GunnLeif Merl I 78VIII
Russell Poole (ed.) 2017, ‘Breta saga 146 (Gunnlaugr Leifsson, Merlínusspá I 78)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 115.
text and translation
‘Sjá þessi rǫk þrennar aldir,
— þó es lýða ráð ljótt fyr dróttni —
unz landrekar Lundúnum í
grafnir ór grundu gumnum vitrask.
‘Þrennar aldir sjá rǫk þessi — þó es ráð lýða ljótt fyr dróttni —, unz landrekar grafnir ór grundu í Lundúnum vitrask gumnum.
‘‘Three ages witness these wonders — yet the conduct of men is odious before the Lord —, until kings disinterred from the ground in London are revealed to men. ’
notes and context
Cf. DGB 115 (Reeve and Wright 2007, 151.126-7; cf. Wright 1988, 106, prophecy 24): Omnia haec tria saecula uidebunt donec sepulti reges in urbe Lundoniarum propalabuntur ‘Three generations will witness all this until the kings buried in the city of London are revealed’ (Reeve and Wright 2007, 150). With this motif of exhumation, Geoffrey partially reprises the Cadwallader story told in DGB XI (Reeve and Wright 2007, 278-9).
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) — 52v/4 - 52v/5
imagesSia þersi rok þrennar alldir þo er lyða rað liott fyrir drottni vnz landrekar lvndvnvm i grafnir | or grvndv gvmnvm vitraz
(VEÞ)
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