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well-known and widely-read Hússpostilla (1718–20), in a section con cerning
the wholesome advice of a good wife (“holl ráð góðrar konu”).9 The next
stanza returns briefly to the new testament, and is about tabitha, the
charitable widow and disciple from acts of the apostles (9:36–42). the
poet praises her achievements, charity, and good works (10/3–15), as well
as her handiwork (10/17–18). after tabitha comes the ancient Eastern
Iranian empress tomyris, who is praised for valiantly and radiantly defeat-
ing Cyrus the Great (11/1–6).10
the poet then turns to female rulers from Scandinavia and the British
Isles, beginning with the prudent Queen thyre (wife of the tenth-century
King Gorm the old), who is referred to in the poem by her byname,
Danabót [Denmark’s adornment] (12/3).11 thyre, who after the Viking
age was reenvisioned as a model of saintliness, is praised for her wisdom
and ability to interpret dreams (12/1–2), and for saving her son, Harald
Bluetooth, “frá heljar nót” [from hell’s net] (12/8–12). next is the beloved
Queen Louise of Great Britain (1724–1751, daughter of King George II and
wife of King frederick V of Denmark and norway) who died in childbirth
at the age of 27.12 She, too, is praised for her wisdom (12/14–15), and for
giving comfort to the poor (12/17); the poet concludes his remarks on
Louise by noting that she is missed by those who recall her (12/18). olga
(Helga), grandmother of Vladimir the Great and wife of Igor (Ívar), is the
focus of the thirteenth stanza. Like thyre, she was a noblewoman who
converted to Christianity, and the poet describes the positive influence she
had in her husband’s kingdom – specifically, that because of her, people did
not behave like criminal, pagan swines (13/11–12).13 After Olga comes the
fourteenth-century Queen Margaret I of Denmark, norway, and Sweden,
who united the three kingdoms under the Kalmar union. the last ruler
described is Elizabeth I of England, who was wise (15/4), popular among
9 Gunnar Kristjánsson and Mörður Árnason, eds., Vídalínspostilla, 169.
10 Herodotus, The Persian Wars, Volume I: Books 1–2, transl. A. D. Godley, Loeb Classical
Library 117 (Cambridge: Harvard university Press, 1920), 258–69.
11 Saxo Grammaticus, Gesta Danorum. The History of the Danes, ed. Karsten Friis-Jensen,
transl. Peter fisher, 2 vols., oxford Medieval texts (oxford: Clarendon Press, 2015), Book
ix, chap. 11.2–3 (1: 672–75), there thira. See also Judith Jesch, Women in the Viking Age
(Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 1991), 50–52, there thorvi.
12 Hal Koch and John Danstrup, eds. Danmarks Historie, 2nd ed., 15 vols. (Copenhagen:
Politiken, 1970), 9: 296–300.
13 See Judith Jesch, Women in the Viking age, 111–15.