Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.2003, Side 323
“Manspngr” revisited
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the new French fashion, began imitating the lovesick poets on the con-
tinent. Apparently the same French versemaking fashion made itself
felt in the Orkneys around the year 1200. The Orkney bishop and skald
Bjami Kolbeinsson (bishop 1188-1223) is reported to have composed
the Jomsvlkingadråpa, which is partially a kind of love story and has as
a refrain a typical love complaint (“Ein drepr fyr mér allri [...] / ftr-
manns kona teiti”, Skjaldedigtn. B 2:4ff.), and ends with the marriage
of its hero (op. cit. p. 10): “Få gekk ullr at eiga / prlyndr Jjrymu randa /
(menn fystu {>ess) mæta / (margir) IngibjQrgu”. The bishop may also
have written the Målshåttakvædi, which has a refrain about King Har-
aldr’s passionate love for the Lappish giri Snæfridr (an episode in
Heimskringla) (Skjaldedigtn. B 2:140ff.): “Ekki var Joat fordum faraid, /
Finnan gat {to ærdan Harald, / hpnum {totti solbjprt su, / sliks dæmi
verdr mprgum nu”.
There is also an earlier - direct - contact between the troubadour mi-
lieu in Southern France and the Orkney nobility. The Norwegian-bom
Earl Rpgnvaldr Kali of the Orkneys, a renowned skald, undertook an
expedition to the Holy Land in 1151-1153 with 15 great ships (the story
is told in Orkneyinga saga). On their way they made a stop at Nar-
bonne, where the Earl together with his company was for a while the
guest of the Countess Ermengarde of Narbonne. The court at Narbonne
was a famous centre of troubadours, and in Orkneyinga saga there are
preserved a few stanzas in honour of the Countess, composed by the
Earl and two of his companions, the skalds Årmodr and Oddi hinn lftli
(both Icelanders). It is told the Earl travelled with a priest educated in
Paris, which must have been very convenient for him. In the few stanzas
preserved the skalds praise the beauty of the Countess and pretend to be
in love with her.
Now let us look at the testimony of the sagas which we are told retain
the definition “erotic libel”, whenever they mention mansgngr. In
Qlkofra påttr, a funny short story about a brewer and seiler of mungåt
(ale, small beer) at the Alpingi (Islenzk fornrit 11:83-94), an obviously
innocent man is accused of having composed a mansQngsdråpa about
the wife of a relative, and as a result is forced to pay some kind of com-
pensation (the passage is rather obscure). Here there is no mention of
skoggangr; nevertheless it is obviously a case of offence against the
husband in question. No hint is given conceming the content of this so-
called mansQngsdråpa. But we may rest assured that the content need