GunnLeif Merl I 35^VIII

‘Þá gerisk þat         of þjóð Breta,
es þeim enn hefir         áðr of grandat,
at þeir sjalfir sízt         sáttir verða.
Deila þeir of veldi         ok of víða fold;
eru kappsamar         kindir brezkar.

‘Þá gerisk þat of þjóð Breta, es hefir enn áðr of grandat þeim, at þeir sjalfir verða sízt sáttir. Þeir deila of veldi ok of víða fold; brezkar kindir eru kappsamar.

‘Then it will come about for the British people, as has also harmed them in the past, that they themselves will not at all be in harmony. They will compete for power and for the wide territory; the British peoples will be in rivalry.

Mss: Hb(51v) (Bret)

Readings: [5] sízt: ‘sitz’ Hb

Editions: Skj AII, 26-7, Skj BII, 31, Skald II, 19; Bret 1848-9, II, 50-1 (Bret st. 103); Hb 1892-6, 279; Merl 2012, 153-4.

Notes: [All]: Cf. DGB 112 (Reeve and Wright 2007, 147.56-7; cf. Wright 1988, 103, prophecy 5): Exin in proprios mores reuertetur rubeus draco et in se ipsum saeuire laborabit ‘Then the red dragon will return to its old ways and strive to tear at itself’ (Reeve and Wright 2007, 146). Gunnlaugr elaborates on the cryptic allusion to internecine conflict in Geoffrey’s text and rationalises the allegory, on the lines seen in DGB XI (J. S. Eysteinsson 1953-7, 101-2; for text see Reeve and Wright 2007, 276-7) and Bede HE I, 22 (Colgrave and Mynors 1969, 66-9). According to Geoffrey in DGB XI, Cadualadrus (Cadwallader, referred to by Bede as Ciedwalla) succeeds Caduallo as king but falls sick, whereupon the Britons fight among themselves and suffer famine and pestilence. — [5] sízt ‘not at all’: Emended in Bret 1848-9 (followed by Skj B, Skald and Merl 2012) from ms. ‘sitz’ (not refreshed). Given that the spelling <z> in C14th usage, including Haukr’s own orthography, can denote either st or ts, ‘sitz’ may have originated in an erroneous expansion of síz. — [7-10]: All eds treat these lines as the conclusion of st. 35. In Hb <D> of deila is clearly majuscule, indicating the copyist’s understanding of the stanza division, but the disposition of narrative materials suggests that he was mistaken on this score. See Note to I 34/9‑10.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. Colgrave, Bertram and R. A. B. Mynors, eds. 1969. Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People. Oxford Medieval Texts. Oxford: Clarendon.
5. Hb 1892-6 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1892-6. Hauksbók udgiven efter de Arnamagnæanske håndskrifter no. 371, 544 og 675, 4° samt forskellige papirshåndskrifter. Copenhagen: Det kongelige nordiske oldskrift-selskab.
6. Eysteinsson, J. S. 1953-7. ‘The Relationship of Merlínússpá and Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia’. SBVS 14, 95-112.
7. Bret 1848-9 = Jón Sigurðsson. 1848-9. ‘Trójumanna saga ok Breta sögur, efter Hauksbók, med dansk Oversættelse’. ÅNOH 1848, 3-215; 1849, 3-145.
8. 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.
9. Wright, Neil, ed. 1988. The Historia Regum Britannie of Geoffrey of Monmouth. II. The First Variant Version: A Critical Edition. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer.
10. Merl 2012 = Horst, Simone, ed. 2012. Merlínússpá. Merlins Prophezeiung. Munich: Herbert Utz Verlag.
11. Internal references
12. 2017, ‘ Unattributed, Breta saga’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 38. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=125> (accessed 19 April 2024)