Eiríksmál
The Eiriksmál ( Proverbs about Eirik ) is a short Skaldic poem, a song of praise and a lament for the Norwegian King Erik the Blood Ax , son of Harald Fairhair , who died in England in 954 at the Battle of Stainmore . The anonymous song was written on behalf of Erik's widow, Gunnhild , and is therefore dated to the sixth decade of the 10th century immediately after the historical event.
Only 9 stanzas have survived in Fagrskinna and in the quotation in Snorris Skáldskaparmál in the meter of the Ljóðaháttr . The structure of the Eiriksmál is similar to that of the contemporary, somewhat younger Hákonarmál , which is therefore considered its model. The Eiriksmál forms together with the Hákonarmál and the Haraldskvæði a group that are considered exponents of the early Eddic price song and represent an intermediate position between the Eddic anonymous poetry and the Skaldic poetry with identifiable authors.
The content of the poem is mythological. The god Odin sends two heroes, Sigmund and Sinfiötli (from the saga of the Nibelungs , the Völsunga saga ) to escort Eirik to Valhalla.
literature
- Editions and translations
- Felix Genzmer : The Edda. II poetry of the gods and poetry. Eugen Diedrichs Verlag, Jena 1912. ( Thule Collection , 2)
- Finnur Jónsson (ed.): The Norsk-Islandske Skjaldedigting B: Save Tekst I . 1912 (reprinted by Rosenkilde og Bagger, Copenhagen 1973).
- Research literature
- Joseph Harris : Eiriksmál and Hákonarmál . In: Joseph R. Strayer (Ed.): Dictionary of the Middle Ages , Vol. 4 Croatia - Family sagas. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York City 1984, ISBN 0-684-17024-8 .
- Gerd Kreutzer: Eiríksmál. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 7, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1989, ISBN 3-11-011445-3 , pp. 54-57.
- Rudolf Simek , Hermann Pálsson : Lexicon of Old Norse Literature (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 490). Kröner, Stuttgart 1987, ISBN 3-520-49001-3 , p. 78.
- Jan de Vries : Old Norse literary history. (= Outline of Germanic Philology ) 15/16. de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1941, 3rd unchanged edition in one volume with a foreword by Stefanie Würth 1999, ISBN 3-11-016330-6 .