GunnLeif Merl I 1VIII
Russell Poole (ed.) 2017, ‘Breta saga 69 (Gunnlaugr Leifsson, Merlínusspá I 1)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 48.
text and translation
Nú skalk flotnum, þats forðum vas,
— hlýði fróðir mér fyrðar — segja,
at buðlungr sat Bretlandi at;
hét vellskati Vortígernus.
Hlýði mér fróðir fyrðar; nú skalk segja flotnum, þats vas forðum, at buðlungr sat at Bretlandi; vellskati hét Vortígernus.
‘Listen to me, wise men; now I shall tell men what once was, that a king resided in Britain; the generous man was called Vortigern. ’
notes and context
Vortigern was remembered in tradition, not necessarily accurately, as the C5th British leader who authorised the first settlement of the Saxon invaders in eastern Britain (Hunter Blair 1963, 161-4; Bromwich 1978, 386-7). Geoffrey’s much elaborated account of his rise to power occurs in DGB VI.
sources
Text is based on reconstruction from the base text and variant apparatus and may contain alternative spellings and other normalisations not visible in the manuscript text. Transcriptions may not have been checked and should not be cited.
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AM 544 4° (Hb) — 50v/27 - 50v/28
imagesNv skal ek flotnvm þat er forðvm var lyði frodir mer fyrðar · segia at bvðlvngr sat | bretlandi at het vellskati vortigernvs.
(VEÞ)
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