Stelle Norwegia igitur a quodam rege, qui ...; (Historia Norwegie (1150 - 1175), 1 (pp. 52-54)) [4872]

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ID 4872
Text Historia Norwegie (1150 - 1175) Anonymous - History
Quotation Norwegia igitur a quodam rege, qui Nor nuncupatus est, nomen optinuisse dicitur. Tota Norwegia regio uastissima, sed maxima ex parte inhabitabilis pre nimietate moncium, nemorum ac frigorum. Que in oriente ab Albia, magno flumine, incipit, uersus occidentem uero uergit et sic circum flexo fine per aquilonem regirat. Est terra nimis sinuosa, innumera protendens promunctoria, III habitabilibus zonis per longum cincta: prima, que maxima et maritima est, secunda mediterranea, que et montana dicitur, tertia siluestris, que Finnis inhabitatur, sed non aratur. Circumseupta quidem ex occasu et aquilone refluentis Occeani, a meridie uero Daciam et Balthicum Mare habet, sed de sole Swethiam, Gautoniam, Angariam, Iamtoniam. Quas nunc partes – Deo gratias – gentes colunt christanae. Versus uero septemtrionem gentes perplures paganismo – proh dolor – inseruientes trans Norwegiam ab oriente extenduntur, sciliect Kyriali et Kweni, Cornuti Finni ac utrique Biarmones. Sed gentes que post istos habitent, nichil certum habemus. Quidam tamen naute cum de Glaciali Insula ad Norwegiam remeare studuissent et a contrariis uentorum turbinibus in brumalem plagam propulsi, inter Viridenses et Biarmones tandem applicuerunt, ubi homines mire magnitudinis et Virginum Terram (que gustu aque concipere dicuntur) se reperisse protestati sunt. Ab isitis ueo Viridis Terra congelatis scopulis dirimitur. Que patria a Telensibus reperta et inhabitata ac fide catholica roborata terminus est ad occasum Europe, fere contingens Africanas insulas, ubi inundant occeani refluenta. Trans Viridenses ad aquilonem quidam homunciones a uenatoribus reperiuntur, quos Screlinga appelant. Qui dum uiui armis feriuntur, uulnera eorum absque cruore albescunt, mortuis uero uix cessat sanguis manare. Sed ferri metallo penitus carent; dentibus cetinis pro missilibus, saxis acutis pro cultris utuntur.
Translation Norway is said to have taken its name from a king called Nor. As a whole its territory is immense but for the most part uninhabitable, due to the huge number of its mountains, forests and cold temperatures. It starts in the east from the Great River, but bends towards the west and so turns back as its edge circles round northwards. Full of fjords and creeks, it is a country that pushes out countless headlands, and along its length encompasses three habitable zones: the first and largest is the seaboard; the second is the inland area, also known as the mountain region; the third is wooded and populated by the Finns, but there is no agriculture there. To the west and north, Norway is enclosed by the Ocean tides, to the south lie Denmark and the Baltic Sea, while to the east are Sweden, Götaland, Ångermanland and Jämtland. The peoples who live in these regions, thanks be to God, are now Christians. However, towards the north there are, alas, a great many tribes who have spread across Norway from the east and who are in thrall to paganism, that is, the Kirjalers and Kvens, the Horned Finns and the two kinds of Bjarms. Yet we know nothing for sure about the races living beyond these. Nevertheless, after some sailors had tried hard to voyage back from Iceland to Norway but had been buffeted by adverse gales into the Arctic sphere, they finally put in among Greenlanders and Bjarms, where, they claimed, they came upon people of extraordinary size, and a land of maidens, who are reputed to conceive when they have sipped water. Greenland however is separated from these areas by rocks covered with ice. This country, discovered, settled and confirmed in the Catholic faith by Icelanders, marks the western boundary of Europe, and almost touches the islands off Africa, where the Ocean tides surge in. Further north beyond the Greenlanders, hunters have come across dwarves whom they call Skrælings. If these creatures are struck with weapons and survive, their wounds grow white without bleeding, but if the blows are fatal the blood scarcely stops flowing. They are totally without iron and employ walrus teeth as missiles, sharp stones as knives. (Trans. Fisher, pp. 53-5)
Quotation source 1 (pp. 52-54)
Temporal Coverage 870 - 1175
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Spatial Coverage Objects
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