''Merlínússpá'' (Prophecy of Merlin) is an Old Norse-Icelandic verse translation of ''

Prophetiae Merlini The ''Prophetiæ Merlini'' is a Latin work of Geoffrey of Monmouth circulated, perhaps as a ''libellus'' or short work, from about 1130, and by 1135. Another name is ''Libellus Merlini''. The work contains a number of prophecies attributed to ...

'' in

Geoffrey of Monmouth Geoffrey of Monmouth (; ; ) was a Catholic cleric from Monmouth, Wales, and one of the major figures in the development of British historiography and the popularity of tales of King Arthur. He is best known for his chronicle '' The History of ...

's ''

Historia regum Britanniae (''The History of the Kings of Britain''), originally called (''On the Deeds of the Britons''), is a fictitious account of British history, written around 1136 by Geoffrey of Monmouth. It chronicles the lives of the List of legendary kings o ...

''. It is notable for being the only translation of a foreign prose text into poetry in Old Norse-Icelandic literature and for being the earliest

Arthurian According to legends, King Arthur (; ; ; ) was a king of Britain. He is a folk hero and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In Welsh sources, Arthur is portrayed as a leader of the post-Ro ...

text to have been translated in medieval Scandinavia. ''Merlínússpá'' is preserved in two consecutive parts preserved in the ''

Hauksbók Hauksbók (; 'Book of Haukr') is a 14th-century Icelandic manuscript created by Haukr Erlendsson. Significant portions of it are lost, but it contains the earliest copies of many of the texts it contains, including the '' Saga of Eric the Red''. ...

'' (AM 544 4to) version of ''

Breta sögur ''Breta sögur'' (Sagas of the Britons) is an Old Norse, Old Norse-Icelandic rendering of Geoffrey of Monmouth's ''Historia Regum Britanniae, Historia regum Britanniae'' with some additional material from other sources. ''Breta sögur'' begins wit ...

''. In both ''Hauksbók'' and the version of ''Breta sögur'' preserved in the manuscript AM 573 4to, the poems are attributed to

Gunnlaugr Leifsson Gunnlaugr Leifsson (died 1218 or 1219) was an Icelandic scholar, author and poet. He was a Benedictine monk at the Þingeyraklaustur monastery (Icelandic ''Þingeyrarklaustur'') in the north of Iceland. Many sources (including ''Þorvalds þátt ...

. The poem is omitted in AM 573 4to, with the scribe noting that "many people know that poem". Gunnlaugr Leifsson wrote ''Merlínússpá'' around 1200. It is a close translation of the ''Prophetiae Merlini'' but also includes material from the ''Historia regum Britanniae.'' ''Merlínússpá'' is written in ''

fornyrðislag Old Norse poetry encompasses a range of verse forms written in the Old Norse language, during the period from the 8th century to as late as the far end of the 13th century. Old Norse poetry is associated with the area now referred to as Scandinav ...

'' verse form, which is also used in the prophetic poems ''

Völuspá ''Völuspá'' (also ''Vǫluspá'', ''Vǫlospá'', or ''Vǫluspǫ́''; Old Norse: 'Prophecy of the völva, a seeress') is the best known poem of the ''Poetic Edda''. It dates back to the tenth century and tells the story from Norse Mythology of ...

'' and ''

Völuspá hin skamma ''Völuspá hin skamma'' (Old Norse: 'The Short Völuspá) is an Old Norse poem which survives as a handful of stanzas in ''Hyndluljóð'', in the ''Poetic Edda'', and as one stanza in the ''Gylfaginning'' section of Snorri Sturluson's ''Prose Edda' ...

''. Although it is a close translation of its Latin exemplar, ''Merlínússpá'' uses imagery from Old Norse-Icelandic prose, which together with its meter give it "the semblance of an Eddic poem."

References

{{Geoffrey of Monmouth Arthurian literature in Old Norse Translations of Geoffrey of Monmouth

Further reading

References