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Breta Sǫgur from AM 544 4To: an Edition and Translation

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Breta Sǫgur from AM 544 4To: an Edition and Translation Breta sǫgur from AM 544 4to: an Edition and Translation Russell C. Black A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Washington 2014 Reading Committee: Paul Remley, Chair Leroy Searle Míċeál Vaughan Program Authorized to Offer Degree: Comparative Literature ii ©2014 Russell C. Black Abstract Breta sǫgur, from 544 4to An Edition and Translation Russell C. Black Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Doctor Paul Remley Department of English In the years following the turn of the fourteenth century, an Icelandic lawyer named Haukr Erlendsson worked as a legal representative to the King of Norway. Haukr preserved many Icelandic literary renderings in a manuscript known today as the Hauksbók, much of which was written in his own hand. In addition to being an important witness to such Icelandic texts as the Eiriks saga rauða and the Landnámabók, the manuscript also contains significant continental masterpieces such as an Old Icelandic translation of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia regum Britannie, known as the Breta sǫgur. The following text contains a diplomatic edition of the Breta sǫgur in which I attempt to capture the original layout and orthography of the text written in Haukr’s own hand. Each page of the manuscript is represented by a page in this edition in which all the medieval letter forms are represented, as are Haukr’s orthography and formatting. The edition is accompanied by a facing page translation of Breta sǫgur in English. The relationship between Breta sǫgur and Geoffrey’s Historia, which bears a close affinity with the Latin Vulgate Version, is indicated by the apparatus. Dedication To Chris with love, You have given me so much. Thank you. To Morgan and Maia with love, You helped me makes this. To Patricia Conroy I wish I could share this with you. Contents 1 Introduction vii ⒈1 Haukr Erlendsson and the Breta sǫgur ................................... vii ⒈2 Adaptation and Style ............................................ xii ⒈3 The Manuscript .............................................. xvii ⒈4 Breta sǫgur ................................................. xxi ⒈5 The Edition ................................................ xxiii 2 Breta sǫgur and Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britannie xxv ⒉1 Introduction ................................................ xxv ⒉2 Material Shared by the Vulgate Version and Breta sǫgur .......................... xxvii ⒉3 Material Shared by the Variant Version and Breta sǫgur .......................... xxxiv ⒉4 Breta sǫgur and its Latin Sources ...................................... xl 3 AM 544, Breta sǫgur 1 Here Begins the Sagas of the Britons ...................................... 3 Aeneas and Latinus ............................................... 5 Turnus ...................................................... 5 The Death of the King’s Son Pallas ....................................... 7 The Death of Turnus the Great ......................................... 11 The Sons of Ascaneus and Brutus ........................................ 11 Brutus and Corineus ............................................... 17 The British Kings ................................................ 19 King Leir in England .............................................. 27 Brennius and Belinus ............................................... 31 King Gurgint ................................................... 35 Julius Caesar ................................................... 39 Lucius ...................................................... 45 Maxentius .................................................... 49 Of Vortigern and the Prophet Merlin ...................................... 51 Prophecies of Merlin ............................................... 55 Prophecies of Merlin II ............................................. 61 Arthur’s Childhood ............................................... 71 Uther Took the Kingdom ............................................ 73 Arthur is Received as King ............................................ 75 King Arthur and His Men ............................................ 79 The Battle Between the Romans and King Arthur ................................ 81 King Arthur ................................................... 85 The Death of King Arthur ............................................ 87 The Conversion of England by Saint Augustine ................................. 87 King Oswald ................................................... 91 The Death of King Caduallo ........................................... 93 England Builds Itself Up Again ......................................... 93 v vi CONTENTS Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1 Haukr Erlendsson and the Breta sǫgur The manuscript that contains the Old Icelandic translation of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia regum Britannie enjoys the distinction of having had an owner who is known to history. The first autograph of Haukr, the main scribe and original owner of the monument now known as Hauksbók, occurs in a genealogical emendation near the end of the included version of the Landnámabók. The scribe there includes his name as well as a brief description of his treatment of the two versions he used as sources: “ᴇnn þersa bok ritada (ek)1 Haukr Elliz svn. efter þeiri bók sem retad hafdi herra Sturla logmadr hinn frodazti madr ok eftir bok annarri er ritad hafdi Styrmir hinn fródi. ok hafda ekþatorhvaʀisem framar greindi. enn mikill þori var þat er þær sogdu eins2 badar.” [I, Haukr Erlendsson, wrote this book, from that book that was written by Lawman Sturla the most wise and from that other book that was written by Styrmir the wise, andI have expounded from each of them, and much of which is said here is from3 both]. Not only does this passage identify Haukr Erlendsson as the book’s owner and principal scribe, it also identifies the editorial process by which the Hauksbók Landnámabók was synthesized from multiple sources. This identification and textual genealogy grants Haukr’s production of the Landnámabók,and by association the manuscript housing it, a higher degree of authority. Furthermore, the names to which the source texts are associated contain a professional genealogy of lawmen with which Haukr and his own father would have associated. The first of his sources survives today as Sturlubók, written by Sturla Þórðarson, nephew of Snorri Sturluson, who presided as Lawspeaker of the Alþingi before the commonwealth was dissolved in 126⒉ The association is a worthy one for Haukr, who would eventually serve as king’s Lawman to the Gulating for a number of years. Haukr’s name also appears in a genealogical emendation in the Hauksbók witness of Eiríks saga rauða, much of ⒈ Although the first person pronoun appears to have been omitted in the manuscript, ritada, a verb in the first person supports the traditional reading that the phrase is in the first person. Helgason notes other passages in which Haukr habitually drops the subject pronoun. Jón Helgason, ed., Hauksbók: The Arna-Magnæan Manuscripts (Copenhagen: Munksgaard, 1960), p. XI, note ⒊ ⒉ Eiríkur Jónsson and Finnur Jónsson, eds., Hauksbók (København: Thieles bogtr, 1892), p. 12⒋ ⒊ Translation mine. vii viii CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION which is also written in Haukr’s hand. In the concluding genealogy, the lineage of Þorfinn Karlsefni, who according to the saga attempted to settle North America, is traced through the maternal line of Erlend, Haukr’s father. The longer redaction to Eiríks saga rauða in the Skálholtsbók extends Karlsefni’s line no farther than the generation of his grandchildren, whereas Haukr’s rendering traces the line to Gudrid, Haukr’s grandmother: “…Valgerðar modor herra Erlenz sterka favðvr herra Hauks logmannz.”4 […Valgerðer the mother of Lord Erlend the Strong, who was the father of Lord Haukr the Lawman]. Not only is the use of his professional title, lögmaðr, notable, the additional agnomen herra, applied not only to himself but to his father, appears unusual by the standards of the Íslendingasögur, and offers an ostensible allusion to his being knighted by the Norwegian king.5 The copy of Landnámabók that begins the series of texts in Hauksbók is not merely a mechanical recapitulation of canonical Icelandic history; it is a text that has been edited and rewritten in a way that makes Haukr himself part of the canon. The inclusion of the Landnámabók established his noble credentials that justified his relationship with the Norwegian crown, a display that clarifies Haukr’s expressed affinity with Norwegian society. The documents that elucidate Haukr’s life and his family are few in number, but those that survive are notably informative. His father, Erlend, was a prominent lawman in Iceland, and was instrumental in dealing with disputes among chieftains and issues regarding land rights of the church. The fact that Erlend’s paternal lineage in theHauksbók Landnámabók is missing could indicate a Norwegian heritage, which would be unsurprising considering that both father and son were lawmen and land owners in Norway. According to Landámabók, Erlend was married to Járngerðr Þórðardóttir, a woman who was not Haukr’s mother.6 According to this genealogy, they had a daughter named Valgerðr, but there is no mention of Haukr. Either Haukr was born out of wedlock, or his mother, Jórunn, was Erlend’s second wife. Jórunn was also prominent in Icelandic history; her heritage is mentioned in Landnámabók as a descendant of Gestr Oddleifsson ins Spaki, who plays a role in both Laxdæla saga and Gísla saga Surssonar.
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