Gripla - 20.12.2008, Qupperneq 141

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Báls kveðr hlynr at Hólum
hvern mann vesa í banni
Gylfa láðs, þanns greiðir,
geðrakkr, fyr mér nakkvat.
Trautt kann hóf, sás háttar,
hoddlestir, vel flestu,
– meðr eru af því aðrir
ósælir – , stórmæla.44
Note Kolbeinn’s kenning for the geðrakkr man in the first helmingur, for he
calls him, Guðmundur that is, Gylfa láðs báls hlynr. The kenning is firmly
based in pagan mythology and refers to the bishop himself: Gylfi is a name
for a sea king, and Gylfi’s láð is thus his kingdom, the sea; the bál of the sea
is gold, as mythology reveals to us; and gold’s hlynr belongs to a common
group of kennings for a “human.” The triple kenning thus simply means
“man.” If there ever was a motive and an opportunity to express dissat-
isfaction, religious or moral, with such a use then this must have been it.
The dispute was ruthless, and every conceivable accusation was valuable.
Had Guðmundur’s men found Kolbeinn’s use of this mythologically-based
kenning possibly inappropriate, even if only ad hoc for political purposes,
they surely would have snapped it up on the spot and turned it against
him. The fact that they did not is a telling witness. In fact, they showed no
attention to the matter.
Much the same is to be said of skaldic poetry in general. It remained
central to Old Norse literature continually from the Viking Age into the
later Middle Ages. Mass of skaldic poetry is scattered throughout the saga
corpus, from the earliest sagas on, and there are no signs of failing inter-
est or dull periods. It was a living practice among Christian Icelanders,
not merely antiquarian hobbyhorses. It embraced Christianity at much
the same time as the skalds themselves, and their companionship was not
charged with tension. The quickest roundtrip is illuminating.
Of the biskupasögur only Páls saga byskups and the sagas of Guð-
mundur góði contain skaldic verses. Páls saga contains four laudatory stan-
zas by Ámundi smiður Árnason, simple and without mythologically-based
44 Sturlunga saga I, 244–245ff.
PAGAN MYTHOLOGY IN CHRISTIAN SOCIETY