Bragi Boddason
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Bragi Boddason, known as Bragi the Old (
Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlemen ...
: ''Bragi hinn gamli'') was a Norwegian skald active in the first half of the
9th century The 9th century was a period from 801 ( DCCCI) through 900 ( CM) in accordance with the Julian calendar. The Carolingian Renaissance and the Viking raids occurred within this period. In the Middle East, the House of Wisdom was founded in Abba ...
, the earliest known skald from whom verses have survived. Portions of his ''
Ragnarsdrápa Ragnarsdrápa (Ragnar's Poem) is a skaldic poem said to have been composed in honour of the Scandinavian hero, Ragnar Lodbrok, but likely actually addressed to some later Ragnar. It is attributed to the oldest known skald, Bragi Boddason, who liv ...
'' are preserved in Snorri Sturluson's ''
Edda "Edda" (; Old Norse ''Edda'', plural ''Eddur'') is an Old Norse term that has been attributed by modern scholars to the collective of two Medieval Icelandic literary works: what is now known as the ''Prose Edda'' and an older collection of poems ...
''.


Life and career

Bragi is known as "the Old" to distinguish him from a 12th-century skald, Bragi Hallsson. He was a member of a prominent family in southwestern Norway;"Bragi Boddason the Old", in: Lee M. Hollander, ''The Skalds: A Selection of Their Poems, With Introductions and Notes'', The American-Scandinavian Foundation, 1945, repr. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University, 1947, , p. 25. according to ''
Landnámabók (, "Book of Settlements"), often shortened to , is a medieval Icelandic written work which describes in considerable detail the settlement () of Iceland by the Norse in the 9th and 10th centuries CE. is divided into five parts and ove ...
'', he married Lopthœna, the daughter of
Erpr lútandi Erpr lútandi was according to ''Skáldatal'' the court skald of the Swedish kings Eysteinn Beli and Björn at Haugi. There are no extant poems by Erpr. ''Skáldatal'' tells that Erpr committed the crime of killing in a sanctuary. He avoided the d ...
, another skald, and among their descendants was the early 11th-century skald
Gunnlaugr ormstunga Gunnlaugr ormstunga (Old Norse: ; is, Gunnlaugur ormstunga ; "serpent-tongue") was an Icelandic skald. His life is described in '' Gunnlaugs saga ormstungu'', where several of his poems are preserved. Gunnlaugr was born ca. 983. From an early ag ...
.
Finnur Jónsson Finnur Jónsson (May 29, 1858 – March 30, 1934) was an Icelandic-Danish philologist and Professor of Nordic Philology at the University of Copenhagen. He made extensive contributions to the study of Old Norse literature. Finnur Jónsson was b ...
, "Om skjaldepoesien og de ældste skjalde (To foredrag)", ''Arkiv för nordisk filologi'' 7 (N.S. 2) (1890) 121–55, pp.&nbs
141


.
''
Skáldatal ''Skáldatal'' (''Catalogue of Poets'') is a short prose work in Old Norse. It is preserved in two manuscripts: DG 11, or ''Codex Uppsaliensis'', which is one of the four main manuscripts of the ''Prose Edda'' (first quarter of the 14th century), an ...
'' lists him as a
court poet A poet laureate (plural: poets laureate) is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, typically expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. Albertino Mussato of Padua and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) ...
to three kings, Ragnarr Loðbrók,
Eysteinn Beli Eysteinn Beli or ''Eysteinn hinn illráði'', Swedish language, Swedish: ''Östen Illråde'' (ill-ruler) or ''Östen Beli'', was a semi-legendary king of Sweden who would have ruled in the late 8th century. ''Krákumál'' According to ''Krákumál' ...
, and Bjǫrn at haugi,
Margaret Clunies Ross Margaret Beryl Clunies Ross (born 24 April 1942) is a medievalist who was until her retirement in 2009 the McCaughey Professor of English Language and Early English Literature and Director of the Centre for Medieval Studies at the University of Syd ...
, "Bragi inn gamli Boddason" in: Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold, eds., ''Poetry from Treatises on Poetics'', Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3, Turnhout: Brepols, 2017, , p. 26
online
at
Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages is a project which is editing the corpus of Old Norse-Icelandic skaldic poetry., along with all poetry written down in runes Runes are the letters in a set of related alphabets known as runic alp ...
, retrieved June 4, 2021.
which has led to his life being dated to the 9th century, usually to the first half of that century. However, the dating of the reigns of all but King Bjǫrn in Sweden suggest a later date, and some including
Guðbrandur Vigfússon Guðbrandur Vigfússon, known in English as Gudbrand Vigfusson, (13 March 1827 – 31 January 1889Jón þorkelsson, "Nekrolog över Guðbrandur Vigfússon" in ''Arkiv för nordisk filologi'', Sjätte bandet (ny följd: andra bandet), Lund, 18 ...
have preferred dates of 835–900."Bragi enn gamli Boddason", in:
Rudolf Simek Rudolf Simek (born 21 February 1954) is an Austrian philologist and religious studies scholar who is Professor and Chair of Ancient German and Nordic Studies at the University of Bonn. Simek specializes in Germanic studies, and is the author o ...
and
Hermann Pálsson Hermann Pálsson (26 May 1921 – 11 August 2002) was an Icelandic language scholar and translator, "one of the most distinguished scholars of Icelandic studies of his generation". Often working in collaboration with others such as Magnus Magnus ...
, ''Lexikon der altnordischen Literatur'', Kröners Taschenausgabe 490, Stuttgart: Kröner, 1987, , pp. 44–45 .
''Landnámabók'' also reports that when visiting Ljúfvina, the wife of king Hjǫrr of Hǫrðaland, he perceived that she had substituted the fair-skinned son of a
thrall A thrall ( non, þræll, is, þræll, fo, trælur, no, trell, træl, da, træl, sv, träl) was a slave or serf in Scandinavian lands during the Viking Age. The corresponding term in Old English was . The status of slave (, ) contrasts wi ...
woman for her dark-skinned twin sons Geirmundr and Hámundr and persuaded her to reinstate her own sons.Finnur Jónsson, ''Den islandske litteraturs historie: tilligemed den old norske'', Copenhagen: Gad, 1907,
p. 91
.
This story and the story of his confronting a troll-woman, are probably legends. Bragi has the same name as the god
Bragi Bragi (; Old Norse: ) is the skaldic god of poetry in Norse mythology. Etymology The theonym Bragi probably stems from the masculine noun ''bragr'', which can be translated in Old Norse as 'poetry' (cf. Icelandic ''bragur'' 'poem, melody, wise ...
, which has led some to doubt his historicity, but there are enough mentions of him to attest to his having lived, so that it is likely he was
deified Apotheosis (, ), also called divinization or deification (), is the glorification of a subject to divine levels and, commonly, the treatment of a human being, any other living thing, or an abstract idea in the likeness of a deity. The term has ...
and gave his name to the god. He has been credited with inventing the ''
dróttkvætt In prosody, alliterative verse is a form of verse that uses alliteration as the principal ornamental device to help indicate the underlying metrical structure, as opposed to other devices such as rhyme. The most commonly studied traditions of ...
'' meter characteristic of skaldic poetry, possibly under the influence of Irish verse forms, but although later skalds imitated some of his
kenning A kenning ( Icelandic: ) is a figure of speech in the type of circumlocution, a compound that employs figurative language in place of a more concrete single-word noun. Kennings are strongly associated with Old Norse-Icelandic and Old English ...
s, the complexity of his verse makes it more probable that earlier poetry representing the development of the tradition has been lost.


Works

In ''
Egils saga ''Egill's Saga'' or ''Egil's saga'' ( non, Egils saga ; ) is an Icelandic saga (family saga) on the lives of the clan of Egill Skallagrímsson (Anglicised as Egill Skallagrimsson), an Icelandic farmer, viking and skald. The saga spans the year ...
'', ch. 59, Bragi is said to have composed a poem to "ransom his head" after angering King Bjǫrn; Egill Skallagrímsson is persuaded to follow his example by his friend and Bragi's great-grandson Arinbjǫrn, leading him to compose his '' Hǫfuðlausn'' for Erik Bloodax. Most of his verses that we have preserved appear to be part of his ''
Ragnarsdrápa Ragnarsdrápa (Ragnar's Poem) is a skaldic poem said to have been composed in honour of the Scandinavian hero, Ragnar Lodbrok, but likely actually addressed to some later Ragnar. It is attributed to the oldest known skald, Bragi Boddason, who liv ...
''. This is a shield lay, composed in return for the gift of a decorated shield, according to Snorri from Ragnarr Loðbrók, but many scholars consider it more likely the poem was dedicated to a different Ragnarr. It appears to have consisted of an introductory verse followed by four sets of four verses, each describing a scene depicted on the shield: two mythological,
Gefjon In Norse mythology, Gefjon (Old Norse: ; alternatively spelled Gefion, or Gefjun , pronounced without secondary syllable stress) is a goddess associated with ploughing, the Danish island of Zealand, the legendary Swedish king Gylfi, the legendar ...
plowing the island of
Zealand Zealand ( da, Sjælland ) at 7,031 km2 is the largest and most populous island in Denmark proper (thus excluding Greenland and Disko Island, which are larger in size). Zealand had a population of 2,319,705 on 1 January 2020. It is the 1 ...
out of Sweden and
Thor Thor (; from non, Þórr ) is a prominent god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred groves and trees, strength, the protection of humankind, hallowing, an ...
fishing for the World Serpent Jǫrmungandr, and two
heroic Heroic may mean: *characteristic of a hero *typical of heroic poetry or of heroic verse *belonging to the Greek Heroic Age *Heroic (esports), a Danish esports organization *Heroic (horse) Heroic (1921–1939) was an Australian Thoroughbred ra ...
, Hamðir and Sǫrli's attack on King Jǫrmunrekkr, and the never-ending battle between Heðinn and Hǫgni, and presumably a concluding verse. Parts or all of twenty verses survive; one verse attributed to Bragi in all but one manuscript of the ''Edda'' is probably correctly assigned to
Úlfr Uggason Úlfr Uggason ( Modern Icelandic: ) was an Icelandic skald who lived in the last part of the tenth century. The '' Laxdæla saga'' tells how he composed his ''Húsdrápa'' for a wedding. Geirmundr married Þuríðr, whose father, Óláfr pái ( ...
's ''
Húsdrápa ''Húsdrápa'' (Old Norse: 'House-Lay') is a skaldic poem partially preserved in the Prose Edda where disjoint stanzas of it are quoted. It is attributed to the skald Úlfr Uggason. The poem describes mythological scenes carved on kitchen panels. ...
'', which also describes a portrayal of Thor's fishing expedition.
Ursula Dronke __NOTOC__ Ursula Miriam Dronke (née Brown, 3 November 1920 – 8 March 2012Heather O'Donoghue"Ursula Dronke obituary: Inspirational teacher of Old Norse literature specialising in the sagas and poetry of medieval Iceland" ''The Guardian'' 25 M ...
, ed. and trans., ''The Poetic Edda'', 3 vols. published, Volume 3, Oxford: Oxford University, 2011, , p. 98 (Úlfr Uggason III).


See also

*
List of skalds List of Scandinavian skalds. List A * Aðils konungr (Aðils) * Alrekr konungr (Alrekr) * Angantýr Arngrímsson (Angantýr) * Angantýr Heiðreksson (AngH) * Arnfinnr's daughter (jarls) * Arngrímr ábóti Brandsson (Arngr) * Arnórr jar ...


References


External links


''Ragnarsdrápa'' text and translation
at
Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages is a project which is editing the corpus of Old Norse-Icelandic skaldic poetry., along with all poetry written down in runes Runes are the letters in a set of related alphabets known as runic alp ...
{{Authority control 9th-century Norwegian poets