Guðrúnarkviða in þriðja

Guðrúnarkviða in þriðja (Gðr. III) ‘The Third Lay of Guðrún’ is a short poem in fornyrðislag with a brief prose introduction (R fol. 38r–v). Although it is probably one of the youngest poems in R, it serves as one of the clearest reminders of how different medieval thinking and practices could be from those of the modern world, in ways both horrifying and fascinating. For it concerns the public trial, and exoneration, by means of ordeal by boiling water, of a woman accused of adultery.

Ordeal by boiling water, first mentioned in the Frankish Lex Salica ‘Salic Law’ (c. 507–11), was a reality in Europe for hundreds of years and reached Norway during the time of Olaf II Haraldsson (995–1030). Essentially, a Catholic priest required the accused to immerse his or her hand(s) or arm(s) in a cauldron of seething water, so as to retrieve an object, often a stone or ring, from the vessel’s bottom. If the accused succeeded, and the flesh was found to be healing cleanly after having been bandaged for three days, he or she was deemed innocent, and vice versa. In the legendary world of Gðr. III and some medieval saints’ lives, the immersed flesh of the innocent emerges miraculously unscathed, requiring no bandage or delayed inspection. In the Christian Middle Ages, the guiltless undergoing this ordeal were supposedly protected by God’s judicial and healing power, but the poet of Gðr. III understandably says nothing about what force preserved the heathen Guðrún.

Gðr. III’s other key point of interest is its mention of Guðrún’s covert, but non-sexual, relationship with Þjóðrekr. This further contextualizes Gðr. II, which, according to Dr., was among the words Guðrún spoke to Þjóðrekr. It also emphasizes her otherwise complete emotional isolation at Atli’s court, now that her brothers are dead. Additionally, Þjóðrekr’s role in this poem merits attention because his counterpart in German tradition is enlisted by its counterpart of Guðrún to kill her brothers in vengeance for her husband. If such a tradition lies immediately behind the fifth stanza of Gðr. III—the interpretation of which is unfortunately in considerable doubt—there may be tension between Guðrún’s intimacy with Þjóðrekr and her longing for her dead brothers. If it does not, and Þjóðrekr plays no part in the killing of Gunnarr and Hǫgni in Gðr. III, the poem attests to the potential for narrative innovation in Old Norse storytelling.

If Guðrún emerges well from Gðr. III, as a grieving, passionate and forthright woman who is innocent of adultery, Atli does not. Although he is brave enough to risk potential humiliation in public as a cuckold, he shows a lack of wisdom in giving credence to the unsubstantiated claim of a former lover (probably spurned and now jealous), and he fails to respect his queen enough even to consider her offer of swearing her innocence on a holy stone. Instead, he immediately proceeds with trial by ordeal. And when his wife is proved innocent, he makes no statement in support of her—she declares her own exculpation before the assembled masses—and issues no apology, public or private. Instead, with nasty, internalized glee, he immediately orders a (strictly unnecessary) second ordeal for Guðrún’s accuser, his former lover, whom he drowns in a swamp when she is found guilty. Here is a portrayal of an unwise, violent, promiscuous and disrespectful king.

Gðr. III appears to have had no influence on other Old Norse texts. It is neither quoted nor paraphrased in VS, which says nothing about Guðrún’s ordeal.

Synopsis

Further Reading

Guðrúnarkviða in þriðja

1. ‘Hvat er þér, Atli?   Æ, Buðla sonr,

er þér hryggt í hug —   hví hlær þú æva?

Hitt myndi œðra   jǫrlum þikkja

at við menn mæltir   ok mik sæir!’

2. ‘Tregr mik þat, Guðrún,   Gjúka dóttir:

mér í hǫllu   Herkja sagði

at þit Þjóðrekr   undir þaki svæfið

ok léttliga   líni verðizk!’

3. ‘Þér mun ek alls þess   eiða vinna,

at inum hvíta   helga steini,

at ek við Þjóðmars son   þatki áttak,

er vorð né verr   vinna knátti!

4. ‘Nema ek hálsaða   herja stilli,

jǫfur óneisinn,   einu sinni;

aðrar váru   okkrar spekjur,

er vit hǫrmug tvau   hnígum at rúnum.

5. ‘Hér kom Þjóðrekr   með þrjá tøgu —

lifa þeir né einir,   þriggja tega manna!

Hrinktu mik at brœðrum   ok at brynjuðum,

hrinktu mik at ǫllum   haufuðniðjum!’

6. ‘Sentu at Saxa,   sunnmanna gram!

Hann kann helga   hver vellanda!’

7. Sjau hundruð manna   í sal gengu,

áðr kvæn konungs   í ketil tœki.

8. ‘Kemra nú Gunnarr,   kalliga ek Hǫgna,

sékka ek síðan   svása brœðr!

Sverði myndi Hǫgni   slíks harms reka,

nú verð ek sjálf fyr mik   synja lýta!’

9. Brá hon til botns   bjǫrtum lófa,

ok hon upp um tók   jarknasteina:

‘Sé nú seggir —   sykn em ek orðin,

heilagliga —   hvé sjá hverr velli!’

10. Hló þá Atla   hugr í brjósti,

er hann heilar sá   hendr Guðrúnar:

‘Nú skal Herkja   til hvers ganga,

sú er Guðrúnu   grandi vænti!’

11. Sáat maðr armlígt,   hverr er þat sáat,

hvé þar á Herkju   hendr sviðnuðu!

Leiddu þá mey   í mýri fúla.

Svá þá Guðrún   sinna harma!

Capitulum¹

Herkja2 was the name of a handmaiden of Atli. She had been his lover. She told Atli that she had seen Þjóðrekr and Guðrún together. Atli was then very unhappy. Then Guðrún said:

The Third Lay of Guðrún

Lay of Guðrún

1.³ ‘What’s the matter, Atli?4 Always, Buðli’s son,

you’re distressed in mind5 — why do you never laugh?

It would seem better to earls

that you spoke with men and looked at me!’

2. ‘This grieves me, Guðrún, daughter of Gjúki:

in the hall Herkja said to me

that you and Þjóðrekr slept under [the same] thatch6

and lightly wrapped yourselves in bed-linen!’

3. ‘I’ll swear you oaths about all this,

at the white, holy stone,⁷

that I did not have [that] with Þjóðmarr’s son8

which a woman and a man could have had!⁹

4. ‘Except I did embrace the prince of armies,

the blameless boar,¹⁰ on one occasion;

our understandings¹¹ were otherwise,¹²

when, sorrowful, we two inclined to each other in private conversations.¹³

5. ‘Þjóðrekr came here with thirty —

not one of them [still] lives, out of thirty men!14

Surround(?)¹⁵ me with(?) my brothers and mail-coated [men],

surround(?) me with(?) all my closest kin!’¹⁶

6.¹⁷ ‘Send for Saxi,18 prince of southern men!

He knows how to consecrate the boiling cauldron!’¹⁹

7. Seven hundred people walked into the hall,

before the king’s wife²⁰ reached into the cauldron.

8. ‘Gunnarr doesn’t come now, I don’t call for Hǫgni,

Hǫgni would avenge such affliction with a sword,

[but] now I must deny the misdemeanour myself!’21

9. She reached to the bottom with bright palms,

and she picked up the noble stones:

‘Now men may see — I am proven innocent,

in a holy manner — how this cauldron boils!’

10. Atli’s heart then laughed in his breast,

when he saw Guðrún’s hands unharmed:

‘Now Herkja shall go to the cauldron,

she who expected injury to Guðrún!’

11. No one [ever] saw a wretched sight who didn’t see that,

how Herkja’s hands were scalded there!22

They led that maid into a foul mire.²³

Thus Guðrún received [vindication] for her harms!

Textual Apparatus to Guðrúnarkviða in þriðja