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Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Þhorn Harkv 14I

R. D. Fulk (ed.) 2012, ‘Þorbjǫrn hornklofi, Haraldskvæði (Hrafnsmál) 14’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 108.

Þorbjǫrn hornklofiHaraldskvæði (Hrafnsmál)

text and translation

‘Hafnaði Holmrygjum         ok Hǫrða meyjum,
hverri inni heinversku         ok Hǫlga ættar
konungr inn kynstóri,         es tók konu ina dǫnsku.’

‘Inn kynstóri konungr, es tók ina dǫnsku konu, hafnaði Holmrygjum ok meyjum Hǫrða, hverri inni heinversku ok ættar Hǫlga.’
‘‘The high-born king [Haraldr] who took the Danish wife rejected the Hólmrygir and the maidens of the Hǫrðar, every single one from Hedmark and of the family of Hǫlgi.’

notes and context

In both Hkr and ÓT, the stanza is cited in evidence of the report that Haraldr gave up all his nine or ten wives in order to win the hand of Ragnhildr (see the preceding stanza); the context in HarHárf (Flat(77ra)) is similar.

The stanza is attributed to Þjóðólfr (ór Hvini) in HarHárf (Flat(77ra)), though the different version cited in Flat(6ra) is called Þorbjǫrn’s. — [5]: The line repeats st. 7/3, and thus Sueti (1884, 16) cites this as evidence that the sts about Haraldr’s court and those about the battle were composed by the same poet. It does not occur elsewhere in the skaldic corpus.




editions and texts

Skj: Þórbjǫrn hornklofi, 2. Haraldskvæði (Hrafnsmál) 14: AI, 27, BI, 24, Skald I, 15; Hkr 1777-1826, I, 97, VI, 18, Hkr 1868, 63, Hkr 1893-1901, I, 127, IV, 37, ÍF 26, 119-20, Hkr 1991, I, 74 (HHárf ch. 21/22), F 1871, 49; Fms 1, 7, Fms 12, 25, ÓT 1958-2000, I, 7 (ch. 2), Flat 1860-8, I, 42; Fms 10, 195, Flat 1860-8, I, 576 (HarHárf); Möbius 1860, 229, Jón Helgason 1946, 145-6, Jón Helgason 1968, 19.


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