Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.2003, Síða 326
312
Bjami Einarsson
about Solveig would have - if they ever existed - contained any kind of
“erotic libel”. But the law and the sagas do confirm that a love poem
was considered an infringement by the iQgrådandi (legal guardian) of
the woman in question, but not necessarily by the woman herself.
The story about the skald Ottarr and his mansQngr about the princess
ÅstnØr in Sweden, and his later visit to King Olåfr (St Olåfr), now the
husband of Astnør, who is very angry with the skald owing to his
mansQngr, had already been told in the now fragmentary “Oldest saga”
about King Olåfr and in the socalled “Legendary saga”. But in these two
sagas ÅstnØr is not present at the meeting. It is Styrmir froøi (d. 1245)
who, in one of his articuli added to Oldfs saga helga in Flateyjarbok and
elsewhere, tells the famous story about the queen’s role in the meeting
between the skald and the king. In Styrmir’s version it is obvious that the
queen is pleased with the mansgngr, although the king is angry. This sup-
ports the view that the mansgngr was a real poem of praise, which never-
theless might be considered an insult by the legal guardian of the woman.
The severity of the law against mansQngr can easily be explained by
the sensitiveness of the fathers of young marriageable daughters. They
felt strongly about the good reputation of their daughters, for whom
they wished to obtain the best possible match. Marriage was a matter of
rank and possession among the upper classes (godar and landowners,
even aristocratic men of the cloth, cf. the phrase kynbornir prestar,
celibacy of the clergy was not obligatory in the Icelandic church). Mar-
riage for love was disapproved of, cf. the expression girndarråd (i.e.
marriage for lust) in Laxdæla saga, Njåls saga and elsewhere.
Egill’s mansQngr stanza about AsgerØr is in perfect accord with the
various verses about women expressing love-sickness. Many are found
in the manuscripts of Snorra Edda, but more exquisite are the few stanzas
of love ascribed to two Norwegian kings in some sagas of kings, Olåfr
Haraldsson, later the saint (d. 1030), and Magnuss berfættr (d. 1103).
(A collection of these verses is printed and discussed in my book
Skåldasogur, 1961.) Among the sagas of skalds, Kormåks saga con-
tains the greatest number of fine stanzas of love, some expressing
lovesickness, others praising the beauty of Steingerør - but the word
mansgngr is not found in this saga.
Speaking about outstanding verses of love in saga literature, it would
be unfair not to mention Eyrbyggja saga. It does not belong to the ex-
plicit subgenre of the sagas of skalds; nevertheless among its many and