context: anonymous poetry. The authors of the sagas in Sturlunga saga, in particular, make extensive use of anonymous verse to cloak their commentary on the unfolding action (see table 3.4). The dream-stanzas are of particular importance. Unknown people, usually of the lower classes or of little means, are visited in a dream by persons who recite a stanza, either in skaldic or eddic metre.15 The effect of this technique is that the illiterate general public is entangled in the web of battles and conflicts woven by the ruling families while it is temporarily given a voice not its own. Moreover, this technique provides the author with a neutral platform on which to voice his comments. The contrast between the authenticity of the verse of the elite and the anonymity of the poetry associated with the general public throws into relief the opposing extremes in Icelandic cultural life in the thirteenth century. The citation of skaldic verse in thirteenth-century sources is a highly political act; it contributes to the presentation of historical fact. The choice of verse in the kings' sagas, such as in Hdkonar saga Hdkonarsonar, does not represent skaldic activity around Hakon as suggested by Skdldatal. Sturla E»6r6arson chooses instead to cite mostly his own verse and that of his brother Olafr, as became apparent from our discussion of the saga in chapter 3. Skaldic verse-making becomes in Sturla's hands a conscious semantic layer in the writing of a king's saga: the poet and the writer are the same man. Sturlu pdttr in Sturlunga saga symbolizes the Sturlungar's ultimate manipulation of the medium of skaldic poetry in the thirteenth century. They not only integrated their verse in historical writings, but were active in theoretical and academic presentation of the skaldic art, as will be explored in the next part of the book.

excursus to chapter four

The Thirteenth-Century Poet

UNKNOWN THIRTEENTH-CENTURY POETS LISTED IN BOTH VERSIONS OF SKAlDATAL AND THEIR PATRONS Skaldic verse by thirty-eight thirteenth-century poets is cited in the sources. Nine of these are noted as court poets in the two versions of Skdldatal. Both versions of Skdldatal list a further twenty-seven court poets who composed verse for or in honour of thirteenth-century rulers in Scandinavia; twenty-five of these are merely named and are listed in the table 4.4, but the remaining two are known members of the Sturlungar family: Steinvpr Sighvatsdottir and Jon murti Egilsson (though none of their verse is preserved). Jon Sigurdsson sought in the notes to his edition of Skdldatal to link some of these poets with known individuals. Gudmundr skald was identified with Gudmundr skaldstikill, who is mentioned in the annals in 1296 when the administration of the Northern Quarter was turned over to him (Ann VII, IX, X).1 He would probably have travelled to Norway and gained the recognition of King Eirikr Magmissson for whom he composed a poem, according to the U version of Skdldatal. His association with the king may have secured him the Northern Quarter upon his arrival in Iceland. He could also be the same GuSmundr skald who died in 1330 according to Gottskdlksanndll (Ann VIII). This meagre reference suffices to show that this Gudmundr was a known person in society at the time. PorsteinnQrvendilsson has been identified with Porsteinn Erivendilsson in Arna saga biskups (Arn 132 [107]),2 and t»orvaldr Helgason with his namesake of Holt in Qnundarfjordr who travelled abroad around 1290.3 Finnur Jonsson in his Litteraturs historic suggested that Ljotr Sumarlidason was the son of

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TABLE 4.4 Unknown thirteenth-century poets listed in both versions of Skaldatal and their patrons

Poets

Skaldatal (SK)

Ska/datal (SU)

Alfr Eyj6lfsson Ami langi Bragi Hallsson

SK257 SK256 SK 255-6

SU267 SU2G5 SL/264

Dagfinnr Guolaugsson Grani Hallbjarnarson Gudmundr (skald) Hgskuldr (blind! or lioi) Ingi Ivarr Kalfsson Lj6tr Sumarliflason

SK252 SK256 SK 255-7

SL/269 SU260 SL/265 SL/264 Sf264 SL/266 SL/264, 267

SL/269

Olafr Herdfsarson Roflgeirr Aflason

SK257

S(J 267

Run6lfr (skald, SU) Steinn Kalfsson Steinn Ofeigsson Suguvaldi (Sugandi) Sumarlioi (skald)

SK25Q SK257 SK258 SK 252, 255

SL/264 SL/266 SL/266 SL/268 SU 260, 264

Teitr (skald)

SK257

SL/267

f>6ralfr

SK257

SL/267

Porgeirr Danaskald

SK 252, 258

SU 260, 268

SK257 Porsteinn Eyj6lfsson Porsteinn Ingjaldsson Porsteinn Ofeigsson Porsteinn Qrvendilsson Porvaldr Helgason

SL/265 SL/267 SL/265 SL/265

Patrons Duke Skuli Baroarson King Hakon Hakonarson King Sverrir Sigurfiarson and Hakon Sverrisson Gautr of Mel King Eirfkr Knutsson King Eirfkr Magnussson King Ingi BarOarson King Hakon Sverrisson Earl Hakon galinn King Sverrir SigurOarson, King Hakon Sverrisson, Ingi Bardarson, Duke Skuli BarOarson, and Earl Hakon galinn (only in SK) Arinbjorn J6nsson and Gautr of Mel Duke Skuli Bardarson (only in SK) and Earl Kniitr Hakonarson (only in SU) King Ingi BarSarson Earl Hakon galinn Earl Hakon galinn King Valdimarr King Sverrir SigurSarson and King Sorkvir Karlsson Duke Skuli Bardarson (only in SK) and Earl Knutr Hakonarson (only in SU) Duke Skuli Bardarson (only in SK) and Earl Knutr Hakonarson (only in SU) King Valdimarr of Denmark and King Sorkvir Karlsson Earl Hakon galinn King Eirfkr Magnussson Duke Skuli BarOarson King Eirfkr Magnussson King Eirfkr Magnussson

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Sumarlidi, who was also a court poet, and that Ami langi was Petr Skulason, Duke Skuli's son, merkisberi ('standard-bearer') in 1240 of the same name, who took an active part in the enmity between Skuli and Hakon (HdkFlat III, 158).4 Ami is not, however, listed as one of Skuli's poets. These identifications clearly remain uncertain. The evidence of Skdldatal attests to the gap in our knowledge of the poets' activities at foreign courts in the thirteenth century; only a quarter of the poets have a voice in the sources. Verse by a further twentyeight poets outside Skdldatal is, however, known from the sources, historical sagas and grammatical literature. These poets were chiefly known for their poetry in an Icelandic context. This excursus contains a description of each of the forty-three poets known from the thirteenth century, as well as the ten twelfth-century poets noted in Sturlunga saga. The biographical details of each poet will build up a picture of a group largely born into a privileged social position, as suggested by the analysis of this evidence in chapter 4. However, we have to be cautious not to overinterpret the data. The unknown poets may not belong to, or be associated with, the Icelandic elite, as were the majority of the poets known to us, but rather may belong to a separate group of aspiring poets who sought social recognition through their verse-making. Among them may even be poets of Orcadian or Norwegian descent. Moreover, it is likely that the study of skaldic verse would have been actively pursued inside and outside the schoolroom. Thus, the picture of skaldic activity in the thirteenth century is probably more complex than the historical sources written by members of the leading families, particularly the Sturlungar, indicate. This is an important reservation to make and applies to all attempts at using the historical and learned writings as sources for Icelandic cultural life in the thirteenth century. The following account is divided into two sections: (1) Twelfthcentury poets cited or mentioned in Sturlunga saga, and (2) Known poets from the thirteenth century. Each section is headed by a table (tables 4.5 and 4.6) where the poets are listed. The bibliographies of the poets are flagged by three topics that present the evidence in an abbreviated form: 1 Source(s). Abbreviated title of the source of the verse, as used in the bibliography. £)HW (5kend heiti as preserved in W (table 3.1)

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147

3GT Third Grammatical Treatise (table 3.2) 4GT Fourth Grammatical Treatise (table 3.3) 5GT Fifth Grammatical Treatise (see chapter 3,88) Bs Breta sggur (see chapter 3, 88-9) Pal Pals saga byskups (see chapter 3, 99-100) Stu Sturlunga saga (table 3.4) Hdk Hdkonar saga Hdkonarsonar (table 3.5) GA, GB, GC, GD Gudmundar sogur byskups (table 3.6) HrA, HrB Hrafns saga Sveinbjarnarsonar (table 3.7) Ar Arons saga Hjgrleifssonar (see chapter 3,113-14) The numbers correspond to the verse numbers given in the appropriate tables in chapter 3; for instance, Stu 50 (table 3. 4) refers to verse 50 in Sturlunga saga. In addition, there are references to Finnur Jonsson's A-volume of his edition of skaldic verse (Skj IA and IIA), to Skdldatal where appropriate, and, finally, to Finnur Jonsson's treatment of skaldic verse in his Litteraturs historie. 2 Verse. Number of stanzas preserved by the poet in a medieval context. 3 Date of composition. Noted if known. TWELFTH-CENTURY POETS IN STURLUNGA SAGA Asgrimr skald Ketilsson Source: Ska 119 [38] v. 139; Skj IA, 540; SK 255; FJII, 76 Verse: half-stanza

Asgrimr Ketilsson is mentioned in Gudmundar saga dyra as a skald, but none of his verse is cited in the saga. He was a godi (see note 23, Introduction), as was his brother Jon Ketilsson of Holt in Fljot in Skagafjordr, who was a priest.5 Jon was often in the company of Bishop Brandr Saemundarson of Holar. Asgrimr is called skald on two of the three occasions he is mentioned in the saga, which may indicate that he was remembered for his verse-making (Stu 1,163,210). Asgrimr is listed as a poet of King Sverrir Sigurdarson in Kringla's version of Skdldatal The exclusion of his name in Codex Upsaliensis may be due to a misunderstanding of the scribe, as is pointed out by Jon Sigurdsson in his commentary on Skdldatal.6 A half-stanza by a certain Asgrimr in Skdldskaparmdl is thought to have been composed by Asgrimr Ketilsson.7

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TABLE 4.5 Twelfth-century poets cited or noted in Sturlunga saga

Poets Asgrfmr Ketilsson Dagstyggr Pdraarson Hrblfrof Skalmarnes Ingimundr priest Einarsson J6n Pbrarinsson P6r6r Porvaldsson P6rtJr Rufeyjaskald Porgils Oddason Porvarfir Porgeirsson Qgmundr sneis Porvardsson

Verse cited in sources

Noted in Skaldatal

X

SK255

Noted, not cited, in other sources

X

NV

Stu

X X X X X X X

NV = no verse preserved; x = known verse

Dagstyggr Pordarson (d. 1196)

Source: Stu 22 (Gd; table 3.4); Skj IA, 541; FJII, 170 Verse: 1 stanza Date of composition: 1195

Dagstyggr £>6r3arson was of a distinguished family. His father was t>6rdr f»6rarinsson at Laufass in Eyjafjordr, half-brother of the chieftain Gudmundr dyri Porvaldsson (d. 1212). Their mother was f»uridr, a daughter of Gudmundr Porgeirsson, probably the law-speaker of that name in 1123-34. I>6rdr was not a godL8 Pordr t>6rarinsson's brother, Jon f>6rarinsson, is called a skald, and a half-stanza is attributed to him in Sturlu saga (see below). Dagstyggr's mother is unknown, but his father's second wife was Margret Oddsdottir, the daughter of Oddr Gizurarson (d. 1180), a priest and a godi in the East Fjords,9 a match that indicates Mrdr's social position. Dagstyggr is mentioned third of his brothers when his father and his two brothers, Hakon and Hildibrandr, are at the trading centre Gasar in Eyjaf)or6r around 1190 (Stu 1,167). He may have been the youngest. In 1196 the three brothers attacked the chieftain and poet Ogmundr t»orvardsson because of his alleged seduction of their father's wife, Margret (Stu 1,177-80). At a settlement meeting Ogmundr (see below) and Dagstyggr composed one stanza each, in a situation similar to a poetic contest (or senna). Dagstyggr died that same winter.

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This is the only preserved stanza by Dagstyggr I>6r6arson. The image of Qgrnundr crawling among the trees echoes the imagery of Qgmundr's own stanza on the same occasion. Hrolfr of Skalmarnes (12th century) Source: Stu (f>H); FJII, 167 No verse

Hrolfr of Skalmarnes is described in Porgils saga ok Haflida in Sturlunga saga as a good friend and a 'thingman' (pingmadr; see note 23, Introduction) of the great chieftain fcorgils Oddason at StaQarholl in the west of Iceland in the first part of the twelfth century (see below). This information shows that he moved in the upper section of Icelandic society. He was known for his learning as lagamadr mikill ... sagnamadr ok orti skipuliga ('a great lawman, storyteller and composed verse in an orderly fashion') (Stu I, 9). Hrolfr is among two other poets, Ingimundr Einarsson and f»6rdr Rufeyjaskald (see below), who are introduced at the beginning of the saga. The only other time Hrolfr is mentioned in Porgils saga ok Haflida is when he is in the company of the most distinguished guests at the wedding at Reykjaholar in 1119 (see below, Ingimundr Einarsson), along with the two chieftains, Eorgils Oddason and f>6rdr Porvaldsson, the chieftain of the VatnsfirSingar. The entry about Hrolfr at the wedding is worth citing in full: Hrolfr fra Skalmarnesi sag5i sggu fra Hrpngvidi vikingi ok fra Clafi Lidsmannakonungi ok haugbroti trains ok Hromundi Gripssyni ok margar visur med. En Jjessarri spgu var skemt Sverri konungi, ok kalladi harm slikar lygisQgur skemtiligstar, ok po kunna menn at telja aettir sinar til Hromundar Gripssonar.fressa sQgu haf5i Hrolfr sjalfr saman setta. (Stu 1,22)

Hrolfr of Skalmarnes told the saga of the Viking HrpngviSr, and of Olafr the king of Lidsmenn, and of the breaking of Prainn's mound, and of Hromundr Gripsson and accompanying his saga with many stanzas. King Sverrir was entertained with that saga, and he called all such fables the most entertaining, but yet people could trace their ancestry to Hromundr Gripsson. Hrolfr himself composed the saga.

The phrasing setja saman for Hrolfr's composition of the saga of Hromundr Gripsson is the same as that which describes Snorri Sturluson's authorship of Snorra Edda in Codex Upsaliensis.10 Scholars have

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disputed whether Holfr's saga was a written11 or oral composition,12 and indeed questioned whether this account is a reliable source for oral storytelling in the early twelfth century.13 Even if Hrolfr himself did not commit the saga to writing, it is clear that his occupations in life, law, poetry, and storytelling indicate that he lived in an intellectual environment. Ingimundr prestr Einarsson (d. 1169) Source: Stu 5,13,15 (PH; table 3.4); Skj IA, 493; FJII, 167 Verse: 1 stanza, a half-stanza, and couplet Date of composition: 1119

Ingimundr Einarsson was a go6i and a priest at Reykjaholar (d. 1169). He was of an eminent family, a grandson of the chieftain Ari I>orgilsson at Reykjaholar. He is named in Ari Porgilsson's list of priests of noble descent (kynborinna), written in 1143 (Dl 1,186). The descriptions of him in Porgils saga ok Haflida link his learning and skills as a poet. The first description is that he was a skald gott ok at mgrgu inn mesti mxtismadr ... Ingimundr var frcedimadr mikill ok for mjgk med sggur ok skemti vel kvxdum ok orti, god kvaedi gerdi hann sjdlfr ok pa launfyrir utanlands ('he was a fine poet and in many ways the finest man... Ingimundr was a great scholar and commonly told stories and entertained with poems and composed verse; he composed some fine poems himself for which he received financial rewards abroad') (Stu I, 9). This indicates that he was a court poet, even though he is not listed in Skdldatal. At the beginning of the wedding at Reykjaholar in the summer of 1119 he is described again: Ingimundr var sonr Einars Arasonar, systrungr J>orgils Oddasonar. Ingimundr var it mesta ggfugmenni, skald gott, oflati mikill baedl i skapferdi ok annarri kurteisi, inn mesti gledimadr ok fekk margt til skemtunar. Hann var inn vitrasti madr ok helt ser mjgk til vinsaelda vid alj?ydu; hann var ok mikils virdr af mprgum gpfgum mgnnum. (Stu 1,18)

Ingimundr was the son of Einarr Arason, the cousin of frorgils Oddason. Ingimundr was a most distinguished man, a fine poet, an effusive man in his temperament and in other courtesies, and the cheeriest of men and he took great delight in many things. He was the wisest of men and was very popular with the public; he was also well respected by many noble people.

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The description of the wedding banquet not only provides important information about saga entertainment at social functions of the ruling class in the twelfth century (see Hrolfr, above). It also presents evidence of poetic exchanges at such gatherings. The men who took part in the poetic exchange at Reykjaholar are all prominent - Ingimundr Einarsson, fordr J>orvaldsson, the chieftain of Vamsfirdingar, and some who are not named. Ingimundr's couplet initiated the grotesque poetic exchange. His other two stanzas in the saga are composed as regular drottkv&tt stanzas and contain simple poetic diction. The first is a half-stanza composed when I>orgils Oddason had cut off Haflidi Masson's three fingers at the AlJ?ingi and the second stanza describes the opposing factions. Jon Porarinsson Source: Stu 19 (St; table 3.4); Skj IA, 536 Verse: half-stanza Date of composition: 1180 Jon t>6rarinsson (wrongly called Jon f»orvaldsson in Skj IA and IB) was the half-brother of Gudmundr dyri J>orvaldsson, the powerful chieftain in the north of Iceland in the latter part of the twelfth century. Their mother was I>uri6r, the daughter of Gudmundr Porgeirsson, lawspeaker 1123-34. Nothing is known of Jon's private life, but his family indicates that he belonged to the elite of society. Dagstyggr frordarson was Jon's nephew (see above, Dagstyggr Pordarson). Jon is mentioned once in Sturlu saga in Sturlunga saga, the saga of Sturla I>6r6arson (Hvamm-Sturla; d. 1183), Snorri Sturluson's father. Jon is specifically referred to as a skald. The occasion is a settlement meeting between Sturla tordarson and Pall Solvason, priest at Reykjaholt in the dispute over the farm Deildartunga in BorgarfjorSr. The time is 1180: Sturla gekk at Joni fcorarinssyni, brodur Gudmundar ins dyra. Modir J>eira var turidr, dottir Gudmundar logsogumanns. Sturla maelti: 'Heill JDU, Jon.' Madr spurdi, hvi harm kveddi hann, en eigi Gudmund. Sturla svarar, kva6 J>enna J>a vidfraegstan at endimum. Jon var skald; hann kvad |?etta:

Sturla went towards Jon fcorarinsson, the brother of Gudmundr dyri; their mother was l?uridr, the daughter of Gudmundr lawspeaker. Sturla said: 'Greetings, Jon.' A man asked why he greeted him, but not GuSmundr. Sturla answered that this man was at the time best known for his outrageous

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Karl er staddr hja Sturlu, stendr harm fra rangindum. frrumir andskotinn undir, ordsloegr go6a baegi. (Stu 1,111-12)

behaviour. Jon was a poet, and he uttered this: Karl [or Gdinn/ Satan] stands next to Sturla, he distances himself from wrong-doing. The devil, devious in words, lies in wait under the shoulder of the godi.

This citation is drawn from Kroksfjardarbok, but the II-group of paper manuscripts provide a variant to the third line of the half-stanza, fyrir rettindum ('stands in the way of justice') instead offrd rangindum ('from all wrong-doing'), which seems to make more sense in this context. This half-stanza shows more skill than is apparent at a first reading. The reference to karl is clearly a cloaked and ingenious reference to the pagan (^Sinn, who supports Sturla t>6r3arson in his shaky dealings in the dispute over Deildartunga in Borgarfjordr. The name Karl is used in two manuscripts of Gylfaginning (Gyl 68 [35] v. 50; T and W; U omits the line) in a reference to Odinn. Such an interpretation of this imagery in relation to Sturla is substantiated by J>orbjorg Bjarnadottir's infamous attack on Sturla where she intends to strike out his eye to make him more like t)dinn: er Ipu vilt likastr vera ('whom you want to resemble the most') (Stu 1,113). Pordr Rufeyjaskald

Source: Stu 12 (t>H; table 3.4); Skj IA, 494; FJII, 54 Verse: 1 stanza Date of composition: 1120

t»6r6r Rufeyjaskald is probably the same man as Skald-fcordr f>orbjarnarson (Stu I,75; in Sturlu saga). He is mentioned in Landndma (Rupeyjarskdld), where his son Hrafnkell, otherwise called Skald-Hram, is mentioned. Nothing further is known about his son. J>6r5r lived at Hvammsdalr, on t>orgils Oddason's property. It is said that he was short of money and that his nickname was derived from Riifeyjar, where he lived for a long time (Stu 1,9). He composed one stanza in the saga. E»orgils came to I>6rdr and found the poet in a bad humour, because he: hafdi ort kvaedi um £orgils, ok var

had composed a poem about

The Poet's Profession eigi launat. Porgilsi hafdi gefin verit 0x god, ok tekr J>6rdr til 0xarinnar ok litr a, ok spyrr hvers beim baetti verd 0xin, en beir urpu a tvaer merkr. (Stu 1,25)

153 Porgils, and it was not rewarded. Eorgils had been given a fine axe and Pordr picks up the axe and scrutinizes it, and asks how much the axe was worth, and they suggested two marks.

After f>6r6r has recited the stanza, t>orgils decided to give him the farm, but retained the axe. Pordr torvaldsson Source: Stu 6,8 (J>H; table 3.4); not in Skj IA or FJII Verse: 2 stanzas Date of composition: 1119 PorQr torvaldsson was the godi of the Vatnsfirdingar in the first part of the twelfth century (see Genealogy 7).14 He was married to Sigridr, the daughter of the chieftain Haflidi Masson and Rannveig Teitsdottir, the sister of Hallr Teitsson in Haukadalr. I>6r6r fcorvaldsson is named in Ari t>orgilsson's list of priests of noble descent (kynborinna), written in 1143 (DI 1,186). The ditties by t*6r5r in Porgils saga ok Haflida are cited at the wedding at Reykjaholar in 1119 (see Ingimundr Einarsson) and are simple in style. torgils Oddason (d. 1151) Source: Stu 16 (£H; table 3.4); Skj IA, 493; FJ II, 167 Verse: 1 half-stanza Date of composition: 1121 frorgils Oddason was a powerful chieftain and godi at Stadarholl in Saurbrer in the beginning of the twelfth century.15 He is noted in Ari t>orgilsson's list of priests of noble descent (kynborinna), written in 1143 (DI 1,186). f»orgils's dispute with Haflidi Masson is recorded in Porgils saga ok Haflida at the outset of Sturlunga saga and their reconciliation is even noted in the annals (Ann I, III, IV, VIII, IX, X). The half-stanza by him is in regular rhyme. The company he kept suggests that he enjoyed poetry: Ingimundr Einarsson and f»6r5r Rufeyjaskald, and also Hrolfr of Skalmarnes, who entertained at the wedding at Reykjaholar in 1119.16

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I>orgils had nine children, among them two sons: Oddi, who was a priest (also named in Ari's list, D7 I, 186), and Einarr, who succeeded his father as the chieftain at Stadarholl. E>orvardr torgeirsson, the wellknown poet, had a child with Einarr's daughter Yngvildr, who also had a daughter, Jora, with Bishop Kloeingr Porsteinsson (d. 1176; see chapter 1, 36-9). In Sturlu saga it is recorded that Oddi var at fostri i Odda med Sxmundi Sigfusssyni, ok vard hannfrodr. Einarr Porgilsson var at fostri med Porgeiri Sveinssyni at Brunnd ('was fostered by Saemundr Sigfussson at Oddi, and he became learned. Einarr t>orgilsson was fostered by f»orgeirr Sveinsson at Brunna') (Stu I, 54). The brothers are sent away to be fostered and educated. Oddi clearly received his learning from the finest teacher at the time, Saemundr Sigfussson, but nothing of the learning and teaching of E»orgeirr at Brunna is known. Porgils's death in 1151 is noted in six annals (Ann I, III, IV, VIII, IX, X). Porvardr l?orgeirsson (d. 1207) Sources: Stu 20 (PG; Table 3.4), GA 2, GB, GC; GA 1 (table 3.6); Skj IA, 533; SK 255; FJII, 73 Verse: 2 stanzas Date of composition: 1162-3 t»orvar6r Porgeirsson was the son of Porgeirr Hallason, a godi at Hvassafell in EyjafjorSr and later a monk at f»vera (see Genealogy 9).17 His mother was Hallbera Einarsdottir, a daughter of Einarr Arason at Reykjaholar, sister of the poet and priest Ingimundr Einarsson (see above), fcorvarftr's brothers were I>6r5r, who became a monk at MunkaJ>vera, the priest Ingimundr (Bishop Gudmundr's foster-father), Einarr, and Ari (father of Gudmundr Arason). t»orvardr urged Gudmundr, his nephew, to become bishop, and his two prophetic dreams are shown to convince Gudmundr of his calling. I>orvardr was a courtier of King Ingi Haraldsson (d. 1161) and Knutr Valdimarsson of Denmark. The saga of Ingi does not cite EorvarSr's verse about Ingi, even though he is listed as his poet in the Kringla version of Skdldatal. Two stanzas exist on Ari, his brother, in GA (1-2); the second is also cited in Sturlunga saga (Stu 20; table 3.4). E»orvar6r is said to have composed a eulogy on Ari: M yrkir I>orvar6r, brodir hans, erfiflokk um Ara ok J?6ttisk J>ann veg helzt hyggja af liflati Ara ok lata

Then his brother I>orvar6r composed a memorial poem on Ari and thought best to get his mind off

The Poet's Profession hreysti hans koma i kvaedi bau, er vida vaeri borin. (PG [2])

155 Ari's death by letting his courageousness be known in poems that would travel widely.

f»orvardr ended his life as a monk, probably at Munkabvera in Eyjafjordr, and his death in 1207 is noted in the annals (Ann I, III, IV, V, IX), and in two of them, Annales regii and Skdlholtsanndll, he is called a monk. Ogmundr sneis Porvardsson (c. 1160/4-1237) Sources: Stu 21 (Grf; table 3.4); GB and GD (table 3.6); Skj IA, 541; FJII, 170 Verse: 2 stanzas Date of composition: 1195-1208

Ogmundr was the son of t>orvardr t>orgeirsson (see above), and an heir to his godord.18 He was t>orvar6r's only son, born out of wedlock; his mother was called Helga. Ogmundr is of a family known for versemaking and his father was a distinguished court poet. He was a subdeacon and is likely to have enjoyed the formal education of a chieftain's son. He travelled abroad and stayed eight years in Norway from 1184 to 1192. His life is of interest and will be recounted briefly below. In the summer of 1184 Ogmundr travelled abroad on the same ship as Abbot Karl Jonsson and his uncle Ingimundr E»orgeirsson to Norway (Stu I, 146). Four years later he is depicted in Bergen as a man of great reputation (virding mikla) and authority, able to influence King Jon kuflungr (d. 1188; Stu I, 150). He did not settle down upon his return to Iceland in 1192 (Stu 1,177; Gd), but went from one place to the next, first staying with his sister Helga and brother-in-law Teitr Oddsson in the East Fjords; then with another brother-in-law, Brandr Knakansson, in Fnjoskadalr in the north of Iceland; and finally with fcordr Porarinsson, a friend of his father's, at Laufass in Eyjafjordr. Ogmundr left a trail of allegations of seduction, the last involving I>6r6r's wife, Margret, the sister of Teitr Oddsson, which resulted in a fight with t>6r6r's sons and a settlement at the Albingi that Ogmundr broke (Stu I, 181, see Dagstyggr I>6r3arson above). It is of note that two annals place it on record that Ogmundr was wounded in the fight (Ann IV, IX). Ogmundr's social position is attested by his allies in the case, who were Jon Loptsson and his son Saemundr Jonsson of the Oddaverjar family. Ogmundr became an ally of Gudmundr dyri I>orvaldsson. Ogmundr married Sigridr Eldjarnsdottir from Espiholl in Eyjafjordr (Stu I,

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122) and settled down at Hals in Fnjoskadalr. Despite his social background and godord, he had little means (Stu 1,195). He played a distinct role in the life of his first cousin Gudmundr Arason. He proved a faithful ally of Bishop Gudmundr in all his dealings with Kolbeinn Tumason. One of his stanzas was composed after the killing of Kolbeinn Tumason at Vidines in 1208. He is once described as vitran mann ok vins&lan, subdjdkn at vigslu ('a wise man and popular, ordained a subdeacon') (Stu I,283). When Gudmundr is captured by Arnorr Tumason in 1209 in retaliation for the killing of Kolbeinn Tumason, Qgmundr was forced to pay the penalty and to leave the district. He moved to the East Fjords, to Hofsteigr in Jokuldalr. He appears for the last time in Sturlunga saga in the year 1234 in the company of f»6rarinn Jonsson, of the Svinfellingar family, supporting Orcekja Snorrason and Kolbeinn ungi Arnorsson in the latter's conflict against Sighvatr Sturluson. It is said: var hann pa a inum dtta tigi vetra, ok sygdu menu svd, at hann pcetti par pa madr vigligastr ipvilidi ('he was then in his seventies, and people said that he seemed the most warrior-like man in the group') (Stu I, 458). Qgmundr's death in 1237 is noted in the annals (Ann IV, IX). Two stanzas are preserved by Qgmundr. The first stanza is cited in Gudmundar saga dyra in Sturlunga saga at the settlement meeting between his attackers Hakon, Hildibrandr, and Dagstyggr (see above) E>6r6arsynir. It contains the kenning orma stormr ('the storm of the worms,' i.e., winter). The imagery in his stanza is evoked in Dagsty ggr's response. Qgmundr describes the attack as cowardly: the brothers sneak at him from the back and therefore it was easy for Dagstyggr to stand on his two feet (hceg raun var pat hdnum at standa). He calls himself fotrunnr,19 depicting himself as a tree that is rooted to the ground. This image alludes to the fact the I>6r6arsynir had pretended they were going to cut wood when their plan was really to kill Qgmundr. The second stanza composed after Kolbeinn Tumason's killing at Vidines in 1208 is preserved in Gudmundar saga (GB and GD). KNOWN THIRTEENTH-CENTURY POETS Amundi Arnason (d. 1229) Sources: Pal 1^; Stu 57 (/s; table 3.4); Skj IIA, 51; FJII, 169-70 Verse: 5 stanzas Date of composition: c. 1200-29

Nothing is known of Amundi Arnason's family. It is not known

The Poet's Profession

157

TABLE 4.6 Known thirteenth-century poets

Poets Amundi Arnason Ami 6reiOa Magnussson Brandr Eilifr Snorrason Einarr Porsteinsson Eyj6lfr Brunason Eyj6lfr forni Snorrason Gizurr Porvaldsson Grimr Hjaltason GuObrandr Gudmundr Asbjarnarson Gudmundr Galtason GuOmundr Oddsson GuOmundr Svertingsson Gunnarr Gunnlaugr Leifsson Guttormr Helgason kgrtr Hallr (Skald-Hallr) Heinrekr Hrafn Sveinbjarnarson Ingjaldr Geirmundarson Jalgeirr Torfason J6n murti Egilsson Kolbeinn Tumason Loptr Palsson Man! skald Ormr Svinfellingr Jbnsson 6l£fr Brynj6lfsson Olafr svartaskald Leggsson Olafr hvi'taskald P6rdarson Oroekja Snorrason Pall f>orsteinsson Sighvatr Sturluson Snaekollr Snorri Sturluson Steinvgr Sighvatsd6ttir Sturla Bardarson Sturla Sighvatsson Sturla P6r6arson Svertingr t>orleifsson Tannr Bjarnason Pbrirjgkull £orvarflr tref6tr

Verse cited in sources

Noted in Skdldatal

Noted, not cited, in other sources

X X X X X

NV

4GT

X X

S/C256, SL/265

X X X X X

SK257, SI/ 267

X X X X

St/265

X X

HrA, HrB

NV

X X

NV

SK 256-8, SU 264-5 SL/265

X X X

S/C255.SL/264

X X X X

NV

SK252, 256-8, SU 265-8 Stu

X X X X

NV X

SK 255-7, SU 264-7 SI/ 269 SK257

X X X X X X

NV = no verse preserved; x = known verse

SK 256, SU 265-7

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whether he enjoyed a formal education, travelled abroad, was married, had children, or owned a farm. It is only certain that he was a smidr ('craftsman'). His craftsmanship is known from Pals saga byskups, where he is described as hagastr ... at trg a gllu Islandi ('the most accomplished wood craftsman in the whole of Iceland') (Pal 415 [5]), and therefore Bishop Pall commissioned him to make a stypull ('steeple') for Skalaholt's cathedral.20 Medieval sources about the social position of craftsmen are scarce. Those who designed the churches were not merely skilled technicians, but knowledgeable in biblical symbolism and probably learned men; the architecture of the church imitated God's design of the universe, as is clearly explained in an Icelandic homily preserved in a manuscript from Amundi's time (Horn 98-103). It is not clear if smidr, generally translated as craftsman or smith, implies the design of the church, but it is of note that Amundi's professional skills are highlighted in the notice of his death in the year 1229 in Annales regii: Amundi smidr Arnasonr (Ann IV, 128) and in GA: Andafi(izt) ... Amundi smidr (240 [236]). Amundi was both a craftsman and a poet. Pals saga contains four skaldic stanzas and all are by Amundi. The author of Pals saga twice quotes him as a witness to events, particularly in relation to Pall's private life. These instances indicate that he either was a close friend, a relation of the family, or even the children's private tutor. The first drottkvxtt stanza is quoted in the context of the description of Pall's children as he is said to be bdedi... merkr ok rettordr Cboth distinguished and truthful') (Pal 423 [13]). At the end of the saga, before citing three stanzas by Amundi, the author states that pessa mina sggu styrkti vitr madr, Amundi smidr Arnason ('this account of mine is supported by a wise man, Amundi smidr Arnason') (435 [19]). Amundi figures in Sturlunga saga only once, where a stanza by him is quoted in the context of a dispute between Dufgus fcorleifsson and f»orgils Snorrason in 1227. This stanza is in tgglag. The poet comments on the remarkable fact that Dufgus, the greatest farmer in the Dalir (mestr bondi i Dolum), moved from Hjardarholt in Dalir and bought the farm Baugsstadir in Arnessysla from Flosi prestr Bjarnason, brother of Gu6run, Eordr Sturluson's first wife (Stu I, 386). Eordr had acted on Dufgus's behalf in the dispute and may have negotiated the purchase. Flosi died on 8 October 1235, according to the Oddaverjar's obituary list (Obit II, 31). It is impossible to know why Amundi would comment on this event, or why the author of fslendinga saga, Sturla tordarson, included the stanza in his account of events.

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Ami oreida Magnussson (d. 1250) Source: Stu 68 (7s; table 3.4); Skj IIA, 83; FJII, 171 Verse: 1 stanza

Date of composition: 1229

Ami 6rei6a Magnussson is of the so-called Amundaaett, the family of the allsherjargodar in the south-west of Iceland (see Genealogy 3). Ami was the son of Magnus Amundason, the priest, who was the brother of Gudmundr griss, who was married to Solveig, the daughter of Jon Loptsson at Oddi.21 f>6ra, Gizurr t>orvaldsson's mother, was the daughter of Gudmundr griss. Ami was probably born about 1180. He seems to have been his father's only son and he apparently inherited his godord. Ami lived at Brautarholt in Kjalarnes during his marriage to Hallbera Snorradottir and thereafter at the nearby Saurboer. Ami was the first husband of Hallbera (in 1218), Snorri's only legitimate daughter, but they divorced in 1224, probably on account of their incompatibility.22 It is not noted whether he married again. Ami was a godi, of a distinguished family, and can be expected to have enjoyed a formal education. He travelled abroad on a number of occasions and gained recognition at the Norwegian court. He accompanied Jon murti Snorrason, his brother-in-law, to Norway in 1221 (Stu I, 350), but went himself to Bergen to see King Hakon Hakonarson, pviat konungrinn var inn mesti vin hans ('because the king was a great friend of his') (Stu I, 350). This indicates his familiarity with the king from a previous (and unrecorded) visit to Norway. He returned to Iceland three years later (Stu I, 373). King Hakon used Ami oreida and Eyvindr brattr as his messengers to bring letters to Iceland in 1240, which resulted in the killing of Snorri Sturluson in 1241 (Stu 1,544). He was in Gizurr I>orvaldsson's company shortly before Snorri's murder (Stu I, 552), though he was not directly involved in the deed. Ami's death on 23 November 1250 is recorded in the annals (Ann I, III, IV, V, VIII) and the date is recorded in Helgafell monastery's obituary list (Obit IV, 87). His death is also recorded at the beginning of Svinfellinga saga in Sturlunga (Stu II, 106). Ami is not called a poet (skald) in Sturlunga saga, nor is he listed in Skdldatal The only evidence of his poetic skills is his participation in the poetic exchange after the attack on Sturla Sighvatsson's farm at Saudafell in 1229.23 This one stanza shows that he was articulate, if not particularly fluent, in the art of skaldic verse-making. The author adds that he was litill vin Vatnsfirdinga ('no friend of the men at VatnsfJQrdr')

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(Stu I, 40), who attacked Sturla's farm. The stanza contains criticism of their deed, while justifying it as a rightful retaliation for the killing of their father. Brandr Sources: Stu 51 (Is; table 3.4), GA 21 (table 3.6), GB, GC; Skj IIA, 51; FJII, 170 Verse: 1 stanza Date of composition: 1222 A man named Brandr is mentioned without a patronymic in Sturlunga saga and in the A-version of Gudmundar saga, indicating perhaps that he was well known to the author of Islendinga saga. Nothing is known of his family or his education. He was in Sighvatr Sturluson's company in 1222 at the time of the attack on Bishop Gudmundr Arason in Grimsey, where Sighvatr and his son Sturla Sighvatsson avenged the killing of Tumi Sighvatsson at the hands of the bishop's men (see also Ar}. Brandr wounded Eyjolfr Karsson, one of the bishop's staunchest followers. A stanza is attributed to him in Gudmundar saga (GA), but quoted anonymously in Sturlunga and in GB and GC, where he describes Eyjolfr Karsson's brave defence and how he died, disclosing the uneasiness he experiences at the deed.24 Brandr Dalksson prestr, who died in 1225 according to the annals (Ann I, III, IV, V, VIII, IX), may be the same man, as suggested by Finnur Jonsson,25 but there is, of course, no way to ascertain this. Eilifr Snorrason Sources: HrA 8,11,32, HrB 7,10,26 (table 3.7); Skj IIA, 42-3; FJ II170 Verse: 2 and 1 half-stanza Date of composition: 1197,1200,1212 Eilifr Snorrason was Hrafn Sveinbjarnarson's first cousin, an illegitimate son of Snorri Bardarson, Sveinbjorn's brother (Stu I, 51) (see Genealogy 6). His father was a court poet and stayed for a period with King Eysteinn Haraldsson (d. 1157; Mor 447), even though he is not listed among his court poets in Skdldatal26 Eilifr's half-brother was the priest Bardr Snorrason, the father of the poet Sturla Bardarson (see below). There are clearly many poets in this family. Eilifr is mentioned three times in Hrafns saga in serstaka, and always in conjunction with his verse. Nothing is known of his private life or travels abroad, nor of his other activity, apart from his verse-making.

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Eilifr's three stanzas demonstrate that he was an accomplished poet. Finnur Jonsson is right in describing Eilifr's stanzas as 'funny, playful and splendid from a structural point of view.'27 Einarr Porsteinsson Sources: GB and GC (table 3.6) Verse: 1 stanza Date of composition: ?

Very little is known of Einarr Porsteinsson. He was, according to GB (593), the son of t»orsteinn ]?6r6arson, a farmer at ReykjahliS on Myvatn. His nickname is draumr ('dream'). This epithet is unusual, perhaps alluding to his absentmindedness. The stanza is said to be composed in praise of Hallr at Mo6ruvellir, the father of t>6rdr (no patronymic). Only GB (AM 657 c 4to) has Hallr's patronymic Kleppjarnsson. Jon t»orkelsson suggested that Hallr was Hallr Jonsson, who was the father of P6r6r riddari.28 Eyjolfr Brunason

Source: 4GT (127); FJ II, 172 No verse

Eyjolfr Brunason's verse is lost, but he is described as skald einkar gott ok bupegn godr, en eigiferikr ('a particularly fine poet and a good farmer, but not wealthy') in 4GT (127), following a depiction of him in a stanza by Snorri Sturluson. If this attribution by Snorri is to be trusted, it would seem that Eyjolfr Brunason lived in the thirteenth century. Nothing further is known about him and he is not mentioned in any other source. A stanza is recorded by Eyjolfr in Magnus (Mafsson's X version of Snorra Edda written in the early seventeenth century, which 'may be from the lost leaves of W.'29 This stanza is cited in the section on poetic synonyms for leg (LaufEdd 270). Eyjolfr form Snorrason

Sources: HrA 16, HrB 13 (table 3.7), GB (table 3.6); Skj IIA, 40; FJ II, 168-9 Verse: half-stanza Date of composition: 1202

A half-stanza by Eyjolfr forni Snorrason is quoted in both versions of

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Hrafns saga and in GB. Eyjolfr was with Hrafn Sveinbjarnarson when he accompanied Bishop Gudmundr Arason on his consecration voyage to Norway in 1202. Gudrun P. Helgadottir speculates that he is the same Eyjolfr Snorrason 'who was living at Haukaberg c. 1210/30 If so, the introduction of this Eyjolfr at a later point in Hrafns saga seems odd, if he was already known to the audience of the saga: Eyjolfr het madr ok var Snorrason. Hann bjo at Haukabergi a Bardastrgnd ('A man was called Eyjolfr; he was the son of Snorri. He lived at Haukaberg in Bardastrgnd') (HrA 30 [14]). This Eyjolfr is visited in a dream by a man who recites a verse. He may be the same as the Eyjolfr who dreams before the battle at 0rlygssta6ir in 1238 (Stu I, 521). Jon f»orkelsson wrongly states that Eyjolfr forni was Snorri Bardarson's son.31 This is stated in neither Hrafns saga nor Islendinga saga. Nothing is known of Eyjolfr's family life or of his travels abroad. He is not called a poet (skald) in the saga. Gizurr Porvaldsson (1209-68)

Sources: Hdk (table 3.5); Stu 132-3 (table 3.4); Skj IIA, 98-9; SK 256 and SU 265; FJII, 91-2 Verse: 2 stanzas and 1 half-stanza Date of composition: 1253-4; 1257

Gizurr t>orvaldsson's political life is well documented in Sturlunga saga and in some of the annals, but his intellectual life has attracted less attention. He was an influential and powerful chieftain, becoming the first earl of Iceland in 1258. He died in 1268. Gizurr may not have come from a family of well-known poets, but his family is known for learning and its prominence within the Church (see Genealogy 2). Among his forefathers were Isleifr Gizurarson and Gizurr Isleifsson, the first two bishops at Skalaholt.32 His grandfather, Gizurr Hallsson, was renowned as a scholar and historian, and associated with the writing of Hungrvaka, Pals saga and perhaps Veraldar saga.33 His father, J>orvaldr Gizurarson (d. 1235), was a learned man, like others in the Haukdoelir family, and was ordained a priest. He founded the Augustinian monastery on Videy, where he was professed a canon in 1225, and remained in the monastery for the last ten years of his life (Stu I, 371). E»orvaldr's brother, Magnus, was bishop at Skalaholt (1216-37). Gizurr would certainly have enjoyed formal learning to prepare him for his future role as a chieftain. He became a godi and was a subdea-

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con. He is mentioned among King Hakon Hakonarson's poets in both versions of Skdldatal. Only a half-stanza survives as evidence of his role as a court poet. It was composed in celebration of King Hakon's battle with the Danes in 1257 and preserved in Hdkonar saga Hdkonarsonar. Gizurr travelled abroad many times and stayed for long periods in Norway. In 1247 he went on a pilgrimage to Rome, where he received absolution from Pope Innocent IV (Stu II, 132). Gizurr was staying with Hakon at the time and gained his earldom eleven years later. Two stanzas exist in Sturlunga saga, one composed after the burning of his farm at Flugumyrr in Skagafjordr in 1253, the other after he had avenged the killing of his family a year later (Stu 132-3). These stanzas bear witness to his skill in composing skaldic verse, and the ease with which he alludes to myths.34 Grimr Hjaltason Sources: HrA 13, GA 3, GB, GC, GD; HrA 19, GA 4, GB; HrA 17-18, HrB 14-15, GB (tables 3.6 and 3.7); Skj IIA, 41-2; FJII, 169 Verse: 3 stanzas and 1 half-stanza Date of composition: 1202

Grimr Hjaltason is little more than a name. Nothing is known of his family. It is known that he was a monk and likely enjoyed some basic education. He was already in the company of GuSmundr Arason before Gudmundr became bishop. He is called munkr ('monk') in the roll call on the bishop's consecration voyage to Norway in 1202 (Stu I, 267, GA 139 [112]), and this is the first time he is mentioned. All of the verse attributed to him was composed on that voyage. All four stanzas are quoted in the A-version of Hrafns saga and in GB (only two in HrB and other two in GA; see chapter 3). His death is not recorded in the sagas of Hrafn and Gudmundr, nor in the annals or the obituary lists. Gudbrandr Sources: HrA 23 (table 3.7); 3GT 41 (table 3.2), 5GT; Skj IIA 129-30; FJ II, 169 Verse: 1 half-stanza and a couplet Date of composition: 1208

The author of Hrafns saga Sveinbjarnarsonar (HrA) cites a half-stanza by one Gudbrandr, who is otherwise not mentioned in the saga. He has been associated with Gudbrandr, one of the poets quoted in Olafr Pordarson's 3GT and in the fragment of a grammatical treatise pre-

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served in AM 748 Ib 4to (5GT). Finnur Jonsson associated Gudbrandr with the place name Svala (i.e., Gudbrandr i ['in / from'] Svolu),35 whereas Bjorn M. (3lsen in his commentary in the edition of 3GT interpreted the phrase Gudbrandr kvad i Svglu ('Gudbrandr said in Svala/ 3GT 82) as referring to a poem of that name.36 Gudbrandr is unknown, but the references to him in the grammatical literature indicate that he was a known poet among the learned community and in the formal study of grammatica. The half-stanza in Hrafns saga contains only one kenning: xgis otra rennir ('the driver of the otter of the sea [ship]' i.e., seafarer), describing Hrafh Sveinbjarnarson. Gudbrandr uses the base word otr ('otter') for ship, in line with an example by Skald-Mani quoted in the Snorra Edda (see below). Otr is commonly used in gold-kennings (otrgjpld). A couplet by Gudbrandr in 3GT (the first line also in 5GT) elucidates ihefigura macrologia, that is, efmadr talar forfum fleira um inn sama lut ('if one speaks longer than necessary on the same thing') (3GT 82). It contains a remarkable kenning: mods/jails vergld ('world of the mountain of the spirit/ i.e., the breast). Weather imagery (mpfcfcr=fog) is used to describe the darkness of mind. We find similar juxtaposition of weather and mind in Gizurr I'orvaldsson's verse. He compares his melancholy at the death of his wife and sons to mugga ('muggy weather') in the stanza he composed in 1254. When he has avenged their killings he can rid himself of it (see Stu 133; table 3.4). In 5GT the introduction to Gudbrandr's verse starts in the middle of a sentence (at the beginning of the fragment):... gard er Ipat kallat, eflengi er talat um it sama efni ('it is called a gard ['fence'] if the same subject matter is for long under discussion'); and there only the first line is cited (Upp dregr mpkk inn mikla, 5GT 397), which indicates that the whole stanza was known to the author. The authors of 3GT and 5GT use this metaphor to describe the same figure. Gudmundr Asbjarnarson (d. 1237)

Source: Stu 80 (Is; table 3.4); Skj IIA, 86; FJII, 136 Verse: 1 stanza Date of composition: 1237

Nothing is known of Gudmundr Asbjarnarson's family, his private life, or travels abroad. He is seen only in the company of chieftains, being first mentioned in 1231 in the company of Kloeingr Bjarnarson, the son of Bjorn t»orvaldsson, brother of Gizurr J>orvaldsson. Three years later

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he was among the followers of the chieftain Kolbeinn ungi Arnorsson of the Asbirningar family (see Genealogy 8), in the attack on Kalfr Guttormsson and his son Guttormr. He is said to have been greeted by Kalfr's wife, (3sk torvardsdottir (daughter of t>orvar6r f»orgeirsson) when he entered the farmhouse (Stu 1,455). In 1237 Gudmundr recited a verse about the hostility between him and t>6ralfr Bjarnason, one of Kolbeinn's men. Gudmundr denigrates t>6ralfr in the verse, demonstrating his social snobbishness. Finnur Jonsson defines the stanza as 'a mockery stanza.'37 The stanza is the only evidence of Gudmundr's poetic skill and bears witness to his sarcasm, which may have led to his killing at the hands of two other followers of Kolbeinn, who thought little of Gudmundr.38 The saga notes that no vengeance was wreaked and no compensation paid for Gudmundr (Stu I, 488). His killing is said to have occurred in 1235, according to one of the annals (Ann IV). The date contradicts Sturlunga saga's account, but the notice shows that he was a known man. Gudmundr Galtason

Sources: Stu 40 (Hr; table 3.4), HrA 29, HrB 23; HrA 31, HrA 25 (table 3.7); Stu 59,62,65 (Is; table 3.4); Skj IIA, 43-4; FJII, 170 Verse: 4 stanzas and 1 half-stanza Date of composition: 1210,1227,1229.

Gudmundr Galtason's family and background, his private life, and travels are unknown. He was a professional poet in the service of two chieftains and poets, Hram Sveinbjarnarson and Snorri Sturluson. He is first mentioned in Hrafns saga (HrA; 33 [15], Stu I [Hr], 306) in 1210, when Hrafn's friends suspect that his enemy t>orvaldr Snorrason will break his peace with him. Gudmundr Galtason seems to have visited Hrafn's sister, Gudrun Sveinbjarnardottir, the wife of Samr priest Simonarson. This is the only occasion when Gudrun enters the scene of events and the poet interprets the unfolding events for her. Gudmundr is called a skald on this occasion and again later in that same year when he is staying with Hram as I>orvaldr's final attack is impending. He is described as skald gott ok odcell madr ok heldr grdigr vidskiptis. tat hafdi Hram maelt, at honum J>6tti J>at likast i hybylum Gudmundr skald ok hundr

a fine poet and an unruly man and rather difficult to deal with. Hram had said that he thought Gudmundr skald and the dog Rosta most alike

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sa, er Rosta het, ok J>vi reiddisk Gudmundr.

of those in his household, and this angered Gudmundr.

(HrA 35)

This character description is necessary to explain the next verse cited by him in which he refers to the dog. Seventeen years pass until we meet Gudmundr again in Sturlunga saga (Stu I, 398), now a member of Snorri Sturluson's household at Reykjaholt in Borgarfjordr. In his last stanza, quoted after the sons of f»orvaldr Snorrason attack Sturla Sighvatsson's farm at Sau6afell in the Dales in 1229, he shows his sympathy with the attackers and describes Hrafn Sveinbjarnarson's killer as a djarfmseltr skgrungr ('outspoken person of prominence'). Gudmundr is here in the role of Snorri Sturluson's private poet, interpreting the views of his master, not necessarily his own. Gudmundr's verse shows that he must adjust his previous sympathy with Hrafn's family to the master whose hospitality he now enjoys. Gudmundr Galtason is not mentioned again in the saga, and his death is not recorded in Sturlunga or in the annals. Gudmundr Oddsson

Sources: Stu 44 (/s), Hdk; Stu 50 (GA, GB), 52 (GA, GB), 63, 66, 73, 76, 77 (see tables 3.4,3.5, and 3.6); Skj IIA, 79-81; SK 257 and SU 267; FJII, 88-9 Verse: 8 stanzas Date of composition: 1220-1232

Gudmundr Oddsson's birth and death are not noted in Sturlunga saga, the main source on his life. He had the means to travel abroad and was accepted as a court poet in Norway. He is first mentioned at the court of Duke Skuli Bardarson (d. 1240) and he is included in the list of his poets in SK, and also as the poet of Earl Knutr Hakonarson (d. 1261) in SU. He was clearly a professional poet. Only one stanza remains of his poetry at the court of Skuli in 1220, cited in both Sturlunga and Hdkonar saga Hdkonarsonar. The stanza reflects his patriotism and disquiet at the intended attack on Iceland. Two years later he is back in Iceland with the chieftain Sturla Sighvatsson (see Genealogy 5), and his remaining seven stanzas depict and interpret Sturla's ventures in Iceland.39 Gudmundr seems to have functioned as Sturla's private poet, similarly to Gudmundr Galtason with Hrafn Sveinbjarnarson and Snorri Sturluson (see above). These poets interpret and record their master's

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actions. A stanza composed after the attack by Sighvatr Sturluson and his son Sturla on Bishop Gudmundr in Grimsey in 1221 congratulates them on the deed and uses religiously charged language to get the message across. This view was only one side of the story, as is indicated by a recording in GB's version of Bishop Gudmundr's saga: Miskvedit gerdi skdldit par er hann kvad svd, pvi at peir vdru gridnidingar eda gridbitar er niddusk a biskupi sinum, svd sent peir gerdu ('the poet did not tell the truth when he composed this verse, because they were the breakers of truce or violators of truce who mistreated their bishop in the way that they did') (GB1858 534n). One of Gudmundr's stanzas is deeply personal and describes the brutal attack on Sturla Sighvatsson's farm at Saudafell in 1229, where he was one of the victims. The poet's role is different from that of Sturla's men. Gudmundr stayed at home, with the priests and women, while the chieftain went with his men to take care of unfinished business and left the farm defenceless. The poet's abode is the house, and this is also the domain of Bragi, who epitomizes the court poet in Geirmundar pdttr, the opening pdttr of Sturlunga saga (see chapter 3). Gudmundr Oddsson's verse attests to the fact that he was indeed an accomplished poet, and de Vries showed his indebtedness to older skaldic poetry, such as the verse of Sighvatr E>6rdarson, one of the hpfudskdld ('master poets').40 Gudmundr Svertingsson Sources: HrA 1-3, 12, 14 (GB), 20 (GB), 21, 33-4, HrB 1-3, 11, 12, 16, 17, 27-8; HrA 15 (GB) (tables 3.6 and 3.7); Skj HA, 46-9; FJ II, 90 Stanza: 9 stanzas and 2 half-stanzas Date of composition: after 1213

Gudmundr Svertingsson's family is unknown. His name and verse are recorded only in Hrafns saga Sveinbjarnarsonar and the B-version of Cudmundar saga byskups. The eleven stanzas quoted throughout these sagas belong to a drdpa ..., er hann orti um Hrafn ('a drdpa he composed about Hrafn') (HrA 3) and attest to Gudmundr's fluency in skaldic art. On two occasions Gudmundr is called a skald. The drdpa would probably have been composed shortly after Hrafh's death.41 Jon fcorkelsson suggested that Gudmundr probably had composed a drdpa on Bishop Gudmundr.42 Gudmundr does not take an active part in the political events related in the saga, but the viewpoint in the poem indicates that he would have belonged to Hrafn Sveinbjarnarson's milieu.43

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The fact that Gudmundr undertook to compose a eulogy for Hrafh seems to indicate that he was a professional poet. Finnur Jonsson has suggested Gudmundr's indebtedness to the poet Markus Skeggjason (d. 1107) in his choice of imagery. Markus was among the most respected in the thirteenth-century canon of poets in the skaldic textbooks.44 This may be an indication that Gu3mundr was an educated poet, well versed in classical Icelandic poetry, even though there must have been other channels for becoming familiar with Markus's poetry than through the learned texts. Gunnarr

Source: Stu 130 (Psk; table 3.4); Skj IIA, 87; FJII, 136 Verse: 1 stanza

Date of composition: 1244

Gunnarr is unknown. He is mentioned only once in Porgils saga skarda in the Reykjarfjardarbok's version of Sturlunga saga. Gunnarr is in the household of Brynjolfr Jonsson in Norway, where t>orgils has winter lodgings: Her um kvad Gunnarr, islenzkr madr, er var med Brynjolfi, ok orti svd at gaman vard at ('An Icelandic man, Gunnarr, who was staying with Brynjolfr, composed a poem about this event in such a way that it became a source for amusement') (Stu II, 141). He is an Icelander who has the means to travel abroad, and to be called upon to compose occasional verse at a foreign court. He must have been known for his poetry. Gunnlaugr Leifsson (d. 1218 or 1219) Source: Bs; Skj IIA, 10-36; FJ II, 394-403 Verse: Merlinusspd I (68 st.), II (103 st.)

Date of composition: c. 1200

Gunnlaugr Leifsson was a monk at the Benedictine monastery at Mngeyrar in the north of Iceland. This monastery is well known as the cradle for writing historical works. Gunnlaugr is known to have composed a Latin vita of (3lafr Tryggvason and also the Latin version of a saga of Bishop Jon Qgnmndarson, which has been lost; two Icelandic versions of Jons saga are still extant. Gunnlaugr was equally well at home composing poetry in Latin and in the vernacular. In Gudmundar saga by Arngrimr Brandsson it is stated that Gunnlaugr had composed a rhymed office of St Ambrose, of which Bishop

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Gudmundr did not approve (GD 77).45 Gunnlaugr is less well known as a poet in the vernacular, and indeed no skaldic verse cited in a historical context can be attached to his name. The poem Merlinusspd, however, is attributed to him in Hauksbok. It is a translation of Prophetiae Merlini by Geoffrey of Monmouth, but the use of imagery throughout the poem and the poetic adaptation of the original prose text attests to Gunnlaugr's deep familiarity with skaldic imagery. The annals do not agree on his death: it is recorded in 1218 according to Lggmannsanndll and Flateyjaranndll, but in 1219 in Annales regii, Skdlholtsannall, and Gottskdlksanndll. Guttormr Helgason kprtr Source: Stu 135 (/s; table 3.4); Skj IIA, 99; SU 265; FJII, 93 Verse: 1 stanza

Date of composition: 1255

Neither Guttormr kortr's birth nor death is recorded in Sturlunga saga, the only source on his life. Guttormr's mother was f>uridr, the daughter of Hrafn Sveinbjarnarson, and his father Helgi Sveinsson at Lokinhamrar in Arnarfjordr in the West Fjords. He is of the Seldcelir family (see Genealogy 6), which grew in status in the fourteenth century, and furthermore was a second cousin of Groa, the wife of Gizurr t»orvaldsson. His father Helgi was of the Amunda family, the family holding the allsherjargodord (see above, Ami oreida Magnussson [see Genealogy 3]), who supported Sturla Sighvatsson and Sighvatr Sturluson at 0rlygsstadir, where Helgi was killed, along with two of his brothers-in-law, in 1238. Guttormr inherited his father's estate and lived at Lokinhamrar. He was not a godi. Guttormr is mentioned in t>6rdar saga kakala as one of the stern' bcendr in the West Fjords when Eordr kakali Sighvatsson arrived there in 1242. He enjoyed a privileged position in society and married a woman of prominent family, fcorgerdr, the sister of Bishop Ami I>orlaksson at Skalaholt. Their father was l?orlakr, the brother of I>6ra, Gizurr I>orvaldsson's mother. Guttormr was a professional poet. He is mentioned in the U version of Skdldatal as King Hakon's poet (SU 265), but is omitted in the Kringla version. None of Guttormr's court poetry is preserved; only one stanza by him is cited in Sturlunga saga, at the point when he is with his first cousin Hrafn Oddsson (their mothers, I>uri6r and Steinunn, were sisters) preparing an attack on Oddr t>6rarinsson in 1255. He interprets Hrafh's dream:

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Part Two: The Sources and the Thirteenth-Century Poet

Pa dreymdi Hrafn um nottina par i Fornhaga, at harm bottisk uti vera, at madr gekk at honum mikill. Hrafn pottisk spyrja, hverr harm vaeri. Harm kvazk Haustkuldr heita. Hrafn spurdi: 'Hversu munu fara med oss Oddi malaferlin?' Harm svarar: 'Sva sem gliman man fara med okkr.' I>essi madr rann a Hrafn, ok pottisk harm i fyrstunni forvida verda, en pess at fastari pottisk harm fyrir verda sem peir hpfdu lengr glimt, ok Haustkuldr hrpkk allt fyrir, um pat er lauk. Pa vaknadi Hrafn ok segir Guttormi kprt drauminn. Guttormr maelti: 'Hvart potti per hann seint leida nafnit sitt eda skjott?' 'Vist heldr seint,' segir Hrafn. 'Pa kalla ek hann Haustskuld,' segir Guttormr, 'ok munu ver nu gjalda Oddi haustskuld, er hann tdk a hausti Heinrek biskup ok fe I>orsteins bonda i Hvammi; ok bar hefir hann sagt, at sva man fara med oss Oddi, sem gliman for med ykkr.' (Stu II, 232-3)

Hrafn dreamt in the night at Fornhagi that it seemed to him he was outside and a man of large build walked up to him. Hrafn thought he asked him who he was. He said his name was Haustkuldr. Hrafn asked: 'How will the dispute between Oddr and me end?' He answers: 'In the same way as our wrestling match will end.' This man went for Hrafn and he thought that he was taken aback to begin with, but it seemed to him that he grew in strength the longer they wrestled and Haustkuldr had to spring back when it ended. Then Hrafn woke up and told Guttormr k