FORNǪLD · Track 4

Konungamóðir

Old Icelandic

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Ek er Gunnhildr konungamóðir Ek gaf honum sigur Ek lærði seiðinn í Finnmörk tveir finnar kenndu mér Eiríkr drap þá báða til að fá mig Þannig hófst við hann af öllum mönnum skildi að ást og sársauki eru það sama Þeir segjast að ek hafi haft hann í galdri þeir skilja ekki maðr sem Eiríkr þarf engan galdur Ek gaf honum þrónina hann gaf mér nafn Gunnhildr konungamóðir móðir konunga Bræðurnir féllu Norðmenn flúðu Jórvík féll tvisvar ek skrif Eiríksmál Ek gaf honum þrónina hann gaf mér nafn Gunnhildr konungamóðir móðir konunga Bræðurnir féllu Norðmenn flúðu Jórvík féll tvisvar ek skrif Eiríksmál Halfdan Svarti dó dularfull þeir grunaðu mig Galdurinn er kyrrlátur lítur aldrei eins og morð Eiríkr hlýddi mér alltaf nema einu sinni Við Stainmoor þar sem hann hlýddi ekki Þeir segjast að ek hafi haft hann í galdri þeir skilja ekki maðr sem Eiríkr þarf engan galdur Ek gaf honum þrónina hann gaf mér nafn Gunnhildr konungamóðir móðir konunga Bræðurnir féllu Norðmenn flúðu Jórvík féll tvisvar ek skrif Eiríksmál Ek gaf honum þrónina hann gaf mér nafn Gunnhildr konungamóðir móðir konunga Bræðurnir féllu Norðmenn flúðu Jórvík féll tvisvar ek skrif Eiríksmál Eiríkr Ek skrifaði kvæðið fyrir þig Eiríksmál Þeir muna þig vegna mín Konungamóðir Konungamóðir

I am Gunnhildr mother of kings I gave him victory I learned seiðr in Finnmörk two Sami men taught me Eiríkr killed them both to have me That is how we began he of all men understood that love and pain are the same They say I held him in sorcery they do not understand a man like Eiríkr needs no spell I gave him the throne he gave me the name Gunnhildr mother of kings mother of kings The brothers fell the Norse fled Jorvik fell twice I wrote the Eiríksmál I gave him the throne he gave me the name Gunnhildr mother of kings mother of kings The brothers fell the Norse fled Jorvik fell twice I wrote the Eiríksmál Halfdan the Black died mysteriously they suspected me Magic is quiet it never looks like murder Eiríkr always listened to me except once At Stainmore where he did not listen They say I held him in sorcery they do not understand a man like Eiríkr needs no spell I gave him the throne he gave me the name Gunnhildr mother of kings mother of kings The brothers fell the Norse fled Jorvik fell twice I wrote the Eiríksmál I gave him the throne he gave me the name Gunnhildr mother of kings mother of kings The brothers fell the Norse fled Jorvik fell twice I wrote the Eiríksmál Eiríkr I wrote the poem for you Eiríksmál They will remember you because of me Mother of kings Mother of kings

Story Behind The Song

Gunnhildr konungamóðir was the wife of Eiríkr Bloodaxe, king of Norway and later of Northumbria, and after his death she steered the political careers of her sons for decades. She is one of the most prominent women in the sagas, though nearly everything written about her comes from sources that feared her reputation. The sagas say she traveled to Finnmörk as a young woman to learn seiðr from two Sami practitioners. Eiríkr, son of Harald Fairhair, was sent to find her. He killed her teachers and took her with him. They married, and Eiríkr, with her at his side, eliminated most of his brothers to secure the Norwegian throne. Several of those deaths were laid at Gunnhildr's door. Halfdan Svarti, one of Eiríkr's brothers, died under circumstances the sources call mysterious, and she was suspected. When Eiríkr was driven out of Norway, he seized York in Northumbria. He lost it and recovered it, then lost it again. In 954 he was killed at Stainmore, ambushed while retreating north. Gunnhildr had advised against the campaign that led him there, and the song marks this as the single moment he did not listen. She commissioned the Eiríksmál, a poem written immediately after his death that portrays Eiríkr arriving in Valhöll to the welcome of Odin himself. The poem survived because she made sure it would. The last lines of the song are hers: he is remembered because of her, not the other way around.

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