GunnLeif Merl I 102VIII
Russell Poole (ed.) 2017, ‘Breta saga 170 (Gunnlaugr Leifsson, Merlínusspá I 102)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 133.
text and translation
Varð sú in enska ætt fyr stundu
veldis missa; nús valskr konungr.
Þós þeygi enn þeira hætti
liðit af láði, né lýðs Breta
hvǫssum mæki hjarl eignaðisk.
Sú in enska ætt varð missa veldis fyr stundu; nús valskr konungr. Þós þeygi enn hætti þeira liðit af láði, né eignaðisk hjarl lýðs Breta hvǫssum mæki.
‘The English people had to lose their dominion some time ago; now there is a French king. Yet their character has still in no way vanished from the land, neither has the land of the people of the British been taken over by the sharp sword. ’
notes and context
Gunnlaugr appears to refer to two developments that might be seen as prophesied by Merlin and due for fulfilment: 1) the obliteration of the English race and culture from Britain, 2) the conquest of Wales by the descendants of the Norman dynasty. Although a full conquest of Wales did not occur until some decades after the turn of the thirteenth century, i.e. after the probable date of composition of Merl, such a development must have seemed inevitable and indeed imminent from much earlier (Thomas 2008, 62-3).
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) — 53r/4 - 53r/5
imagesUarð sv en enska ætt fyrir stvndv velldis missa nv er valskr konvngr þo er þeygi en þeira hætti liðit | af laði ne lyðs breta hvorsvm mæki hiall eignaðiz ·
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