Anon Mey 54VII
Kirsten Wolf (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Heilagra meyja drápa 54’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 925.
text and translation
Tíu þúsundir tígnar meyja
tel eg greinandi riett og eina;
Ussula var fyr öllum þessum
Einglands blóm, er fór til Róma.
Vænar meyjar hjuggu Húnir;
hrottar skýfðu brúðir drottins;
dýrkuð er nú Kolnis kirkja
kraftarík af þeira líkum.
Greinandi riett, tel eg tíu þúsundir og eina tígnar meyja; Ussula, blóm Einglands, er fór til Róma, var fyr þessum öllum. Húnir hjuggu vænar meyjar; hrottar skýfðu {brúðir drottins}; kirkja Kolnis, kraftarík, er nú dýrkuð af líkum þeira.
‘Recording correctly, I count 11,000 [lit. ten thousand and one] maidens of distinction; Ursula, the flower of England, who went to Rome, was the leader of them all. The Huns slew the beautiful maidens; the swords slashed the brides of the Lord [HOLY WOMEN]; the church of Cologne, rich in miracles, is now worshipped because of their bodies.’
notes and context
The story of S. Ursula and her 11,000 virgin martyr companions has some similarities to that of Sunniva. It was known in Iceland from Breta sögur (first half of C13th), a translation of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britaniae (c. 1136). There is also a brief epitome of the legend in a C14th ms. (Widding, Bekker-Nielsen and Shook 1963, 335). On the cult in Iceland, see Cormack 1994, 29, 34-5, 158. In its elaborated form, the legend of Ursula grew out of a veneration of a small number of unnamed virgins at Cologne in C4th, but, by the C12th, Ursula had become the daughter of a king of Britain. She, together with 11,000 virgins, went on a pilgrimage to Rome and, on their return journey they were murdered by the Huns at Cologne on account of their Christian faith.
readings
- [1] meyja: meyjar 713
- [3] Ussula: ‘ursula’ 721, 713
- [4] blóm: blómi 713
- [4] er: superscript 713
- [5] Húnir: ‘Hynir’ 713
- [6] hrottar: so 713, ‘h[...]ottar’ 721
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.
-
AM 721 4° (721) — 10r - 10r
imagesTíu þúsundir tígnar meyja
tel eg greinandi riett og eina;
†ursula† var fyr öllum þessum
Einglands blóm, er fór til Róma.
Vænar meyjar hjuggu Húnir;
†h[...]ottar† skýfðu brúðir drottins;
dýrkuð er nú Kolnis kirkja
kraftarík af þeira líkum.Tíív þvsvndir tíg | nar meyia teleg greinande ríett ok eína· vrsula var firi o᷎llvm þessvm· eínglandꜱ bl | om er for til roma· / vænar meyiar híuggu hunir h[...]ottar skyfdu brudir drottíns· dyrkvt | er nv kolnes kirkía· krapta rík af þeira likum· //
(KW)
-
AM 713 4° (713) — 27/27 - 27/29
Tíu þúsundir tígnar meyjar
images
tel eg greinandi riett og eina;
†ursula† var fyr öllum þessum
Einglands blómi, fór til Róma.
Vænar meyjar hjuggu †Hynir†;
hrottar skýfðu brúðir drottins;
dýrkuð er nú Kolnis kirkja
kraftarík af þeira líkum.
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