Poem by Harald Sigurdarson
I’ve recently re-unearthed a book in my collection of translated Viking poetry fragments on the themes of love and war. Here’s one by Harald Sigurdarson, an 11th C king of Norway, in which he describes his escape from the battle of Stiklestad in 1030 when he was 15 years old:
I remained upright
in battle while wounds bled;
the farmers’ troop grew fuller,
destroyer of shields dealt death.
Now, with little glory
I slink through the forests;
who knows, whether I’ll become
widely famous later?
This one is interesting to me on a number of levels!
Firstly, the poem embodies a “live to fight another day” perspective, which seems somewhat contrary to the modern popular perception that I think exists of the Vikings being a “death before dishonor” kinda people. It reminds me of how the word cunning used to have a more complimentary vibe conveying skillfulness, whereas its sense of deceitfulness probably didn’t arise until the late 14th C.
Secondly, I’m always interested to note the Viking preoccupation with fame, and with someone’s name living on after their death. It’s not something I’m much fussed about, personally, so I’m always vaguely baffled by it. In this case, Harald’s hopes indeed came to fruition - Harald Sigurdarson is the same person as Harald Hardrada, who attacked the north of England in 1066 shortly before William the Conquerer attacked in the south. If I’m remembering my primary school history lessons correctly, despite Harald’s attack being unsuccessful, historians (at least sometimes) credit it with wearing out the English forces enough that William’s (albeit unrelated) attack succeeded.
Interestingly, Harald’s half-brother Olaf, who was killed at Stiklestad, also achieved long-lasting fame - he was canonized as St Olaf in 1164.
Thirdly, there’s something I’m terribly curious about, and my Googling skills haven’t led me to any satisfactory conclusions! Can anybody explain to me the difference between “Sigurdarson” and “Sigurd(s)son”? The out-of-practice half-trained morphophonologist in me is dying to know!