Home of the Eddic Lays
Chapter 11
HELGI HUNDINGSBANI A DANISH KING
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Helgi is brought into connection with places which exist only in the realm of poesy. (1) The names of some of the places are poetic forms easily understood. Certain poetic names of essentially the same kind are to be found in the AS Béowulf, e.g. Hrefnawudu or Hrefnesholt, 'Ravenswood,' where a bloody fight takes place between the Géats and the Swedes. (2) Similarly in the Helgi poems a battle---in which the wolf is sated---takes place at Frekasteini, 'by Wolfstone.' (3) The king sits down tired after a battle---in which the eagle gets corpses to eat---und Arasteini, 'under Eaglestone' (I, 14; cf. above, p. 70), just as the Géats find Béowulf dead after his fight with the dragon when they come under Eagle-ness (under Earnanæs). (4) Ships sail out from Stafnsnes, 'Stem-ness' (I, 23), and assemble at Brandey (I, 22), 'Brand-isle' (from brandr, a beam in the ship's prow). When the ships come from the stormy sea into calm water, they lie í Unavágum, 'in Una-waves' (una meaning 'to be at rest'). The poet probably also regarded at logafjöllum (I, 13, 15) as a poetic name---that of the place where the battle takes place between Helgi and the sons of Hunding---for he doubtless thought that it was called 'Flame-fells,' because after the battle Helgi saw a radiant gleam there: lightning flashed: it was the advance of the battle-maidens. (5)
When Helgi has slain Hunding, he is, according to the Second Lay (st. 5 and 6), í Brunavágum, and commits depredations on the coast there. The name then perhaps means, a bay on whose coast there is burning or harrying. Starkath falls in a battle at Styrkleifum (II, 27), i.e. 'battle-cliffs' (from styrr, 'a battle'). (6)
Sigrún, Helgi's beloved, dwelt at Sefafjöllum (II, 25, 36, 42, 45, 48). This name may have been intended to mean 'Love-fells' (7) (from sefi, 'mind, passion, love' ); but possibly it was chosen because the poet had heard of Sævefjeld in Vestergötland, which rises from the Cattegat by the mouth of the southern branch of the Gøta River, and extends northwards (cf. Hávamál, 105). (8)
Some of the poetic placenames, as I have already shown, appear to be modifications of foreign appellative expressions---e.g. Himinvangar (I, 8), 'plains of heaven'; at Jordán (II, 28), 'by Jordan.' Other placenames, moreover, may be modifications of names in foreign tales---e.g. Sparinsheiðr or Sparta, Sólheimar of Salamina.
There are, however, a number of placenames in the First Helgi lay which can be shown to have really existed. These are found in Denmark and adjoining lands.
The author of the prose bit, On Sinfjötli's Death, imagined Helgi's home in Denmark; for we read there (p. 202): 'Sigmund, son of Völsung, was king in Frakkland (the land of the Franks by the Rhine). Sinfjötli was the eldest of his sons. The second was Helgi....King Sigmund remained long in Denmark in the kingdom of Borghild (Helgi's mother) after he was married to her.'
In the First Lay also the conception of Helgi as King of Denmark appears clearly. In st. 8 we learn the names of the places which Sigmund gave his newborn son Helgi: Hringstaði / Sólfjöll Snæfjöll / ok Sigarsvöllu, / Hringstöð, Hátún / ok Himinvanga. The first of these recurs in the last strophe of the poem. After Helgi has killed his rival, Högni's daughter Sigrún, his victory-genius, says to him: 'Hail thou king! thou shalt unopposed possess both Högni's daughter and Ringsted (Hringstaða), victory and land.' Here Hringstaðir is represented as the royal seat. Without doubt, the strophe which enumerates the places which Sigmund gave his son, contains many names merely poetic or borrowed from stories of adventure; but Hringstaðir is evidently of more significance than the rest, not only because it is named first, but also because, as we have seen, it is mentioned again at the end of the poem as Helgi's royal abode. In my opinion, the poet used the name Hringstaðir to designate Helgi as a Danish king, adding 'Sunfells,' 'Snowfells,' and 'Plains of Heaven' as mere poetic decoration.
Hringstaðir is well known to be Ringsted in Zealand. This place is called Hringstaðir in old Icelandic sagas and verses. It is called by Saxo Ringstadium, abl. Ringstadiis, in Valdemar's rent-roll Ringstath. A district (herred) was also called after the name of this town. The Zealand national assembly (landsþing), which is first mentioned in 1131, was held there. In the eleventh century it was one of the largest towns in Zealand, and it is named in stories of semi-historical times. Arngrim Jónsson, following the Skjöldungasaga, relates that King Frotho, father of Ingialldus, had his abode now in Leire, now in Ringsted. (9) According to Fagrskinna, Svein Forkbeard held in Ringsted a funeral feast in memory of his father Harald. (10) The Hringstöð in our poem may possibly designate a harbour belonging to Ringsted, which was itself an inland town.
Sigarsvellir is mentioned shortly after Hringstaðir, and is therefore probably connected with the name of the inland town Sigersted, near Ringsted. This place is referred to by Saxo (ed. Müller, p. 346), who says that the scene of what he tells about Hagbarthus was Sigari oppidum. (11)
In one of the verses [6] in the Second Lay, Helgi appears to be regarded as a Danish king; for when, on a voyage, he represents himself as the son of a peasant (his foster-father), he says: 'Our home is in Læssø.'
In II, 27, also, we seem to have a Danish placename preserved. In the account of Helgi's fight with Höthbrodd and Högni, Hrollaug's sons, along with Starkath, are represented as falling at Hlébjörgum. Hlébjörg agrees as to its form with Læburgh, now Læborg, in Ribe Stift in Jutland, south-west of Jællinge. (12) We may note also that Högni (Höginus), Hild's father, is, in Saxo, a petty king in Jutland.
In this connection I may mention that Helgi in I, 55, is called áttstafr Yngva, 'descendant of Yngvi.' This also goes to show that he was regarded as a Danish king; for in Béowulf the Danish king is called eodor Ingwina, 'protector of the Ingwins (descendants of Yngvi),' fréa Ingwina, 'lord of the Ingwins' and in the AS Runic Poem we read: 'Ing was first seen by men among the East-Danes.'
After Helgi has come with his fleet to the land of his enemies, one of the latter inquires:
Hverr er skjöldungr
sá er skipum stýrir ? (II, 19).
'What Shielding is it who guides the ships?' Here skjöldungr is used in a sense approaching that which it got in later times, viz. 'king' in general; but, nevertheless, it seems to point to the fact that the hero was really a Shielding from the beginning, and therefore a Danish king. The same may be said of the words in II, 29: vinnat skjöldungar sköpum, 'Shieldings cannot resist the decrees of fate,' and of those in II, 512, where Helgi's wife after his death is called dís skjöldunga, 'woman of the Shieldings.'
Helgi appears also to be designated as a Danish king when he and his men are called siklingar in I, 26; I, 46 = II, 24. Helgi himself is called siklingr in II, 14, and from him the word is carried over to Helgi, son of Hjörvarth, in H. Hj., 29. The old Icelanders regarded it as a race name, (13) and this view seems to me certainly correct, because of its use in the Helgi-poems in analogy with Ylfingar, Völsungar, Döglingar, etc. (14) In Snorri and in Flateyjarbók, it is said that Siklingar is the name of the race to which Siggeirr, who was married to Völsung's daughter Signy, and Sigar, who had Hagbarth hanged, belonged; and in Flateyjarbók Siggeir's father is called Sigar. This too is, in my opinion, correct, for Siklingar (which may earlier have been pronounced with the main accent on the second syllable) appears to have had its origin in *SiggeiRlingaR. (15) But the saga king Sigar is connected with Denmark. (16) In Guðr., II, 16 Guthrún tells that she once was in Denmark (i.e. either in Zealand or Skaane), where a woman wrought figures in a piece of tapestry, representing the fights of Sigar and Siggeir in the south in Funen. (17) The Siklings, who were originally a royal race different from the Shieldings, are connected with Zealand in many ways. (18) Except in Saxo, they are not, however, mentioned in the old Danish royal genealogies among the kings of Denmark. The ancestor of the race was, according to Saxo, Yngun or Yngvin (Unguinus). (19)
It was not until later that siklingr came to be used in poetic language to signify a king in general, and this meaning was probably largely due to the use of the word in the Helgi lays.
The chief event described in the First Lay is the war between Helgi and Höthbrodd. In order to follow the history of the story, it is important to determine if possible what names mentioned as the scenes of this warfare are the names of actual places. We have already seen that in the poem, as in Saxo, Helgi is designated as a king of Denmark; and in the closing strophe we learn that not until Höthbrodd had fallen could Helgi occupy unopposed Ringsted, the royal seat which his father had given him at his birth. We see, therefore, that in the war with Höthbrodd, Helgi was defending the kingdom of Denmark. The sea over which Helgi sails against his enemy, must then have been thought of by the poet as Danish, and the decisive battle which took place in Höthbrodd's land must have been in one of the lands which border on Denmark. (20)
Several placenames in the Helgi lays show that the sea which the hero traversed was the Baltic.
When Helgi's fleet assembles, men come to him in hundreds from Heðinsey (I, 22). This island is mentioned frequently in documents relating to early times in Scandinavia, and it certainly must be the island of Hiddensee, just west of Rügen, from which it was not completely separated until 1308. Heðinsey as a name of Hiddensee occurs frequently in the Knytlinga Saga in the story of the wars waged by Valdemar the First and Absalon against the Wends. (21) Saxo too, in his account of this war, names often Hythini insula. (22) Hiddensee was, says N. M. Petersen, (23) the place to which the Danish fleet generally went first; for in the sound between the island and Rügen it had a sort of refuge and reconnoitring station. It was particularly suitable for this purpose, because it had a harbour on the eastern side.
In his account of Frotho III., Saxo makes Högni (Höginus) and Hethin (Hithinus) fight with each other in Hethin's isle (apud insulam Hithinsø). (24) We may feel confident that it is Hiddensee, near Rügen, which is meant; for Saxo has already said that Hethin was collecting taxes among the Wends (Hithinum, regia apud Sclavos stipendia colligentem). It seems to have been in Denmark that the localisation of this battle in Hiddensee was decided upon. (25)
1. P. E. Müller has already said (Sagabibliothek, II, 56) that the majority of names in the Helgi lays appear to be allegorical. Vigfusson also noted that the geography of the Helgi poet was, on the whole, merely fantastic (C. P. B., I, LX). Back
2. Cf. my notes in Paul-Braune, Beit., XII, II. Back
3. H. H., I, 44; I, 53; II, 21; II, 26; H. Hj., 39---cf. above, p. 86. Back
4. Béow., 3031. Much puts it otherwise in Ztsch. f. d. Alt., XXXIII, I. Back
5. Uhland, Schriften, VIII, 139, and Much, Ztsch. f. d. Alt., XXXIII, I, suppose that Lagofjöll contains the name of the East Germanic Lugier. Back
6. Müllenhoff (Deut. Alt., V, I, p. 329) divides it thus: Styrk-leifum. Back
7. See Müllenhoff, Ztsch. f. d. Alt., XXIII, 169. I dare not hold Sefafjöll for a formation from *Sefnaf and connect it with Semnones. Back
8. The mountain goes through Säfvedals Herred, formerly Sœvœdal, which has its name from Säfve-ån. An island in the Gøta River is called Säfveholm. These names are probably to be connected with sef, rush. Others have suggested Pliny's mons saevo to explain Sefafjöll. Back
9. See A. Olrik in Aarbøger f. n. O., 1894, p. 86, 110 f. Back
10. See especially Henry Petersen, Om Nordboernes Gudedyrkelse og Gudetroe, pp. 10 f, where he suggests that Ringsted was a religious and secular centre of Zealand in heathen times. Back
11. Older Danish forms of the name may be found in Annaler for nord. Oldk., 1863, p. 267. Back
12. Cf. Danish Wibiærgh, which later became Wiborgh. Both Fabyergh and Faburgh are written; and these two parts of a name shift in other Danish placenames (O. Nielsen in Blandinger, I, 229 f). Back
13. See Snorri's Edda, I, 522; Flateyjarbók, I, 25. Back
14. For the reasons above given I cannot accept Noreen's explanation of siklingr in Uppsalastudier, p. 196. He explains the word as a derivative of a *sikell, -oll, which would correspond to AS sicol, OHG sihhila, and which probably is to be seen in Icel. sikolgjörð. But the AS and OHG words mean always 'sickle' (never 'sword'), and siklingr could not be drawn from a corresponding ON word because of its meaning. Moreover, sikul-gjörð is more correctly written svikulgjörð, Sn. Ed., I, 496; II, 599, and at any rate cannot be shown to have had anything to do with AS sicol. Further, AS sicol and OHG sihhila may be loanwords from Latin. Back
15. This explanation is supported by homogeneous forms. Egil Skallagrímsson calls Arinbjörn (in Arinbjarnarkviða, 19): vinr Véþorms Veklinga tös. Here Véþorms must mean son of Végeirr in Sogn (Landnámabók, II, 29; Íslendigasögur, I, 149). The word Veklingar, hitherto unexplained, had thus its origin in *VégeiRlingaR. Otleff (Dipl. Norw., I, No. 1049---Year 1516); Autleiff (I, No. 1050---Year 1516) is, according to the Register to Dipl. = Oddleifr. Eklauus (Hermanni) (Script. r. Dan., VIII, 241 f---Year 1328) seems to come from Eggláfr (or, is Eklauus borrowed from English?). In Heimskringla, Hák. s. g., chap. 13 (F. J.) we read: en áðr var jólahald hafit hökunótt, þat var miðsvetrar-nótt. Cod. Fris. has hóggonótt. Hokunótt comes from höggunótt, 'the night when one slays (animals for sacrifices).' The word presupposes a subst. höggva, formed as taka, trúa, Gothic brinno, etc. Hopelstadhum, Red Book, p. 90 = Habolstadhum, pp. 87, 92, Hobilstadae, p. 209, now Hobbelstad, Gaard-Nr. 100 and 101 in Övre Eker; Hobølstadom, Red Book, p. 38, now Hoppestad in Gjerpen Gaard-Nr. 12. The passing over of gg into k after a vowel with secondary accent before the chief accent is to be seen in the following word used as a Norwegian placename: ON hégeitill, pronounced Hikjelen or Hikkjelen, with chief accent on the second syllable. Back
16. Cf. Sv. Grundtvig, Danm. gl. Folkev., I, 259. Back
17. Fjóni, as the Völs. saga has it, appears to be the right reading. Back
18. Olrik, Sakses Oldhist., II, 230-249. Back
19. Olrik, Sakses Oldhist., I, 100; cf. I, 108. Back
20. Varinsfjörðr, from which Helgi sails with his fleet against Höthbrodd's land, cannot therefore, as Vigfusson thought (The Place of the Helgi Lays, in Grimm Centenary, Oxford, 1886, pp. 29 ff), be the sea about the islands in the British Channel, Guernsey, and the others. Back
21. Fornmannasögur, XI, 374, 378, 382 f. Back
22. Müller's edition, pp. 746, 751, 929, 970. Back
23. Ann. f. n. Oldk., 1836-37, p. 220. Back
24. Saxo, Bk. V, p. 242. Back
25. A. Olrik, Sakses Oldhist., II, 192. Back
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