All Erling Together

Erling Skjalgsson by Theodor Kittelsen (public domain)

It seems to be Erling Haaland weekend. The most famous contemporary Norwegian and footballing superstar's club, Manchester City, won the FA Cup yesterday. Perhaps a premonition of this was an item in the Guardian on Friday (actually in the print version yesterday) announcing that he was to make his acting debut, playing a Viking in a forthcoming film. This item caught my eye, as the film is to be called Viqueens. Have they appropriated my alias, which I have had since 2008? Somehow, the story line as cited doesn't suggest they have read my book on Women in the Viking Age, or even any of this blog:

two courageous Viking girls go from Norway to China. Discovering secrets, becoming proficient with dragon kites, fireworks and kung fu, and realising that friendship’s gifts surpass anything taken from adversaries

Ah well. Actually, I was more interested in another Erling Haaland story not so long ago. Back in March, it was announced that Erling and his dad had bought, and gifted to their home municipality of Time, a 1594 printed version of Mattis Størssøn's chronicle of the kings of Norway. This is a rather free retelling, not a translation, of various kings' sagas and other medieval works. The surviving manuscripts show that the work was completed by about 1570, and the 1594 printed version, published in Copenhagen, has been somewhat Danified, changing some of the Norwegian and Old Norse vocabulary used in the original. Erling H. must know that he shares his name with Erlingr Skjalgsson, also from the district of Jæren, who features in the medieval sagas and so in this work too. Here is a little snippet about Erlingr in the 1962 edition (based on the manuscripts, not the printed version) of Mattis Størssøn's chronicle by Mikjel Sørlie:

My photo, p. 39

There is a brief biography of Erlingr in the Introduction to volume I of Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages and I edited a poem in praise of him in the same volume. The poem focuses chiefly on Erlingr's conflict with the Norwegian king, later saint, Óláfr Haraldsson and, unlike his footballing namesake, Erlingr doesn't come out of it well. Still, 'eagles shall fight face to face' in this stanza might be an appropriate war-chant for the young Erling Haaland:

Ǫndurða bað, jarðar, Erlingr, sás vel lengi geymði lystr, — né lamðisk landvǫrn — klóask ǫrnu, þás hann at sig sǫnnum — sá vas áðr búinn ráða ats — við Útstein hizi Ôleif of tók môlum.

Erlingr, who, joyful, ruled the land well for a long time — his defence of territory did not fail — said eagles should fight face to face, when he addressed Óláfr with true words after the battle there by Utstein; he was previously ready to carry out the attack.

I note that the eleventh-century Erlingr was both defender and attacker!

One more fun fact: Erlingr Skjalgsson is also mentioned in a runic inscription now in Stavanger which also mentions his battle with the king.

Arkeologisk Museum Stavanger CC BY-NC-ND

Oh, by the way, Happy Birthday, Norway!