Note to GunnLeif Merl I 91VIII
[All]: The stanza divisions for I 91, 92, and 93, as printed in this edn, following Bret 1848-9 and Skj B, are uncertain. Hb has a capital <V> with red colouring at I 91/1, a small <m> with no colouring at I 92/1, a capital <E> with red at I 91/5 and a small <h> without colouring at I 93/1. It might be that Gunnlaugr had only two stanzas here, each of 12 lines, but I 92/5-8 would be awkward to sever from the previous helmingr and similar stanza division errors have been detected elsewhere in the ms. (see Notes to I 34/9-10 and I 35/7-10). Cf. DGB 116 (Reeve and Wright 2007, 151.144-5; cf. Wright 1988, 107, prophecy 30): Lundonia necem uiginti miliorum lugebit, et Tamensis in sanguinem mutabitur ‘London will grieve for the demise of twenty thousand, and the Thames will turn to blood’ (Reeve and Wright 2007, 150).
References
- Bibliography
- Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
- Bret 1848-9 = Jón Sigurðsson. 1848-9. ‘Trójumanna saga ok Breta sögur, efter Hauksbók, med dansk Oversættelse’. ÅNOH 1848, 3-215; 1849, 3-145.
- Reeve, Michael D., and Neil Wright. 2007. Geoffrey of Monmouth. The History of the Kings of Britain. An Edition and Translation of De gestis Britonum [Historia regum Britanniae]. Woodbridge: Boydell.
- Wright, Neil, ed. 1988. The Historia Regum Britannie of Geoffrey of Monmouth. II. The First Variant Version: A Critical Edition. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer.