Old English Literature and the Old Testament by Sharma Manish;Fox Michael;

Author:Sharma, Manish;Fox, Michael; [Fox, Michael and Sharma, Manish]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: LIT011000, REL006410, REL102000
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Published: 2012-11-14T16:00:00+00:00

The terminology here has a distinctly English flavour. The stanza contains the earliest attestation of the word hirð (war band), which derives from Old English hīred (household, band of retainers). Óláfr most probably brought both the term and the institution it denotes to Norway at the end of his English campaigns.50 Similar may be the case of þjóðkonungs (of the nation’s king); although this word occurs in purportedly earlier skaldic poetry, associated in our sources with the era of Haraldr hárfagri, Sigvatr’s use of it may have been reinforced by Old English þēodcyning.51

The source of Óláfr’s copious wealth, like that of other Viking adventurers, was in itself morally dubious – being the ill-gotten gains of raiding and Danegeld.52 He used it to win the personal loyalty of a large entourage, prominent among which were the skalds, with their skills in the creation of propaganda. Sigvatr speaks of himself (perhaps with an ironic side glance at St Martin) as donning a helmet from Poitou, a prestigious and valuable item. He alludes in Nesjavísur, verse 9, to the auðván (hope of riches) entertained by himself and other followers of Óláfr, and in verse 13 he uses a kenning for ‘warriors,’ hreifa elds viðir (trees of the fire of the hand; that is, trees of gold), that testifies to the wealth and munificence of their lord. The poet makes little apparent attempt to link these conspicuous treasures with Christian purposes. Such ingrained skaldic themes and ideologies were extremely resistant to modification, but then, as we shall see, some treatments of scripture embodied in the teachings of Ælfric and other English writers could have been construed as giving them continued legitimacy, even in the face of new orthodoxies.

As Óláfr’s reign continued into the third decade of the century, wealth, if an effective and even justifiable weapon, would increasingly prove itself dubious for another reason. In a series of stanzas from his Vestrfararvísur Sigvatr speaks with surprising frankness about a golden offer that he himself received from Knútr, Óláfr’s inveterate rival. The reference may not be simply personal but may be more broad, to Knútr’s initiative in offering to chieftains and other influential Norwegians gold in return for their support against Óláfr.53 Advocates for Óláfr could condemn Knútr’s initiative as an assault by Mammon upon righteousness, represented by Óláfr,54 but, given Knútr’s early baptism55 and energetic patronage of ecclesiastical institutions in England,56 it would scarcely have been politically viable to anathematize him too strenuously.

Knútr hefr okkr enn ítri

alldáðgfugr báðum

hendr, es hilmi fundum,

Húnn, skrautliga búnar;

þér gaf hann mrk eða meira

margvitr ok hjr bitran

golls (ræðr grvallu

goð sjalfr), en mér halfa. (Vestrfararvísur 5)57

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