GunnLeif Merl I 53^VIII

‘Verðr meinliga         mæki brugðit;
sék blóði ben         blása móður;
líðr mart hǫfugt         of lýða kyn.
Rýðr varðar blóð         Venedócíam,
ok síðan sex         snarpir lifra
kynsmenn drepa         Kórínéus.

‘Mæki verðr meinliga brugðit; sék ben blása blóði móður; mart hǫfugt líðr of kyn lýða. Blóð varðar rýðr Venedócíam, ok síðan drepa snarpir kynsmenn Kórínéus sex lifra.

‘The sword will be drawn with ill intent; I see the wound spurt with the mother’s blood. Much hardship will come over the race of men. The blood of the woman will redden Venedotia and then bold kinsmen of Corineus will slay six brothers.

Mss: Hb(52r) (Bret)

Editions: Skj AII, 29, Skj BII, 34-5, Skald II, 22; Bret 1848-9, II, 57 (Bret st. 121); Hb 1892-6, 280; Merl 2012, 168.

Notes: [All]: Cf. DGB 113 (Reeve and Wright 2007, 147.86-149.87; cf. Wright 1988, 104, prophecy 11): Venedocia rubebit materno sanguine, et domus Corinei sex fratres interficiet ‘Venedotia will run red with a mother’s blood, and the house of Corineus kill six brothers’ (Reeve and Wright 2007, 146, 148). The historical status of this prophecy is difficult to assess. The first clause of the prophecy possibly extrapolates Geoffrey’s awareness of growing unrest against Henry I in Wales (Poole 1955, 290-1; cf. Curley 1982, 223) into the immediate future. The Lat. Venedocia corresponds to Welsh Gwynedd, the kingdom in North Wales. The mention of the house of Corineus, i.e. the successors of the legendary first ruler of Cornwall (cf. DGB I: Reeve and Wright 2007, 28-9) in the second clause of the prophecy might then personify Cornish involvement in this imagined conflict. But confused records exist concerning an atrocity in Cornwall, committed against Normans and datable to some time between 1100 and 1129 (Padel 1984, 20-7), that matches the account and hence gives the prophecy historic status. — [3-4]: To judge by their subject-matter, these lines may have originally belonged after ll. 5-6 and have come in here by way of anticipation. Previous eds signal the difficulty by placing ll. 5-6 in parentheses. — [6] lýða ‘of men’: Skj A has liða, probably by dittography, for clear ‘lyda’ in Hb (cf. Bret 1848-9 and Skj B). — [8] Venedócíam ‘Venedotia’: Gunnlaugr uses the Latin first declension acc. sg. form. Merl 2012 states that no such name exists in the British Isles and looks to Brittany for referents, but see Note to [All]. — [9-12]: The word order is somewhat convoluted, since sex ‘six’ must be taken, for sense and match with Geoffrey’s text, with lifra ‘brothers’, not snarpir kynsmenn ‘bold kinsmen’ (contrast Bret 1848‑9).

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj A = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15a. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. A: Tekst efter håndskrifterne. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1967. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
4. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
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. Bret 1848-9 = Jón Sigurðsson. 1848-9. ‘Trójumanna saga ok Breta sögur, efter Hauksbók, med dansk Oversættelse’. ÅNOH 1848, 3-215; 1849, 3-145.
7. 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.
8. Wright, Neil, ed. 1988. The Historia Regum Britannie of Geoffrey of Monmouth. II. The First Variant Version: A Critical Edition. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer.
9. Poole, Austin Lane. 1955. From Domesday Book to Magna Carta, 1087-1216. 2nd edn. Oxford: Clarendon.
10. Curley, Michael J. 1982. ‘A New Edition of John of Cornwall’s Prophetia Merlini’. Speculum, 217-49.
11. Merl 2012 = Horst, Simone, ed. 2012. Merlínússpá. Merlins Prophezeiung. Munich: Herbert Utz Verlag.
12. Padel, Oliver. 1984. ‘Geoffrey of Monmouth and Cornwall’. Cambridge Medieval Celtic Studies 8, 1-28.
13. Internal references
14. 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 26 April 2024)
15. Russell Poole (ed.) 2017, ‘Breta saga 18 (Gunnlaugr Leifsson, Merlínusspá II 18)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 152.