Bragi Boddason
Viking Age Icelandic poet, warrior and farmer
Bragi Boddason
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Drawing of Bragi by
Carl Wahlbom
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Occupation | Skald |
Language | Old Norse |
Period | Viking Age |
Literary movement | Skaldic poetry |
Years active | Early 9th century |
Notable works | Ragnarsdrápa |
Bragi Boddason , known as Bragi the Old ( Old Norse : Bragi hinn gamli ) was a Norwegian skald active in the first half of the 9th century , the earliest known skald from whom verses have survived. Portions of his Ragnarsdrápa are preserved in Snorri Sturluson 's Edda .
Life and career
Bragi is known as "the Old" to distinguish him from a 12th-century skald, Bragi Hallsson. He was a member of a prominent family in southwestern Norway; [1] according to Landnámabók , he married Lopthœna, the daughter of Erpr lútandi , another skald, and among their descendants was the early 11th-century skald Gunnlaugr ormstunga . [2] Skáldatal lists him as a court poet to three kings, Ragnarr Loðbrók , Eysteinn Beli , and Bjǫrn at haugi , [2] [3] which has led to his life being dated to the 9th century, usually to the first half of that century. [2] However, the dating of the reigns of all but King Bjǫrn in Sweden suggest a later date, and some including Guðbrandur Vigfússon have preferred dates of 835–900. [4] [5] Landnámabók also reports that when visiting Ljúfvina, the wife of king Hjǫrr of Hǫrðaland , he perceived that she had substituted the fair-skinned son of a thrall woman for her dark-skinned twin sons Geirmundr and Hámundr and persuaded her to reinstate her own sons. [6] This story and the story of his confronting a troll-woman , are probably legends. [3]
Bragi has the same name as the god Bragi , which has led some to doubt his historicity, but there are enough mentions of him to attest to his having lived, [6] so that it is likely he was deified and gave his name to the god. [1] [3] [4] [7] [8] He has been credited with inventing the dróttkvætt meter characteristic of skaldic poetry, possibly under the influence of Irish verse forms, [9] but although later skalds imitated some of his kennings , the complexity of his verse makes it more probable that earlier poetry representing the development of the tradition has been lost. [10]
Works
In Egils saga , ch. 59, Bragi is said to have composed a poem to "ransom his head" after angering King Bjǫrn; Egill Skallagrímsson is persuaded to follow his example by his friend and Bragi's great-grandson Arinbjǫrn, leading him to compose his Hǫfuðlausn for Erik Bloodax . [2] [11]
Most of his verses that we have preserved appear to be part of his Ragnarsdrápa . This is a shield lay, composed in return for the gift of a decorated shield, according to Snorri from Ragnarr Loðbrók, [3] but many scholars consider it more likely the poem was dedicated to a different Ragnarr. [12] [13] It appears to have consisted of an introductory verse followed by four sets of four verses, each describing a scene depicted on the shield: two mythological , Gefjon plowing the island of Zealand out of Sweden and Thor fishing for the World Serpent Jǫrmungandr , and two heroic , Hamðir and Sǫrli 's attack on King Jǫrmunrekkr , and the never-ending battle between Heðinn and Hǫgni, and presumably a concluding verse. [14] Parts or all of twenty verses survive; [15] one verse attributed to Bragi in all but one manuscript of the Edda is probably correctly assigned to Úlfr Uggason 's Húsdrápa , which also describes a portrayal of Thor's fishing expedition. [16] [17]
See also
References
- 1 2 "Bragi Boddason the Old", in: Lee M. Hollander , The Skalds: A Selection of Their Poems, With Introductions and Notes , The American-Scandinavian Foundation, 1945, repr. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University, 1947, OCLC 917621430 , p. 25.
- 1 2 3 4 Finnur Jónsson , "Om skjaldepoesien og de ældste skjalde (To foredrag)", Arkiv för nordisk filologi 7 (N.S. 2) (1890) 121–55, pp. 141 – 45 (in Danish) .
- 1 2 3 4 Margaret Clunies Ross , "Bragi inn gamli Boddason" in: Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold, eds., Poetry from Treatises on Poetics , Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3, Turnhout: Brepols, 2017, ISBN 9782503566665 , p. 26, online at Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages , retrieved June 4, 2021.
- 1 2 "Bragi enn gamli Boddason", in: Rudolf Simek and Hermann Pálsson , Lexikon der altnordischen Literatur , Kröners Taschenausgabe 490, Stuttgart: Kröner, 1987, ISBN 3520490013 , pp. 44–45 (in German) .
- ↑ Gudbrand Vigfusson and F. York Powell , Corpus Poeticum Boreale , 2 vols., Volume 2, Oxford: Clarendon (Oxford University), 1883, OCLC 923958158 , p. 2.
- 1 2 Finnur Jónsson, Den islandske litteraturs historie: tilligemed den old norske , Copenhagen: Gad, 1907, OCLC 251032649 , p. 91 (in Danish) .
- ↑ Gabriel Turville-Petre , Origins of Icelandic Literature , Oxford: Clarendon (Oxford University), 1953, OCLC 776250456 , p. 35.
- ↑ Among scholars who disagree is Jan de Vries , Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte , 2 vols., Grundriß der germanischen Philologie 12, Volume 2, 2nd ed. Berlin: De Gruyter, 1957, repr. (3rd ed.) 1970, p. 273 (in German) .
- ↑ Turville-Petre, Origins of Icelandic Literature , pp. 35–38.
- ↑ Jan de Vries, Altnordische Literaturgeschichte , 2 vols., Volume 1, Grundriß der germanischen Philologie 15, 2nd ed. Berlin: De Gruyter, 1964, OCLC 492651465 , p. 127 (in German) .
- ↑ Stefán Einarsson , A History of Icelandic Literature , The American-Scandinavian Foundation, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, 1957, OCLC 504185269 , p. 59.
- ↑ Turville-Petre, Origins of Icelandic Literature , p. 34.
- ↑ Vésteinn Ólason, "Old Icelandic Poetry" in: Daisy Neijmann, ed., A History of Icelandic Literature , Histories of Scandinavian Literature 5, The American-Scandinavian Foundation, Lincoln, Nebraska / London: University of Nebraska, 2006, ISBN 9780803233461 , pp. 1–64, p. 28.
- ↑ Hollander, The Skalds , pp. 25–26.
- ↑ E.O.G Turville-Petre, Scaldic Poetry , Oxford: Clarendon (Oxford University), 1976, ISBN 9780198125174 , p. 1.
- ↑ "Úlfr Uggason, Húsdrápa 5" at Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages, retrieved June 4, 2021.
- ↑ Ursula Dronke , ed. and trans., The Poetic Edda , 3 vols. published, Volume 3, Oxford: Oxford University, 2011, ISBN 9780198111825 , p. 98 (Úlfr Uggason III).
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