Skáldskaparmál - 01.01.1997, Síða 61

Stæri ek brag
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to hlm are understandable in the light of Hallfreðrs frustrating dealings with his
biological father. Recall that his father had been unwilling to negotiate, and that
he had set his son in fetters in response to his obstreperous behavior. Óttarr’s
reaction left no room for compromise and his relationship to Hallfreðr is
represented as an either-or proposition. Therefore, the poet’s association with
King Óláfr must be understood in light of his dysfiinctional relationship to his
biological father: in Norway Hallfreðr is depicted as attempting to establish his
own person in face of the father figure. The series of stanzas Hallfreðr recites
subsequent to his nominal conversion reveal the fine balance between submission
and protest. The poet has received Óláfr’s promise not to do to him what his own
father and grandfather have done, and he immediately puts the king’s grudging
pledge of absolute acceptance to the test. He recites a series of stanzas devoted to
the gods and Christ, each of which generates a reaction from the king. The first
three stanzas provoke the king’s ire and Hallfreðr gradually revises his stance as a
result of the royal review. By the fourth strophe he touches upon his personal
relation to Christ, which is analogous to his relation to the king. The second
helmingsuhmxts to multiple interpretations if read intertextually. The four verses
contain not only Hallfreðr’s profession of Christianity but also an exegesis of the
same. His words are a confession of his need of approval from a higher authority.
In the spiritual context this is God, but in the present situation he is also appealing
to the king, inasmuch as he composed the stanza because of King Óláfr’s
disapproval of his previous poetic attempts. The lines are as follows:
Krist uil ek allrar astar.
ervmk leið sonar reiði.
valld :u frægt vnd folldar.
feðr einn ok guð kveðia. (1:390,11—14)14
The stanza — the conclusion of which can be interpreted as reading either “He
possesses His eminent power from the Father of the world” or “He possesses His
eminent power over the world from the Father”15 — has provoked discussion of
Hallfreðr’s acquaintance with Christian theology,16 specifically the issue of the
Son’s generation from the Father and the Father as the source of the Son’s power.
For Ernst A. Kock the latter, that is, the superiority of the father over the son, did
not pose difficulties, for as he put it: “För honom [that is, Hallfreðr] var ju
familjefadern det sjálvskrivna överhuvudet.”1 It is unlikely, as Bjarni Einarsson
The normalized prose version of the lines, as found in the íslenzk fornrit edition (vol. VIII), is
given by Einar Ól. Sveinsson as follows: “Krist einn ok goð vilk kveðja allrar ástar; erum leið
sonar reiði; vald á frægt und foldar feðr” (p. 158).
15 Cf. Bjarni Einarsson, To skjaldesagaer, p. 147.
16 See Bjami Einarsson, Toskjaldesagaer, p. 148, who refers to Theodor Hjelmqvist, “Var Hallfreðr
vandræðaskáid arian?” ANF, 24 (1908), 155-79; cf. especially pp. 176-77 in Hjelmqvist’s
article.
17 Emst A. Kock, Notationes Norrœnx. Anteckningar tilEdda ocb Skaldediktning, Lunds Universitets