SAGA-BOOK VOL. XXXVIII VIKING SOCIETY FOR NORTHERN RESEARCH UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON 2014 10706 VIKING SOCIETY SAGA 2014 VOL XXVIII AUG 14 VIKING SOCIETY FOR NORTHERN RESEARCH OFFICERS 2013–2014 President Carolyne Larrington, B.A., B.Phil., University of Oxford. Hon. Secretaries Alison Finlay, B.A., B.Phil., D.Phil, Birkbeck, University of London. Matthew Townend, M.A., D.Phil., University of York. Hon. Treasurer David Reid, B.A., University College London. Hon. Assistant Secretary Richard North, B.A., Ph.D., University College London. Saga-Book Editors ALISON FINLAY, B.A., B.Phil., D.Phil., Birkbeck, University of London. Christina Lee, M.A., Ph.D., University of Nottingham. John McKinnell, M.A., Durham University. Carl Phelpstead, B.A., M.Phil., D.Phil., Cardiff University. Elizabeth Ashman Rowe, B.A., Ph.D., University of Cambridge. ISSN: 0305-9219 Printed by Short Run Press Limited, Exeter 10706 VIKING SOCIETY SAGA 2014 VOL XXVIII AUG 14 CONTENTS HÁRBARÐSLJÓÐ: PARODY, PRAGMATICS AND THE SOCIO-MYTHIC CONTRO- VERSY. Martin Arnold ............................................................ 5 THE CULT OF ST BLAISE IN ICELAND. Margaret Cormack ............... 27 THE CONSTRUCTION OF DIPLOMACY IN THE VARIOUS ACCOUNTS OF SIGVATR ÞÓRÐARSON’S BERSÑGLISVÍSUR. Gareth Lloyd Evans .................... 49 SNORRI VERSUS THE COPYISTS: AN INVESTIGATION OF A STYLISTIC TRAIT IN THE MANUSCRIPT TRADITIONS OF EGILS SAGA, HEIMSKRINGLA AND THE PROSE EDDA. Haukur Þorgeirsson ........................................ 61 TWO MAJOR GROUPS IN THE OLDER MANUSCRIPT TRADITION OF NÍTÍÐA SAGA. Sheryl McDonald Werronen ........................................... 75 NORDIC MEDIEVAL TEXTS: BEYOND ‘LITERATURE’ AND ‘SOURCES’. RE- FLECTIONS ON EXPANDING INTERDISCIPLINARY BORDER-ZONES. Lars Boje Mortensen ......................................................................... 95 JÓNAS KRISTJÁNSSON ......................................................................... 113 REVIEWS NINE SAGA STUDIES. THE CRITICAL INTERPRETATION OF THE ICELANDIC SAGAS. By Ármann Jakobsson. (Joanne Shortt Butler) ............ 116 THE LEGENDS OF THE SAINTS IN OLD NORSE–ICELANDIC PROSE. By Kirsten Wolf. (Richard Cole) ................................................................ 118 ALTWESTNORDISCHE FARBSEMANTIK. By Georg C. Brückmann. (Ana- toly Liberman) .......................................................................... 121 FJ†LD VEIT HON FRœÐA. UTVALDE ARBEID AV ELSE MUNDAL. Edited by Odd Einar Haugen, Bernt Øyvind Thorvaldsen and Jonas Wellendorf. (Kirsten Wolf) ........................................................ 123 REVISITING THE POETIC EDDA. ESSAYS ON OLD NORSE HEROIC LEGEND. Edited by Paul Acker and Carolyne Larrington. (Michael Hart) .. 125 THE NORDIC APOCALYPSE. APPROACHES TO V†LUSPÁ AND NORDIC DAYS OF JUDGEMENT. Edited by Terry Gunnell and Annette Lassen. (David H. Varley) ...................................................................... 128 10706 VIKING SOCIETY SAGA 2014 VOL XXVIII AUG 14 THE METERS OF OLD NORSE EDDIC POETRY. COMMON GERMANIC INHERITANCE AND NORTH GERMANIC INNOVATION. By Seiichi Suzuki. (Haukur Þorgeirsson) .................................................. 131 THE POETIC EDDA III. MYTHOLOGICAL POEMS. Edited and translated by Ursula Dronke. (John McKinnell) ............................................. 133 SKALDIC POETRY OF THE SCANDINAVIAN MIDDLE AGES I. POETRY FROM THE KINGS’ SAGAS 1. FROM MYTHICAL TIMES TO C.1035. Edited by Diana Whaley. (Erin Michelle Goeres) ....................................... 139 HÁKONAR SAGA HÁKONARSONAR. B†GLUNGA SAGA. MAGNÚSS SAGA LAGABœTIS. Edited by Sverrir Jakobsson, Þorleifur Hauksson and Tor Ulset. (Edward Carlsson Browne) ............................ 142 MEDIEVAL TRANSLATIONS AND CULTURAL DISCOURSE. THE MOVE- MENT OF TEXTS IN ENGLAND, FRANCE AND SCANDINAVIA. By Sif Ríkharðsdóttir. (Erin Michelle Goeres) .................................. 145 FRANCIA ET GERMANIA. STUDIES IN STRENGLEIKAR AND ÞIÐREKS SAGA AF BERN. Edited by Karl G. Johansson and Rune Flaten. (Sif Ríkharðsdóttir) ........................................................................ 147 SETTLEMENT AND LORDSHIP IN VIKING AND EARLY MEDIEVAL SCANDI- NAVIA. Edited by Bjørn Poulsen and Søren Sindbæk. (Chris Callow) ................................................................................ 150 THE VIKING AGE. IRELAND AND THE WEST. PAPERS FROM THE PROCEED- INGS OF THE FIFTEENTH VIKING CONGRESS, CORK, 18–27 AUGUST 2005. Edited by John Sheehan and Donnchadh Ó Corráin. (Denis Casey) ............................................................................... 152 FAMILIA AND HOUSEHOLD IN THE MEDIEVAL ATLANTIC PROVINCE. Edited by Benjamin T. Hudson. (Helen Imhoff) ................... 154 NORSE GREENLAND. SELECTED PAPERS FROM THE HVALSEY CONFE RENCE 2008. Edited by Jette Arneborg, Georg Nyegaard and Orri Vésteinsson. (Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough) .................... 156 EARLY CORNISH SCULPTURE. By Ann Preston-Jones and Elisabeth Okasha. (John Hines) ........................................................... 159 GODS AND SETTLERS. THE ICONOGRAPHY OF NORSE MYTHOLOGY IN ANGLO-SCANDINAVIAN SCULPTURE. By Lilla Kopár. (Victoria Whitworth) ............................................................................ 160 RUNES. A HANDBOOK. By Michael P. Barnes. (Tom Birkett) ............ 163 10706 VIKING SOCIETY SAGA 2014 VOL XXVIII AUG 14 Hárbarðsljóð 5 HÁRBARÐSLJÓÐ: PARODY, PRAGMATICS AND THE SOCIO-MYTHIC CONTROVERSY BY MARTIN ARNOLD University of Hull Introduction ÁRBARÐSLJÓÐ IS A SIXTY-STANZA EDDIC POEM contain- Hing what, in general terms, can be regarded as a flyting exchange, a ritualised verbal contest in which the contestants use various strategies to demean each other.1 Suggestions for the date of the poem’s composition are various and range from the late tenth century to the early thirteenth century. The drama of Hárbarðsljóð rests on the verbal duel between the Norse god Þórr and a ferryman calling himself Hárbarðr (Grey-beard). As Hárbarðr is given as a byname for Óðinn in Grímnismál (st. 49/7), and as both the Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda are consistent in identifying Þórr as the eldest son of Óðinn, this particular flyting exchange concerns a rivalry between father and son.2 Yet because Þórr remains oblivious throughout of the true identity of his adversary, he could be regarded as being at a disadvantage, having declared his own identity almost from the outset (st. 9). The prose introduction to the poem tells us that Þórr fór ór austrvegi ‘was travelling from the east’, so returning to Ásgarðr from the land of the gods’ chief antagonists, the races of giants and trolls. In order to shorten his journey home, Þórr needs to cross a stretch of water, the characteristic ‘sundering flood’ of many such tense encounters in early Germanic literature (Clover 1979, 125–26) but Hárbarðr and his boat are at the other side. Þórr, who does not seem to see himself in a supplicant position, begins aggressively, addressing Hárbarðr as sveinn sveina ‘a boy’s boy’ (st. 1), who in return calls Þórr karl karla ‘a peasant’s peas- ant’ (st. 2). Thus the haughty Hárbarðr refuses to ferry Þórr and the 1 The poem is preserved whole in Codex Regius (GKS 2365 4to), and from stanza 17/7 to the end in the Arnamagnæan manuscript AM 748 4to. This study uses the edition of Gustav Neckel and Hans Kuhn (1962, 78–87). Translations are based on those of Carolyne Larrington (1996). 2 Some earlier critics had tended toward the view that Hárbarðr’s behaviour suggests that he is more likely to be Loki than Óðinn. For an argument to this effect published in 1889, see Reaves 2010. 10706 VIKING SOCIETY SAGA 2014 VOL XXVIII AUG 14 6 Saga-Book Hárbarðsljóð 7 insults turn to threats of physical violence over the first fourteen stanzas, tween them, Clover and Bax and Padmos appear to have brought about chiefly from Þórr. Thereafter, the exchanges in much of the rest of the a critical stalemate. poem are characterised by vaunting speeches, each god claiming to have The first aim of this study is to consider in what ways such differences performed greater feats. While Þórr’s boastings centre exclusively on his in interpretation are presented. The poem will then be examined from triumphs as a warrior, Hárbarðr’s boastings frequently concern his sexual the point of view of the underlying significance of an Óðinn versus Þórr prowess and his mastery of magical practices. Much, however, of what contest. Much of this discussion will be centred on stanza 24, lines 3-4, is claimed by both gods is unremarked elsewhere in Old Norse sources where Hárbarðr slights Þórr by claiming that Óðinn is the keeper of fallen and is therefore obscure to us, such as, for example, Þórr’s reference to earls, whereas Þórr gets only the breed of serfs, for this is where many an attack made on him by Svárangs synir ‘Svárangr’s sons’ (st. 29). As critics, prior to this particular critical controversy, have seen a socio-mythic Hárbarðr refuses to comply with Þórr’s demand to be ferried, the end result context. Interestingly, this is an aspect of Hárbarðsljóð which Clover is that Þórr has no alternative but to take the long way home, for which rejects entirely and Bax and Padmos leave unremarked. he has to ask directions from Hárbarðr. All critics have, to a greater or lesser degree, judged that Hárbarðr ultimately wins the contest and that Pragmatics versus parody Þórr is humiliated. The most obvious difference between Clover’s study and that of Bax and Hárbarðsljóð is in many ways exceptional when