GunnLeif Merl I 37VIII
Russell Poole (ed.) 2017, ‘Breta saga 105 (Gunnlaugr Leifsson, Merlínusspá I 37)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 74.
text and translation
‘Láð munu láta þeirs lifa eptir;
ferr in þingdjarfa þjóð ór landi.
Býr blezaðr gramr — sás brezkr jǫfurr —
skip sín á brott, ok hann skjótla verðr
taliðr tírgǫfugr í tolfta hǫll
sæll með sælum settr guðs vinum.
‘Þeirs lifa eptir munu láta láð; in þingdjarfa þjóð ferr ór landi. Blezaðr gramr — sás brezkr jǫfurr — býr skip sín á brott, ok hann verðr skjótla taliðr tírgǫfugr settr í tolfta hǫll sæll með sælum vinum guðs.
‘‘Those who survive will abandon the land; the battle-daring people will go from the territory. A blessed king — he is the British leader — prepares his ships for departure and he will soon become reckoned glorious, seated in the twelfth hall, blessed among the blessed friends of God. ’
notes and context
Cf. DGB 112 (Reeve and Wright 2007, 147.59-61; cf. Wright 1988, 103, prophecy 5): Residui natale solum deserent et exteras culturas seminabunt. Rex benedictus parabit nauigium et in aula duodecimi inter beatos annumerabitur ‘The survivors will leave their native soil and sow in foreign fields. A blessed king will prepare a fleet and will be numbered among the saints in the palace of the twelfth’ (cf. Reeve and Wright 2007, 146). This prophecy alludes to the exodus of the British people from their native land to settle in Armorica (Brittany). They are accompanied by King Cadualadrus, who after eleven years of exile contemplates a re-settlement of Britain but is summoned by an angelic voice to go to Rome to do penance in advance of eventual sanctification, as narrated in DGB XI (Reeve and Wright 2007, 276-81).
readings
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) — 51v/13 - 51v/15
images‘Láð mun láta
þeirs lifa eptir;
ferr in þingdjarfa
þjóð ór landi.
Býr blezaðr gramr
— sás brezkr jǫfurr —
skip sín á brott,
ok hann skjótla verðr
taliðr tírgǫfugr
í tolfta hǫll
sæll með sælum
settr guðs vinum.Lid mvn lata þeir er lifa eftir ferr en þingdiarfa þioð or landi byr blezaðr gramr sa er br | ezkr iofvʀ skip sin a brott ok hann skiotla verðr talidr tirgofvgvr i tolfta holl sæll með sæ | lvm settr gvðs vínvm
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