Baldrs Draumar eða Vegtamskvida

Baldur´s Dreams or Vegtam's Song:

Another Lost Song of the Poetic Edda?

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The Eddic poem Baldrs Draumr is only preserved in the manuscript known as AM 748 I 4to. It contains 14 verses. Later paper manuscripts of the same poem, however, titled Vegtamskvida, contain several extra lines and verses not found in the single surviving vellum manuscript copy of the poem. Today, because they are not found in the oldest copy of the poem, these extra lines are no longer found in scholarly editions and translations. The Norwegian scholar Sophus Bugge, however, faithfully cataloged them in his 19th century critical edition of the Eddic poems. These lines subsequently appeared in the English translation of Benjamin Thorpe's Poetic Edda (1865).
Below, I will present two versions of the poem side by side: the first is a translation of Baldrs draumar, showing what the text looks like without these lines. This abridged version closely mirrors modern translations of the work known today as “Baldur’s Dreams.” The second is a translation of the full poem Vegtamskvida,  including the extra lines  and verses, (based on that of Benjamin Thorpe with some modifications). This version follows the text of the paper manuscripts.
Are these additional lines and verses authentic? You must judge that for yourself. Personally, I see no reason not to accept the additional lines as authentic, since they appear to contain valid mythic information consistent with what we know of the ancient Germanic religion. As you read them, be aware that an undetermined number of Icelandic manuscripts and copies of manuscripts collected by the Icelandic scholar and historian Arni Magnusson were destroyed in a fire in the city Copenhagen in the year 1728. An original vellum manuscript of the longer poem titled Vegtamskvida may have been among them. There is no way to tell, as Magnusson never catalogued his massive collection.  It’s possible that the longer version of the poem may have been copied from a more complete vellum manuscript of the poem, now lost.  It seems unlikely to me that so many lines could be added, and still resonate so well with known mythic events, centuries after the conversion of the Norse peoples. That modern scholars ignore these lines, in my opinion, is a great loss to our literature.
  
  Finnur Jonson’s Manuscript no. 748, 4to, pp. 1-6:
in the Arni Magnusson Collection, 1896. 		 
 
In addition to the Codex Regius manuscript (no. 2365 4to), there is another main collection of the Elder Edda. When Arni Magnusson collected this Icelandic manuscript in the 17th century, there were 6 leaves of it left. They were originally part of a manuscript which consisted of a younger adaptation of Snorri's Edda together with Olaf's White-Scales' Grammatical dissertation, etc.  The whole thing is now found in Arni Magnusson's collection no. 748, 4to; that they probably belong together as one manuscript must be concluded that they have the same apparatus and format and are written by one and the same person.  

In the year 1691, the manuscript was presented as a gift to Arni Magnusson, and probably came into his possession shortly afterwards. He got it from Bœr in Floe; for this reason, he assumed (see the note in Catalog II, 174) that it had previously been in Bishop Brynjölfr Sveinsson's possession. It is certainly a correct conclusion. Where Bishop Brynjölfr got it, on the other hand, is less certain. Of the various names of people beginning with "Mr. Sigurdur", and some names of farms that are found in the margin, among others on page 15r, one has concluded (Snorra Edda III, p. LX1X) that the manuscript came from the area around Borgarfjorden; The aforementioned "Mr. Sigurd" is probably Sigurd Jónsson at Einarsnes (died. 1677). It is not possible to trace it back further in time; To assume that the manuscript was created in the Borgarfjord, is too bold…. The age of the manuscript is unanimously set to 1300 AD; It would be more satisfying to put it on the first quarter of the 14th century. The entire nature of the manuscript, its spelling mainly, leaves no doubt about this. Compare Bugge in his Foreword p. XX-XXI. Nor can it be doubted that the mss was written by an Icelander, due to the tendency of the scribe frequently to write æ - (an apparent Norwegian tendency) for the usual e.    

In AM 435 a 4to pp. 93v-95r , Arne Magnusson announces AM 748 II 4to  and MS 748 I, 4to, the eddic fragment in which the poem Baldrs draumar appears.   ….On the outside of this vellum (pergament) leaf is written: "Arna Magnusson, on behalf of Copenhagen, 1691."  

In a number of paper mss. from the 17th century onward, the medieval poem, Baldrs draumar, is expanded with textual additions. Four stanzas are inserted between the first two stanzas, and lines are added to stanzas 3, 4, and 12. The paper manuscripts use the title Vegtamskvida.
 
  The Long and Short of It   
 
The expanded poem first occurs in AM 738 4to, the so-called Edda Oblongata, pp. 69r-70r, dated 1680, 11 years before the first reference to the AM 748 4to mss. containing Baldrs draumar. Besides the additional verses and lines, minor variants are found throughout the text, for example bölvisar describing Baldur’s dreams in verse 1, line 8, instead of ballir; and Yggr in place of Oðinn in verse 4, line 1.  This lends weight to the conclusion that this is an alternate text of the poem. Rather than simply adding extra lines and verses to an existing poem, the scribe appears to have been working from a different manuscript of it, or perhaps remembering the recitation of the poem differently. Such variants are a common feature of all old texts preserved in parallel manuscripts. Such variations ought to be expected within an oral culture. They may result from variant originals, scribal error, damaged passages emended, etc.   Modern editors and translators assimilate what they feel is the “best” reading and rarely make the reader aware that other choices exist. Yet, from the standpoint of scholarship, these variants can be useful to understanding the poem as a whole.
  
 
Below are the two versions of the poem, presented side-by-side, for comparison:
  
  Baldrs Draumar
or Baldur's Dreams
(with additional lines and verses
 of Vegtamkvida in Old Norse)		 Vegtamskviða
or The Song of Vegtam
(after Benjamin Thorpe, 1865)		  

1. Together were the Æsir
all in council,
and the Asyniur
all in conference,
and they consulted,
the mighty gods,
why Baldr had
baleful dreams, (ballir draumar)

1. Together were the Æsir
all in council,
and the Asyniur
all in conference,
and they consulted,
the mighty gods,
why Baldr had
oppressive dreams, (bölvisar draumar)

Mjök var hapti
höfugr blundr
heillir í svefni
horfnar sýndust;
spurðu jólnar†
spar framvísar,
ef þat myndi
angrs vita.

2. To that god his slumber
was most afflicting;
his auspicious dreams
seemed departed.
They the gods† questioned,
wise seers of the future,
whether this might not
forebode calamity?
† Bugge writes: For the word jólnar, “gods”,  most of the late manuscripts have jötnar, “Jötuns”. Only in a very late manuscript, Codex 1873 4to, have I found iolnar.  I write jólnar not jölnar, although A (SnE II, 448) writes jölnar, but this mss often has  ö for ó.

Fréttir sögðu,
at feigr væri
Ullar sefi
einna þekkastr;
fékk þat angrs
Frigg ok Sváfni,
rögnum öðrum:
ráð sér festu.

3. The responses said
that to death destined was
Ullr's kinsman,
of all the dearest:
that caused grief
to Frigg and Svafnir,
and to the other powers -
On a course they resolved:

 Út skyldi senda
allar vættir
griða at beiða,
granda ei Baldri;
vann alls konar
eið at vægja,
Frigg tók allar
Festar ok soeri.  

 4. that they would send
to every being ,
assurance to solicit,
Baldr not to harm.
All species swore
oaths to spare him;
Frigg received all
their vows and compacts.

 Valföðr uggir,
van sé tekit,
hamingjur ætlar
horfnar mundu;
æsi kallar,
afráðs krefr;
málstefnu at
mart of roeðist.

5. Valfather fears
something defective;
he thinks the Hamingiur
may have departed;
the Æsir he convenes,
their counsel craves;
at the deliberation
much is devised.

2. Uprose Odin
lord of men,
and on Sleipnir he
the saddle laid;
rode thence down
to Niflhel.
A dog he met,
from Hel coming.

 6. Uprose Odin
lord of men,
and on Sleipnir he
the saddle laid;
rode thence down
to Niflhel.
A dog he met,
from Hel coming.
Sophus Bugge (1856)  observes: "Instead of verses 3 & 4, the paper manuscripts have 3 eight-line verses:
Sá var blöðugr –lengi—Framm reið –völu leiði – Nam hann –orð um kvað.—"

3. It was blood-stained
on its breast,
Kjapt vígfrekanok
kjálka neðan;
gó hann á móti ok
gein stórum
and at the father of galdur (ok galdurs föður)
it howled long, (golv længi).

 7. It was blood-stained
on its breast,
on its slaughter-craving throat,
and nether jaw.
It bayed
and widely gaped
at the father of galdur (galdurs föður)
it howled at length, (gol um længi).

Forth rode Odin -
the ground rattled -
he came to (hann kom at hávu)
Hel's high hall.

 4. Then rode Odin (þá reið Óðinn)
to the eastern gate,
where he knew there was
a Völva's grave.

 8. Forth rode Odin -
the ground rattled -
until he came (unz kom at hávu)
to Hel's high hall.

Then rode Ygg (þá reið Yggr)
to the eastern gate,
where he knew there was
a Völva's grave.

Over the wise witch, he began
to chant val-galdr (galdur for the slain),
leit í norðr,
lagði á stafi,
froeði tók þylja,
frétta beiddi,
until compelled she rose,
and with deathlike voice she said:

 9.  Over the wise witch, he began
to chant val-galdr (galdur for the slain),
towards the north looked,
potent runes applied,
a spell pronounced,
an answer demanded,
until compelled she rose,
and with deathlike voice she said:

Völva
5. "What man is this,
to me unknown
who has for me increased
an irksome course?
I have with snow been decked
by rain beaten,
and with dew moistened:
long have I been dead."

 Völva
10. "What man is this,
to me unknown
who has for me increased
an irksome course?
I have with snow been decked
by rain beaten,
and with dew moistened:
long have I been dead."

Vegtam
6. "Vegtam is my name,
the son I am of Valtam (sonr æm æk Valtams).
Tell me of Hel:
from earth I call on you.
For whom are those benches
strewed o'er with rings,
those costly couches
o'erlaid with gold (floþ gvlli)?"

 Vegtam
11. "Vegtam is my name,
Valtam's son I am (Valtams em ek son).
Tell me of Hel:
from earth I call on you.
For whom are those benches
strewed o'er with rings,
those costly couches
o'erlaid with gold (flóð í gulli)?"

Völva
7. "Here stands mead,
for Baldr brewed,
over the bright potion
a shield is laid;
but the 'sons of the Æsir' (ásmegir)
are in anticipation.
By compulsion I have spoken
I will now be silent."

 Völva
12. "Here stands mead,
for Baldr brewed,
over the bright potion
a shield is laid;
but the 'sons of the Æsir'
are in anticipation.
By compulsion I have spoken
I will now be silent."

Vegtam
8. "Don't be silent, Völva!
I will question you,
until all is known (unz alkunna, also 10, 12) .
I will yet know
who will Baldr's
bane be,
and Odin's son
of life bereave."

 Vegtam
13. "Don't be silent, Völva!
I will question you,
until I know all (unz allt kunnak, also 10, 12).
I will yet know
who will Baldr's
bane be,
and Odin's son
of life bereave."

Völva
9. "Hödr will bear high
the glorious tree to the place,
he will the bane
of Baldur be,
and Odin's son
of life bereave.
By compulsion I have spoken;
I will now be silent."

 Völva
14. "Hödr will bear high
the glorious tree to the place,
he will the bane
of Baldur be,
and Odin's son
of life bereave.
By compulsion I have spoken;
I will now be silent."

Vegtam
10. "Don't be silent, Völva!
I will question you,
until all is known.
I will yet know
who on Hödr vengeance
will inflict
or Baldr's slayer
raise on the pile."

 Vegtam
15. "Don't be silent, Völva!
I will question you,
until I know all.
I will yet know
who on Hödr vengeance
will inflict
or Baldr's slayer
raise on the pile."

Völva
11. "Rind shall  bear [Vali], (Rindr berr [Vala]),
in the western halls:
he shall slay Odin's son,
when one night old.
He  will not wash a hand, (hönd um þvær)
nor his head comb,
ere he to the pile has borne
Baldr's adversary.
By compulsion I have spoken;
I will now be silent."

 Völva
16. "Rind  shall bear a son (Rindr berr son),
in the western halls:
he shall slay Odin's son,
when one night old.
He  will not wash a hand (hönd um þværa),
nor his head comb,
ere he to the pile has borne
Baldr's adversary.
By compulsion I have spoken;
I will now be silent."

Vegtam
12. "Don't be silent, Völva!
I will question you,
until all is known.
I will yet know
who the maidens are,
that weep at will,
and heavenward cast
their neck-veils?
seg þú þat eina!
sefrattu fyrri.

Vegtam
17. "Don't be silent, Völva!
I will question you,
until I know all.
I will yet know
who the maidens are,
that weep at will,
and heavenward cast
their neck-veils?
Tell me but that:
sleep not 'til then."

Völva
13. "You are not Vegtam,
as I before believed (sem ek hugða);
rather you are Odin,
lord of men (aldinn gautr)!"

 Völva
18. "You are not Vegtam,
as I before believed  (sem ok áðr hugðak);
rather you are Odin,
lord of men (allda gautr)!"
Odin
 "You are no Völva,
nor wise woman,
rather you are the mother
of three Thursar."
 Odin

19. "You are no Völva,
nor wise woman,
rather you are the mother
of three Thursar."

Völva
20. "Home ride, Odin!
and exult.
Thus no more men (Svá komit manna)
shall come to visit me,
until Loki loose
from his bonds escapes,
and Ragnarök
all-destroying comes."

 Völva
20. "Home ride, Odin!
and exult.
Thus no more men (Svá komir manna)
shall come to visit me,
until Loki loose
from his bonds escapes,
and Ragnarök
all-destroying comes."
   
As you can see, these additional verses do not change the meaning of the poem in any significant fashion. Rather they add additional information— information consistent with what we already know of the ancient Germanic religion. It seems very unlikely to me that a later scribe, who could have only been Christian considering the time and place, would have simply added to the poem randomly, and if he had, it seems even more unlikely that he would have been able to do so as accurately as he appears to have. The lines and verses thus appear to be an original part of the poem, making this an alternate version of the text in much the same way that Codex Regius and Hauksbók preserve two different versions of Völuspá. Because there is no vellum (skin) manuscript to ‘authenticate’ them, the scholars have chosen to ignore them.


Sophus Bugge, Norræn Fornkvæði, 1867,  p. 135
 Sophus Bugge’s critical edition of the poem can be found  HERE.

Baldrs Draumar eða Vegtamskvida

This poem is only preserved in A. The title "Balldrs draumar" is written above  in red ink  in A.   The title Vegtamskvida, which seems more approproiate, is not found in A, but only in paper manuscripts. The poem begins so abruptly that there seems to be reason to believe that the original beginning has fallen away. ... 

Remarks to Vegtamkvida, pp. 138 ff

The many paper manuscripts insert additional verses and lines into this poem, some not found in A (the vellum manuscript). They are listed here with the most important variants. Between verse 1 and verse 2 are inserted:
 
a. Mjök var hapti
höfugr blundr
heillir í svefni
horfnar sýndust;
spurðu jólnar
spar framvísar,
ef þat myndi
angrs vita.
 
b. Fréttir sögðu,
at feigr væri
Ullar sefi
einna þekkastr;
fékk þat angrs
Frigg ok Sváfni,
rögnum öðrum:
ráð sér festu.
 
 c. Út skyldi senda
allar vættir
griða at beiða,
granda ei Baldri;
vann alls konar
eið at vægja,
Frigg tók allar
Festar ok soeri.
 
 d. Valföðr uggir,
van sé tekit,
hamingjur ætlar
horfnar mundu;
æsi kallar,
afráðs krefr;
málstefnu at
mart of roeðist.
 
Between lines 2 and 3 of verse 3 is inserted:
 
e. Kjapt vígfrekan
ok kjálka neðan;
gó hann á móti
ok gein stórum
 
Between line 6 and 7 of verse 4 is inserted:
 
f. leit í norðr,
lagði á stafi,
froeði tók þylja,
frétta beiddi,
 
Instead of verses 3 & 4, the paper manuscripts have 3 eight-line verses: Sá var blöðugr –lengi—Framm reið –völu leiði – Nam hann –orð um kvað.—"
 
After verse 12, line 8 is inserted:
 
g. seg þú þat eina!
sefrattu fyrri.
 
The paper manuscripts that have these insertions, also give many readings elsewhere in the poem that are different from those that occur in A. The following are the most important:
 
1, 8, bölvisar for ballir;
3, 3. “ok” before “galldrs”  omitted.
3,4. gól for golv.
3,7. “unz kom” for “hann kom”
4,1. Yggr for Oðinn.
6,2. “Valtams em (er) ek son” for “sonr æm æk Valtams”
6,8. “flóð í gulli” for “floþ gvlli”.
8,3. “allt kunnak” for “alkunna”.
11, 1  “berr son” for “berr”.
11,5. Þværa for þvær.
13,2.  “áðr hugðak” (or “áðr hugði”) for hvðga.
13,4. “allda” for “allda-in”
14,3. “komir” for “komit”.
 
The interwoven pieces mentioned above in the paper manuscripts, which were recorded by K. and Rask are undoubtedly illegitimate, i.e. arbitrarily composed in later times. Munch (Preface to his Edition, p. XI) rightly says that they are "an utterly superfluous expression of the scribe and incompatible with the driven and resourceful tone that otherwise prevails in this beautiful poem."
 
When the Aesir have been told that Balder is fey (fated to die), and when Frigg has taken oaths from all beings that they should spare him, then, as Simrock and Lüning really emphasize, Odin's ride to Hell and Meeting with the Volva is almost meaningless. Verse с above (Vegtamskvida 4) is obviously composed after Snorri’s Edda (Gylfaginning 49):  “When he told these dreams to the Æsir, then they took counsel together: and this was their decision: to ask safety for Baldr from all kinds of dangers. And Frigg took oaths to this purport, that fire and water should spare Baldr, likewise iron and metal of all kinds, stones, earth, trees, sicknesses, beasts, birds, venom, serpents.”
 
The authenticity of the lines placed between Lines 2 and 3 in Verse 3, and thus of the rest for the paper transcripts, has been proved if I assert in my presumption that golv 3, 4 in A is distorted to “go vm” (and not to “gol vm”), since gó cannot stand on a successive following line of the same verse, as it does in the lines inserted between.[1] Of its  authenticity, also speak the word ok, “and”, before galldrs föður, “galdr’s father” in A, since this is not well reconciled with the lines that the paper transcripts deposit, and is therefore also omitted in them.
 
[1] See note to V. 3.4 on page 135. “Gol vm”, see Mss.;  “golv” A; but “gala” is never used, as far as I know, of dogs. I suppose, therefore, that it's correctly  “gó vm”.
 
The lines after 4, 6 also appear to be a later, redundant addition: “frœði tók þylja”, “a spell pronounced” says nothing other than what has already been said by “nam .. valgaldr kveða”, “he began to chant a magic song.”
 
Also in language, there is a clear difference between the poem, which we have in A, and the verses inserted in the paper manuscripts; Words for example like “hapt”,  otherwise never occur in the poems of the older Edda.
 
The readings in the new parts of the poem, which are specific to the paper transcripts, are, in my opinion, all changes made in later times without basis in tradition or manuscripts; nothing suggests that the  text of the paper copies is based on any manuscript other than A; “komir” for “komit” in 14,3 is, as I believe, correct, but this reading may have been produced by conjecture; on the other hand, for example, “berr son” in 11, 1 is certainly wrong; other deviations from A are unnecessary changes or grounded in misreadings.
 
The Verses written in the paper transcripts, in expression and tone, correspond well with Forspjallsljód or Hrafnagaldar Odins, and I consider it entirely possible that they were written by this poem's author. Certainly, it is likely the case. That Forspjallsljód was composed late in the Middle Ages as an introduction to the ancient Vegtamkvida: hint the poem ends with a depiction of the sun-rising; Heimdall calls the Aesir to the Thing for advice. And here we have an immediate connection to Vegtamskvida which begins with the scene of the Assembly of the Aesir in the early morning hour. This theory receives some evidence in that Vegtamskvida follows immediately after Hrafnagaldr Odins in some paper manuscripts (as in the Codex 1866 4to. New Royal Collection which belonged to Luxdorph).
 
Finnur Jonson’s Manuscript no. 748, 4to, pp. 1-6:
in the Arni Magnusson Collection, 1896.
In Bartholin’s edition, Antiquitatum Danicarum De Causis, Book III, Ch II, p. 632-640 (1689), the poem lacks the first medieval stanza and the four modern stanzas which follow, but includes the additions to stanzas 3, 4, and 12. In these respects Thomas Gray follows him [in the first English translation of the poem of 1761].   

The first stanza, perhaps omitted by Bartholin because it appears to be a fragment, is of four lines, thus rendered: 

"At once the Aesir all went into council,
 and all the goddesses into conference.
 The mighty gods took counsel together that they
 might find out why evil dreams haunted Balder."

Gudbrand Vigfusson, Corpus Poeticum Boraele, p. 814
Baldrs draumar …has come down only on one of the remaining six leaves of A.  It is never alluded to; Snorri telling the story of Balder according to Húsdrápa and Saxo from a third source [Chronicon Lethrense?].  

We do not have the whole poem (Baldrs draumar); the first section being lost, leaves it headless. …So marked is this, that between the years 1643 (when R and Flateyjarbók were first discovered) and 1670 (the date of our first paper copy of HRG) some scholar made an introduction to it, which he called Forspiallsliod [Preface-song], and Hraefua-galdr [the Carrion-charm], often misread Hrafna-galdr [the Raven’s-charm]. He also stuffed the poem (Baldrs draumar) with interpolations. The copy he used was certainly A, as we can show by the recurrence of errors of A, common to these interpolated copies.  

The same kind of evidence proves his use of R of Völuspá [In both Hrafnagaldr Óðinns and Baldrs Draumar]. The word ‘Ulfrun,’ only known from Hyndluljóð, suffices to fix a date subsequent to 1643. In his pastiche this author, picking up words in a most artful way, has used the following works: Völuspá freely, some ten times, even once in Bjorn of Skardsa’s copy (heimis); Weyland’s Lay, once; Atlakvíða, once; Hymiskvíða, once; Ynglinga Saga, once (diar); Vafþrúðnismál, once; Hyndluljóð, once; Gudrun’s Lays, once; and either Gagis or Niala, once (bera kvido); Snorri’s Edda often, once even in Magnus Olafson’s copy (frum-quodull), etc. Further a Greek proverb in stanza 22, έυ νυκτί  βουλή (a decision by night). Ovid is also used. We should guess the poet to be Paul Hallson, the learned translator of Lilia into Latin, who died in Denmark, 1662.  
So, in short, in this 19 year span, between 1643 and 1662, Bugge and Vigfusson theorize that Paul Hallson or some other Icelandic scholar randomly inserted 4 extra verses and 10 additional lines into the poem Baldur’s Dreams, renaming it Vegtamskvida, first attested in a paper manuscript from 1680, and also composed the poem Hrafngaldur Odins (the Preface poem, Forspallsljod) "pen in hand" as an introduction to it, based solely on his knowledge of Baldrs draumar from the A manuscript, which was not mentioned until 1691.
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