Fearing neither fire nor sword

The Danish king Gram and his companion Besse set out on an expedition to Sweden to prevent the berserk-like king Sigtryg from marrying his daughter Gro to a giant. During their journey, they unexpectedly encounter Gro in a forest, where she and Besse engage in a poetic exchange. Their dialogue takes the form of a senna, an Old Norse poetic genre characterized by ritualized verbal provocation between adversaries within a conventional narrative setting.

Compared to many of Saxo’s other amplificatory reworkings of Old Norse verse, this senna preserves the terseness characteristic of Old Norse poetry. Scholars have also noted the striking similarity between the poem’s use of parallelism and that found in the Eddic poem Helgakviða Hundingsbana II.

Both Gro and Besse devote attention to characterizing their respective kings. Whereas Gro presents her father in terms that emphasize his lineage, Besse’s portrayal of Gram foregrounds martial prowess and heroic virtue:

Gram commands the host,
blessed by Mars,
never deflected
by fear or force.
Neither blazing pyre,
nor savage sword,
nor the sea's surge,
has ever terrified him.
We raise our
golden standards
under his command, girl.

The poetic formula of not fearing or fleeing fire nor sword, Saxo’s nec rogus nec ensis unquam terruit, recurs consistently in Old Norse poetry and sagas:

flýrðu hvártki hyr né malm í broddi styrjar (Arnórr jarlaskáld Þórðarson, Magnússdrápa, 17).

þess ǫðlings, es aldrigi hafði óttazk eld né járn (Nóregs konungatal, 66).

Síðan flýðit sá gramr eld né it fellda jarn (Stúfr inn blindi Þórðarson kattar, Stúfsdrápa, 8).

„Son minn,“ segir hon, „varðveit þetta vel, þvíat þú þarft ekki at hræðaz, meðan þú hefir þetta gull, hvárki eld né járn, ok eigi vǫtn (Flóres saga ok Blankiflúr).

er hræðiz aldri eld né eggjar eðr hergengi (Hjálmþés saga ok Ǫlvis).

Ok sem eldrinn gekk at þeim fastast, þá ætlar Hrólfr konungr þat fyrir sér at minnast þess, er hann hafði áðr heitit, at flýja hvárki eld né járn […] Böðvarr stóð þá upp ok blés við ok mælti: “Ekki þarftu, Hjalti, at hræða mik, því at ekki em ek enn hræddr, ok nú em ek albúinn at fara. Þá ek var ungr, flýða ek hvárki eld né járn (Hrólfs saga kraka ok kappa hans).

Þá komu menn Aðils konungs inn ok báru skíð á eldinn ok gerðu svá mikinn, at klæði brunnu af þeim Hrólfi, ok mæltu: “Er þat satt, at Hrólfr kraki ok berserkir hans flýja hvárki eld né járn? (Skáldskaparmál, 54).

Þá mælti Völsungr konungr: “Þat munu allar þjóðir at orðum gera, at ek mælta eitt orð óborinn, ok strengda ek þess heit, at ek skylda hvárki flýja eld né járn fyrir hræðslu sakir. (Völsunga saga).

The Old Norse attestations highlight that the formula of fearing neither fire nor sword is a widespread and conventional motif. Its clear presence in Saxo’s rendition of Gro and Besse’s senna further underlines that particular poem’s close adherence to Old Norse poetic conventions.