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Saga-Book XXIV.Pdf SAGA-BOOK VOL. XXIV VIKING SOCIETY FOR NORTHERN RESEARCH UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON 1994–97 SAGA-BOOK OF THE VIKING SOCIETY Vol. XXIV 1994–1997 CONTENTS ARTICLES AND NOTES PAGE IN PRAISE OF ÁSTRÍÐR ÓLÁFSDÓTTIR. Judith Jesch ................. 1 SCANDINAVIAN SACRAL KINGSHIP REVISITED. Rory McTurk ... 19 A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE FINAL THREE SECTIONS OF HÁVAMÁL AND ON THE ROLE OF LODDFÁFNIR. Elizabeth Jackson .............................. 33 BJARNE FIDJESTØL ........................................................................ 59 PETER HALLBERG .......................................................................... 61 THE MILL IN NORSE AND FINNISH MYTHOLOGY. Clive Tolley 63 EGILL’S H¯FUÐLAUSN IN TIME AND PLACE. John Hines ........ 83 SKALDS, TROUBADOURS AND SAGAS. Alison Finlay ............... 105 ON THE SOURCES AND COMPOSITION OF RÓMVERJA SAGA. Þorbjörg Helgadóttir ........................................................................ 203 INTERTEXTUAL ASPECTS OF THE TWELFTH-CENTURY CHRISTIAN DRÁPUR. Katrina Attwood ........................................ 221 THE EMERGENCE OF A SAINT’S CULT AS WITNESSED BY THE JARTEINABŒKR ÞORLÁKS BYSKUPS. Hans Kuhn .......... 240 BRIGÐ ERU ÚTLENZK ORÐ. D. A. H. Evans ........................................ 255 DRÁPA AF MARÍUGRÁT, THE JOYS AND SORROWS OF THE VIRGIN AND CHRIST, AND THE DOMINICAN ROSARY. Kellinde Wrightson .................................................................... 283 A PROPHET WITHOUT HONOUR: THE BRIEF CAREER OF ERLENDUR ORMSSON. Ruth Ellison ........................................ 293 ON GIZURR ÞORVALDSSON’S SPEAKING STYLE. Marvin Taylor 311 THE GERMANIC THUNDERWEAPON. Lotte Motz ............................... 329 JOHN BUCHAN’S THE ISLAND OF SHEEP AND FÆREYINGA SAGA. John Gornall ........................................................................................... 351 FOUR PHILOLOGICAL NOTES. D. A. H. Evans .................................... 355 REVIEWS PAGE NEW RUNOLOGICAL RESEARCH: [Various authors] Blandade runstudier 1; Rune Palm, Runor och regionalitet: Studier av variation i de nordiska minnesinskrifterna (Michael P. Barnes) .................................................. 155 Þórhallur Vilmundarson and Bjarni Vilhjálmsson (eds), Harðar saga. Bárðar saga. Þorskfirðinga saga. Flóamanna saga. Þórarins þáttr Nefjólfs- sonar. Þorsteins þáttr uxafóts. Egils þáttr Síðu-Hallssonar. Orms þáttr Stórólfssonar. Þorsteins þáttr tjaldstœðings. Þorsteins þáttr forvitna. Bergbúa þáttr. Kumlbúa þáttr. Stjörnu-Odda draumr (Rory McTurk) ... 164 G. F. Bigelow (ed.), The Norse of the North Atlantic; Nordatlantisk arkaeologi—vikingetid og middelalder: bebyggelse og økonomi; C. D. Morris and D. J. Rackham (eds), Norse and Later Settlement and Subsistence in the North Atlantic (R. A. Hall) ...................................... 172 James Graham-Campbell (ed.), Viking Treasure from the North West: The Cuerdale Hoard in its Context; Niels Lund, De hærger og de brænder: Danmark og England i Vikingetiden (Katherine Holman) ..................... 175 David N. Dumville, Wessex and England from Alfred to Edgar: Six Essays on Political, Cultural, and Ecclesiastical Revival (Julia Barrow) .......... 177 Judith Jesch, Women in the Viking Age; Berit Jansen Sellevold, Else Mundal and Gro Steinsland (eds), Fokus på kvinner i middelalderkilder (Bridget Morris) ....................................................................................... 178 Carolyne Larrington, A Store of Common Sense: Gnomic Theme and Style in Old Icelandic and Old English Wisdom Poetry (D. A. H. Evans) .... 180 Hermann Pálsson (ed.), Hávamál með formála og skýringum (D. A. H. Evans) ...................................................................................................... 186 Kristján Árnason, The Rhythms of Dróttkvætt and Other Old Icelandic Metres (Stephen N. Tranter) .................................................................... 188 Beatrice La Farge and John Tucker, Glossary to the Poetic Edda, Based on Hans Kuhn’s Kurzes Wörterbuch (Terry Gunnell) ................................. 191 Phillip Pulsiano and Kirsten Wolf (eds), with Paul Acker and Donald K. Fry, Medieval Scandinavia, An Encyclopedia (T. A. Shippey) ............. 194 G. Ronald Murphy S. J. (ed.), The Heliand: The Saxon Gospel, A Trans- lation and Commentary (Richard F. M. Byrn) ....................................... 196 Bergljót S. Kristjánsdóttir, Bragi Halldórsson, Jón Torfason and Örnólfur Thorsson (eds), Snorri Sturluson, Heimskringla (Diana Whaley) .............. 256 Ian Wyatt and Jessie Cook (eds), Two Tales of Icelanders: Ögmundar þáttr dytts og Gunnars helmings. ¯lkofra þáttr (Joseph Harris) ..................... 259 John McKinnell, Both One and Many: Essays on Change and Variety in Late Norse Heathenism. With an appendix by Maria Elena Ruggerini (Carolyne Larrington) .............................................................................. 262 Klaus von See, Beatrice La Farge, Eve Picard and Maria-Claudia Hess, Skírnismál: Modell eines Edda-Kommentars (Peter Orton) ................... 265 Per Beskow and Reinhart Staats, Nordens kristnande i europeiskt perspektiv (Peter Foote) ............................................................................................ 268 PAGE Alexander R. Rumble (ed.), The Reign of Cnut: King of England, Denmark and Norway (Judith Jesch) ...................................................................... 271 Rudolf Simek, Dictionary of Northern Mythology. Translated by Angela Hall (Margaret Clunies Ross) .................................................................. 274 Edgar Haimerl, Thomas Krömmelbein, Donald Tuckwiller and Andreas Vollmer (eds), alvíssmál: Forschungen zur mittelalterlichen Kultur Skandinaviens (Fredrik J. Heinemann ) ...................................................... 277 Bjarni Guðnason, Túlkun Heiðarvígasögu (D. A. H. Evans) ................ 361 Susanne Kramarz-Bein (ed.), Hansische Literaturbeziehungen: Das Beispiel der Þiðreks Saga und verwandter Literatur (Andrew R. Davidson) ... 365 Martin Syrett, The Unaccented Vowels of Proto-Norse. NOWELE Supplement Vol. 11 (Michael Barnes) ................................................ 367 Anatoly Liberman, Word Heath. Wortheide. Orðheiði. Essays on Ger- manic literature and usage (1972–92) (Stephen N. Tranter) ............. 369 Margaret Cormack, The Saints in Iceland: Their Veneration from the Conversion to 1400 (I. J. Kirby) ......................................................... 371 James Graham-Campbell, The Viking-Age Gold and Silver of Scotland (AD 850–1100) (R. A. Hall) ................................................................. 372 Adolf Friðriksson, Sagas and Popular Antiquarianism in Icelandic Archaeology (R. A. Hall) ....................................................................... 375 Andrew Wawn (ed.), Northern Antiquity: The Post-Medieval Reception of Edda and Saga (Robert Kellogg) .................................................... 376 Julia Zernack, Geschichten aus Thule: Íslendingasögur in Übersetzungen deutscher Germanisten (Marvin Taylor) ............................................ 379 Geraldine Barnes, Margaret Clunies Ross and Judy Quinn (eds.), Old Norse Studies in the New World (Andrew Wawn) .............................. 382 Þórunn Sigurðardóttir, Manuscript Material, Correspondence and Graphic Material in the Fiske Icelandic Collection: A Descriptive Catalogue (Andrew Wawn) .................................................................................. 384 ISSN: 0305-9219 IN PRAISE OF ÁSTRÍÐR ÓLÁFSDÓTTIR BY JUDITH JESCH I Establishing a text F THE saga accounts of Magnús inn góði’s return from Russia to O claim the throne of Norway, only Heimskringla mentions the part played by his stepmother Ástríðr. This account (Hkr., III 4–6) is based on three dróttkvætt stanzas attributed to the poet Sigvatr, which are also preserved only in manuscripts of Heimskringla (Skjd., A I 248, B I 231– 32).1 As none of the manuscripts provides an entirely satisfactory text of these stanzas, it is necessary to attempt a reconstruction. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson’s version in Hkr., III 5–6 may serve as the basis for discussion: 1. Hrein getum hóla≈ launa hnossfjolð≈ lofi ossu Ó≈leifs dœtr, es átti jofurr≈ sighvatastr digri. Þings beið herr á Hongrum≈ hundmargr Svía grundar austr, es Ástríðr lýsti Ó≈leifs sonar mó≈lum. We will repay well with our praise Óláfr’s daughter, wife of the stout and most victorious warrior, for her many bright presents. A substantial army of Swedes assembled east at Hangrar when Ástríðr announced the cause of the son of Óláfr. 1 When referring to the manuscripts containing these verses, I use the sigla listed in Hkr., III 2 rather than those of Skjd. It should be noted that Skjd. does not give variants from Jón Eggertsson’s copy of Kringla, Stockh. Papp. 18 fol. (see Louis- Jensen 1977, 16–37, for the fullest discussion to date of the relationships of the Hkr. mss). Until there is a new critical edition of Heimskringla, it is thus necessary to check the Skjd. A-texts against the manuscript texts (which I was able to do at Det arnamagnæanske Institut, Copenhagen, in the autumn of 1993). I cite variants (especially those common to more than one ms) in normalised form, except where the orthography is significant. For skaldic stanzas that I discuss in detail, I give page references to both Skjd. and Hkr.; for those requiring briefer reference I give the skald’s name in abbreviated form followed by the number of the poem and
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