1184

The summer elevenhundred and eightyfour
King Sverre went to hard countermeasures
The killing of Ivar Dape with priest and followers
made the hate bigger
The largest battle in the civil war would soon take place
Hordes of men in mails with swords
should end up with manslaughter
No one guessed that Arntor's feat could get consequences like this

By Hagastrondi at Fimreite laid
Sverre's fleet of fourteen ships
With aim to strike Sogndal village
every farm should be burned down
The warrior Arntor went willingly to war
to secure his family eternal mercy
The gods by his side and Magnus with army and ships

Without parallel, a violent manslaughter
a steam of death, the fjord red, black, black battle

The blood feud reigned long between Magnus and King Sverre
Their fight for Norway's throne ended with
Magnus' fall with two thousand men
The betrayor Sverre didn't fight
like a slut he watched the battle from land
The warrior Arntor went willingly to war
never returned, died for mercy
Day became night, the family got to know
Arntor saw the gods like a real Windir
To secure the family eternal mercy the warrior must go willingly to war

Heidra

To ”heidra” means to hail or honour someone. Often used about hailing someone’s glorious memory.

He had seen a funeral procession coming
Drifting from Trodladalen and up Lundamyri (*)
Humble he gazed
Who had death taken?

With awe he looked into the coffin
that the procession carried
Dead, wel-groomed, from Hvàllætti he was (**)
Thus he knew that Arntor never would come back

Yes, proud he could meet death
Gone willingly to war to secure the lineages mercy (***)
He murdered as a proud warrior
Denied slavery, betrayal, sacrificed lives in mercy

But so, as revenge for loss and battles
would betrayers his farm take (****)
A farm so great that one could not walk it in one day
Even the hades on which the farm lies
A new lineage would rule the land

Lost his life for lineage and honour
lost both his farm and his loved ones
But when he was close to death
he was honoured with likferd (*****)

A tragedy for his heirs this was
Should they really loose this land
Sverres anger was without end


*a valley and a mire in Sogn

** Arntors family/lineage

*** the Norwegian word “grid” translates directly “mercy” but it’s not a humble mercy (like the Christian mercy) – it’s a proud mercy won through glorious deeds. Arntor has fought bravely, and all though he lost his life he won his lineage glory, respect and honour.

**** the direct translation here is “farm” but the more appropriate word is “land” or “estate”. The Viking farms were almost small communities, and Arntor and his kin were almost like feudal landlords.

***** see comments on the word “likferd” in the translation of “Dauden”

[The word ”likferd” is a bit tricky to transelate. In the dictionary the word translates ”funeral”, but the ”likferd” was also the ritual when the body was moved from the farm to the church to be buried. In Sogn the farms is scattered around the fjord and the mountain-sides, and the body has to be sent to church by boat. Another possible translation is ”funeral procession” – but that’s also not the precise meaning of the word. I’ve therefore cowardly decided to let the word ”likferd” remain untranslated.]

Quite tricky this one. My knowledge of the English language is sadly too limited to recreate the special lyrical style of Windir. Valfar write in a kind of Sogne-dialect mixed up with an old Norwegian style. All though you can translate and understand the words, they do not give exactly the right meaning in English.

As far as I have understood this song tells the tale of the fall of Arntor in the summer of 1184, for which Sverre later gets his revenge, vividly described in “Destroy”. It might also be one of Arntors kin that’s been murdered, or maybe even Magnus Erlingsson, and so the person who meets the funeral procession understands that Arntor has lost – but my primary guess is that this is Arntor himself.

I haven’t read much of the lyrics for 1184, but it seems to me like a concept album describing the bloody events of Fimreite in 1184 – where several thousand people lost their lives and floated round the Sognefjord. Sadly I haven’t found much about this in my history books (they’re basically covering the 20th century only). Shame on me. I should know these things. After all I call myself a historian.

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Taken from here.