Þeir steypðu fimm konungum í eina keldu á Mulaþingi . . .

Remarques sur la chute du discours de Þorgnýr lǫgmaðr à l’assemblée d’Upsal (Óláfs saga ins helga, chapitre LXXX)

Útdráttur

This article concerns the end of the famous speech which, according to the account of Snorri Sturluson in chapter LXXX of Óláfs saga ins helga in Heimskringla, the magistrate of Tíundaland, Þorgnýr Þorgnýsson, delivered at an assembly of Swedes at Uppsala early in the year 1018. The phrase Þeir steypðu fimm konungum í eina keldu á Múlaþingi [...] is analyzed in detail from a lexical, philological, and narrative perspective. The mention of the number of kings of Sweden who were killed in the distant past is explained in the light of the context of the chapter, which is at the center of the narrative concerning the relations between the kingdoms of Norway and Sweden at the beginning of the 11th century. Readers are reminded that the reading á Múlaþingi must be considered an error on the part of the Icelandic author – or of his scribe – for a form like *á Moraþingi. The meaning of the word kelda is then discussed, and it is shown that here it must designate ‘a swampy or marshy area’, a meaning found in numerous examples from Icelandic works contemporary to Snorri Sturluson’s Óláfs saga ins helga. The conclusions are put into the context of the political institutions of Sweden, death penalties of the ancient Germanic peoples, and Swedish traditions that Snorri might have been able to collect during his visit to Västergötland in the summer of 1219.