Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.2003, Side 87
Liturgy of St Knud Lavard - Introduction
73
The prime example is the last two stanzas of the ballad about St Knud
the King, for which Vedel provides an alternative text above which he
has written Duo postremi versus ab antiquis ita cantatj. It is interesting
in the context of the present investigation that King Knud of Odense is
here named in the same breath as his namesake Duke Knud of Ringsted
(2397, third foliation ff. 3r-4r; texts punctuated as in DV II 7-8 and IV
110, my emphases):
Original transcript in 2397
Dannmarck, Dannmarck, thin
priiss er stor,
thu thør dig ey forferde:
thu *haffuer [soffuer (!) MS] wdj
himmerigis koer
En naadig Gud og herre,
Oc mange tusind helgen flere,
the priiser Gud som the ere,
dyd skall du din synd føre;
O, i Dannmarcks herrer gode,
hielper nu well at styre oc raade,
at wj Gudz vilie giøre.
Paa Gud wi strax kalde
som naadefuld monne være,
hedre nu hans hellige alle
som giør Gud heder oc ære;
O Jesu Christ, du konning skøn,
hielp oss naadelig med thin forbøn,
wj motte j himmerig wente
Sancte Knudz fodspor oc sind,
At wj hannom følge i himmerig ind,
Naar thette liff for ende.
Alternative text added by Vedel
Danmarck, Danmarck, din
priiss er stor,
du maatte dig vel glæde,
du haffuer vdi
himmerigis chor
En koning oc en hertug rede;
de ere dine venner kiere,
hoss Gud ere de fuld nære
dig at hielpe oc værne;
O i Danmarcks blomster baade,
hielp nu at styre oc raade,
wi bede der om saa gerne.
Oppaa Gud wi nu strax kalde,
som trendefold'32 monne være,
oc loffue hans helgen alle
oc giøre dem heder oc ære;
O sancte Knud, du koning skiøn,
hielp oss trolig met din bøn,
wi mone i himmerig vende;
sancte Knud du hertug fin,
hielp oss och i himmerig ind,
naar dette liff fanger ende.
132 Rita Pedersen (as previous note) 103 draws attention to a reflex of this variant in Peder
Syv’s ballad book of 1695, where the line reads: Som trende folk monne være. Karsten
Christensen has pointed out to me that Peder Syv may have possessed an extract from
2397, an opinion that is supported by the form of words in which Syv annotates this line
(cf. Pedersen 109); the variant trende folk, probably just a copying error for Vedel’s tren-
defold, is unlikely to have been introduced by Syv himself.