Geatland, Gutland, Gothland Guta Saga in a Swedo

Geatland, Gutland, Gothland Guta Saga in a Swedo

Seán D Vrieland
Geatland, Gutland, Gothland
Guta Saga in a Swedo-Gothic Manuscript
Seán D Vrieland
Den Arnamagnæanske Samling
Københavns Universitet
August 7, 2015
Seán D Vrieland
Bergen, Universitetsbiblioteket, UBB Ms. 58
Figure: UBB Ms. 58
Seán D Vrieland
Guta saga in UBB Ms. 58
Figure: Opening of Guta saga
Figure: Marginalia in Guta saga
Figure: Table of Contents
Seán D Vrieland
Contents of Guta saga
Foundation Þieluar & Fire
! Hafþi & Huītastierna’s three sons
Emigration Overpopulation
! Tricking the King
Treaty Sweden Awair Strābain
Conversion St. Olaf
! Building churches
Terms with Sweden Battles, taxes, and oaths
Seán D Vrieland
Guta saga and Gothicism
Figure: “Old Gothic Stories”
1633 Strelow
1687 Hadorph
Figure: “King of the Swedes,
Goths, and Vandals”
Seán D Vrieland
Gotland hitti fyrsti…
Guta saga Gutland hitti fyrsti maþr þann sum Þieluar hīt.
Íslendingabók Ingolfr hét maðr Norrænn er sannlega er sagt at fœra
fyrst þaðan til Íslands.
Íslendingabók Land þat er kallat er Grœnland fannzk ok byggðisk af
Íslandi. Eiríkr inn rauði hét maðr Breiðfirðzkr es fór út
héðan þangat.
Færeyingasaga Maðr er nefndr Grímr kamban; hann byggði fyrstr
manna Færeyjar.
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Þieluar and Grímur Kamban in Oral Tradition
Figure: Tjelvars grav, Boge
socken, Gotland
Figure: Funningur, Eysturoy,
Føroyar
Seán D Vrieland
Guta saga and Cronica Guthilandorum
(Guthi)
Þieluar (Tielvar)
Hafþi (Haffder)
Huita stierna (Huittastienna)
Guti (Guthi)
Gunfiaun (Gumphinus)
Graipr (Grippæ)
Seán D Vrieland
Chronique des Ducs de Normandie
«Sire, fait eu, ne sai por quei,
Fors tant, quer celer neu vos dei,
Or m’ert avis en mun dormant
C’un arbre eisseit de mei si grant,
Si lonc, si dreit, si merveillos,
Qu’au cel ateigneit ci sor nos,
Son ombre, dum sui esfreïe,
Aümbroct tote Normendie
E mer e la grant terre engleise.
Ce me desplaist e moct me peise
Que je ne sai estre devine
Que c’espeiaut ne que destine.»
Quant li dus a la chose oïe,
Si li dist: «Bele, doce amie,
C’est de grant bien senefiance
E sin seiez tote a fiance.» (33723-38)
Figure: Three sons of Herlève
Seán D Vrieland
Sibling founders
Romulus and Remus Rome
Senius and Aschius Siena
Banba, Fódla, Ériu Ireland (‰-6))
Lech, Czech, Rus Poles (Lechites), Czechs, Rus’
Kyi, Shchek, Khyorv Kiev
Sarbaṇ, Beṭ, Ghurghax̌t Sarbani, Bettani, Ghurghakhti
Seán D Vrieland
Switzerland: Schwit & Scheyg
Figure: Petermann Etterlin Kronica von der loblichen Eydtgnoschaft Jr
harkommen und sust seltzam strittenn und geschichten. Basel 1507.
Seán D Vrieland
Redactor’s commentary
!
Þair … gierþi burg aina sum enn sȳnis.
They … built a fort which can still be seen.
!
So byggþus þair þar firir. Oc enn byggia. Oc enn hafa þair sumt
af wāru māli.
So they settled there. And still live [there]. And still they have some of
our language.
Seán D Vrieland
Socknar in Guta saga
Alva home of Awair Strābain
Hejnum home of Ormika, first convert
Akebäck home of Botair, built first church
Stenkyrka home of Likkair, Botair’s father-in-law
Atlinabo location of second church
Fardhem location of third church
Seán D Vrieland
Russian Primary Chronicle
860-862 They said to themselves, “Let us seek a prince who may
rule over us and judge us according to the Law”. They
accordingly went overseas to the Varangian Russes…
888-898 But the Slavs and the Russes are one people, for it is
because of the Varangians that the latter became known
as Rus’, though originally they were Slavs.
Seán D Vrieland
sielf wiliandi
!
So gingu Gutar sielf wiliandi undir Suīa kunung, þȳ at þair
māttin frīr ok frelsir sȳki ā Suīarīki ī huerium staþ, ūtan tull ok
allar ūtgiftir.
!
So the Gotlanders came of their own will under the Swedish king, that
they might come to all places in Sweden without toll or other charge.
Seán D Vrieland
Literature I
Berman, M. A. (1985), ‘The Political Sagas’, Scandinavian Studies 57(2), 113–29.
Cross, S. H. and Shwerbowitz-Wetzor, O. P., eds (1953), The Russian Primary Chronicle: Laurentian Text, The Mediaeval Academy of America, Cambridge, Mass.
Fahlin, C., ed. (1951-5), Chronique des Ducs de Normandie par Benoît, Vol. 2, Almqvist
& Wiksell, Lund.
Hadorph, J. (1687), Gothlandz-Laghen, H. Keyser, Stockholm.
Mills, K. (2015), ‘An Irish Motif in Guta saga’, Folklore 126(2), 142–58.
Mitchell, S. A. (1984), ‘On the Composition and Funciton of Guta Saga’, Arkiv för
nordisk filologi 99, 151–174.
Peel, C. (2015), Guta Lag and Guta Saga: The Law and History of the Gotlanders, Routledge Medieval Translations, Routledge, Abingdon, Oxon and New York.
Strelow, H. N. (1633), Cronica Guthilandorum, M. Martzan.
Vésteinn Ólason (2008), Family Sagas, in ‘A Companion to Old Norse-Icelandic Literature and Culture’, 2nd edn, John Wiley and Sons, pp. 101–18.