Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.2003, Síða 322
308
Bjami Einarsson
(1992:252): “From a reading of the full chapter ‘On Poetry’ it becomes
clear that the lawmakers have in mind not mansongr defined as a poem
praising a woman or describing the poet’s own emotions, but erotic po-
etic libel. By suggesting sexual use of the woman the poet has insulted
the man who controlled her”.
As a matter of faet, Grågås does not give a definition of mansgngr as
erotic libel, but the punishment makes clear that the lawmakers con-
sidered it an offence against the woman in question, or even more as a
transgression against the father or guardian of a young woman. On the
other hånd it is notable that they have also considered the possibility
that the woman would not be willing to prosecute. This provision does
not support the idea that mansgngr was an obscene poem.
It is true that we have no proof that mansgngr is related to the Ger-
man word Minnesang; nevertheless the likeness, both in form and con-
tent, may not be purely coincidental. It can be added that the word
sgngr, though common, is not used for any other kind of skaldic poetry.
It seems indeed strange that mansgngr should have begun as “erotic
libel”, and in spite of that much later developed into the real thing,
namely the so-called mansongur, a love poem introducing each rima
included in an epic poem of many cantos (called rimur).
Nothing has been preserved of the mansgngr poetry which apparent-
ly excited the 39 godar, who were the only members of Lggrétta (the
Legislature at the Alpingi) entitled to vote, to such an extent that they
passed a law against this kind of poetry. This may have happened
around the year 1200. The oldest source for the words mansgngsvisur
and mansgngskvædi for which it is possible to assign an approximate
date is Jons saga helga, written originally in Latin by the monk
Gunnlaugr Leifsson, who died in 1218, but only found in translations.
Both words are mentioned in texts A and B of the saga in reference to
improper poetry sung by women and men at dancing, and strictly for-
bidden by Bishop Jon Qgmundarson at Holar (1052-1121), but it is
added that the bishop did not succeed altogether in suppressing this
kind of poetry (“Jro fekk hann Jm eigi af komit meS ollu”, Biskupa
sogur 2:38). About the time when the saga was written, the bishop was
proclaimed a saint at the Alpingi in 1200.
It is of course out of the question that amorous young men would
have composed obscene or libellous verse (or stanzas) about the women
they adored. But on the contrary it is most likely that they, inspired by