Seán D Vrieland

Geatland, Gutland, GothlandGuta Saga in a Swedo-Gothic Manuscript

Seán D Vrieland

Den Arnamagnæanske SamlingKøbenhavns 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 StrābainConversion St. Olaf

! Building churches

Terms with Sweden Battles, taxes, and oaths

Seán D Vrieland

Guta saga and Gothicism

Figure: “King of the Swedes,Goths, and Vandals”

Figure: “Old Gothic Stories”

1633 Strelow1687 Hadorph

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 úthéðan þangat.

Færeyingasaga Maðr er nefndr Grímr kamban; hann byggði fyrstrmanna Færeyjar.

Seán D Vrieland

Þieluar and Grímur Kamban in Oral Tradition

Figure: Funningur, Eysturoy,Føroyar

Figure: Tjelvars grav, Bogesocken, Gotland

Seán D Vrieland

Guta saga and Cronica Guthilandorum(Guthi)

Þieluar (Tielvar)

Hafþi (Haffder) Huita stierna (Huittastienna)

Guti (Guthi)

Graipr (Grippæ)

Gunfiaun (Gumphinus)

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 dormantC’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 NormendieE mer e la grant terre engleise.Ce me desplaist e moct me peiseQue je ne sai estre devineQue c’espeiaut ne que destine.»Quant li dus a la chose oïe,Si li dist: «Bele, doce amie,C’est de grant bien senefianceE sin seiez tote a fiance.» (33723-38)

Figure: Three sons of Herlève

Seán D Vrieland

Sibling founders

Romulus and Remus RomeSenius and Aschius SienaBanba, Fódla, Ériu Ireland ( )Lech, Czech, Rus Poles (Lechites), Czechs, Rus’Kyi, Shchek, Khyorv KievSarbaṇ, Beṭ, Ghurghaxt Sarbani, Bettani, Ghurghakhti

Seán D Vrieland

Switzerland: Schwit & Scheyg

Figure: Petermann Etterlin Kronica von der loblichen Eydtgnoschaft Jrharkommen 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 sumtaf wāru māli.So they settled there. And still live [there]. And still they have some ofour language.

Seán D Vrieland

Socknar in Guta saga

Alva home of Awair StrābainHejnum home of Ormika, first convertAkebäck home of Botair, built first church

Stenkyrka home of Likkair, Botair’s father-in-lawAtlinabo location of second churchFardhem location of third church

Seán D Vrieland

Russian Primary Chronicle

860-862 They said to themselves, “Let us seek a prince who mayrule over us and judge us according to the Law”. Theyaccordingly went overseas to the Varangian Russes…

888-898 But the Slavs and the Russes are one people, for it isbecause of the Varangians that the latter became knownas Rus’, though originally they were Slavs.

Seán D Vrieland

sielf wiliandi

! So gingu Gutar sielf wiliandi undir Suīa kunung, þȳ at þairmāttin frīr ok frelsir sȳki ā Suīarīki ī huerium staþ, ūtan tull okallar ūtgiftir.

! So the Gotlanders came of their own will under the Swedish king, thatthey 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 Chron-icle: 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 förnordisk filologi 99, 151–174.

Peel, C. (2015), Guta Lag and Guta Saga: The Law and History of the Gotlanders, Rout-ledge 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 Liter-ature and Culture’, 2nd edn, John Wiley and Sons, pp. 101–18.