Heimskringla
Page 106
2 Equivalent to eight ounces of gold.
1 The reference both here and in the following verse is probably to Saint Óláf.
1 See “Haralds saga Sigurðarsonar,” chapter 85, note 1.
1 Which would have been a fire hazard with the open langeldar (long fire) in the middle of the hall.
2 The guilds were secular brotherhoods that functioned for the mutual protection of the members.
3 “The town’s help, or improvement.”
1 The wolves.
1 For these functionaries, see “Óláfs saga Helga,” chapter 57, note.
1 In a procession.
1 A short distance west of the town.
2 East of the town.
1 An Icelandic skald. Nine stanzas of his poem are handed down by Snorri in the following chapters.
2 That is, Magnús.
1 An Icelandic skald. Besides this one, four other stanzas of his poem are preserved.
1 Svein, Egil, Skjálg, and Thórir himself.
2 Kenning for “woman.”
3 “The fire-of-fray” is a kenning for “sword”; “its waster,” “the warrior.”
1 The wolves.
1 District in southern Norway.
1 Saint Columba’s Church on Iona.
1 Inhabitants of Horthaland.
1 Muirkertach, the son of Tirdelvagh, was king of Munster 1086-1119.
1 See “Magnúss saga ins Góða,” chapter 11, for his name and genealogy. We are not told of his being outlawed.
1 An Icelandic skald. The following stanza, as well as stanzas 562 and 563 are part of a drápa (in the second töglag meter) of which some seven stanzas are preserved.
2 An Icelandic skald and King Eystein’s marshal. Of him we have more verse material than of any other skald, barring Sigvat (whom he resembled in some respects).
1 The Holy Land (?).
2 Kenning for “the sky.”
3 Of Compostella, in Galicia.
4 An Icelandic skald, who seems to have accompanied Sigurth on this expedition. Of his Útferðar drápa (Drápa about a Journey Abroad) all we have is preserved by Snorri.
1 That is, Mohammedan.
2 Not identified with certainty. Arabic al-kasr means “fortification.”
1 Here, the Barbary Coast.
2 The southwesternmost of the Balearic Islands.
3 A fornyrðislag stanza, as in 564.
4 Kenning for “ships.”
5 Kenning for “ships.”
1 A short distance north of Forminterra.
1 The Norwegian king.
1 For βλαχέρναɩ the location of the imperial palace.
1 Close to, or identical with, Slesvík.
1 Not identified.
1 Actually, Lund, on the west side of Scania, is about seventy-five miles distant from Thumathorp.
1 The present St. Halvard’s Street in Oslo.
1 This drápa of 71 stanzas, also called Geisli (Ray), is preserved in its entirety.
1 Or Plenarium: book containing all the material required for the Roman Catholic liturgical service.
1 Earlier Eirík had fled from his father’s brother, Níkolás, to Norway, and had probably received aid from Harald.
1 Njorth is a god; the whole, a kenning for “prince.”
2 King Sigar’s enemy is the hero Hagbarth, who seduced his daughter and was hanged; the whole, a kenning for “the gallows.”
3 English Husting, originally a meeting called by the king.
1 Concerning these see “Óláfs saga Helga,” chapter 57, note 1.
1 Múgi means “mob, multitude of men.”
1 The present Øvregaten in Bergen.
1 Snorri’s foster father.
1 Ratibor, duke of Pomerania, († 1152).
1 Concerning these see “Haralds saga Sigurðarsonar,” chapter 32.
2 Contrary to the king’s command?
1 On the island of Munkholm, outside of the town of Nitharós.
2 Weeds (garments)-of-Óthin is a kenning for “armor”; their reddener, “the warrior.”
1 An Icelandic skald. His poem, of some forty-six stanzas, in fornyrðislag, seems preserved in its entirety.
1 Held at Sarpsborg.
1 An Icelandic skald. Six stanzas of his drápa about King Ingi have come down to us.
2 Part of the refrain, which has not been handed down completely.
3 In the Ranríki District.
1 The patron saint of the Vík District.
2 Near Oslo.
1 The present Ærø, south of Funen.
1 Small island near the present town of Florø (Søndfjord).
2 So that it would not be visible above the water when sunk.
3 The largest island of Norway, lat. 68.30-69.
4 In fornyrðislag, as is 584.
5 Of Hálogaland.
1 The fortieth day after Easter.
1 Island group south of Eastfold, at the entrance of the Oslofjord.
2 That is, in heaven.
1 About him, see introduction p. xvii.
1 A lacuna in the manuscripts of Heimskringla at this point is supplied from the Fagrskinna codex.
1 Kenning for “shields”: the sword blows break against them as the waves on a ness.
1 An Icelandic skald. Only three stanzas of his poem are preserved.
2 Kenning for “warriors.”
1 In his poem on Eystein (in riming hrynhent measure) of which ten stanzas ara preserved.
1 1135-1154.
2 Location unknown.
3 Location unknown.
4 Substituted here for the (unidentified) Partar of the original.
5 There is a Great and Little Langton in the North Riding of Yorkshire.
1 Inhabitants of Raumaríki.
1 Not far from the present town of Skien.
2 The present village of Etne in Hardanger.
1 It is not clear which place by that name is meant.
2 This statement is not supported.
1 Unidentified.
1 “(Ship) clinker-built with beech planks.”
1 Kenning for “wolf,” the ogresses’ mount.
2 Karmt is an island off the southwest coast of Norway; its “ring,” the sea surrounding it.
3 Kenning for “ships.”
4 Only these two stanzas of it are handed down to us.
1 It empties into the sea at the present town of Uddevalla, Sweden.
2 “Fated to die.”
3 Near the present town of Skien.
1 Meaning, to heaven.
1 The localities mentioned here and in the following chapters are near Oslo.
1 That is, daughter of King Sigurth Jerusalemfarer.
1 See “Magnússona saga,” chapter 9.
2 That is, in the poem called Geisli, stanza 43. See “Magnússona saga,” chapter 30, note 1.
1 Inhabited by Petchenegs, a Turkish tribe, along the lower Danube.
1 Waldemar I, “The Great.” He ruled 1157-1182.
1 Close to Tunsberg.
2 “Brave warriors.” Here, ironical.
1 There is in all manuscripts a lacuna here for the name.
2 Apparently a kind of scaffold by the mast (to fight from?).
1 Both claiming direct descent from King Harald Gilli.
1 Both in the environs of Bergen.
1 It is to be borne in mind that no previous king of Norway was crowned nor given the clerical unction.
1 On the island of Tysnäsø off the southwest coast of Norway.
1 The present town of Randers.
1 There is in all manuscripts a lacuna here for the name; but the lake clearly is Lake Mjors.
1 From twenty-five to thirty English miles.
1 Whence his cognomen Skakki, which means “Wry-necked.”