Stelle Cuius freti mentionem cum supra in ...; (Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum (1075 - 1076), IV.10 (pp. 238-239)) [4932]

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ID 4932
Text Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum (1075 - 1076) Adam of Bremen
Quotation Cuius freti mentionem cum supra in gestis Adaldagi pontificis ex scriptis Einhardi fecerim, explanationis more utor, ea, quae ille per compendium dixit, pleniori calamo nostris scienda proponens. Sinus, inquit, quidam ab occidentali occeano orientem versus porrigitur. Sinus ille ab incolis appellatur Balticus, eo quod in modum baltei longo tractu per Scithicas regiones tendatur usque in Greciam, idemque mare Barbarum seu pelagus Sciticum vocatur a gentibus, quas alluit, barbaris. Occidentalis autem occeanus ille videtur, quem Romani Britannicum scribunt, cuius latitudo inmensa, terribilis et periculosa complectitur ab occasu Britanniam, quae nunc Anglia dicitur. A meridie Fresos tangit cum ea parte Saxonum, qui nostrae diocesi pertinent Hammaburgensi. A solis ortu habet Danos ostiumque Baltici maris et Nortmannos, qui ultra Daniam consistunt. Ab aquilone vero idem occeanus insulas preterlabitur Orchadas, deinde infinitis orbem terrae spaciis ambit, sinistrorsum habens Hyberniam, Scothorum patriam, quae nunc Irland dicitur, dextrorsum vero scopulos Nortmanniae, ulterius autem insulas Island, Gronland. Ibi terminat occeanus, qui dicitur caligans.
Translation Because I drew upon the writings of Einhard when I previously mentioned this sea in connection with the deeds of Archbishop Adaldag, I shall proceed in the manner of a commentator, setting forth for our people in greater detail what he discussed in abridged form. There is a gulf, Einhard says, that stretches from the Western Ocean towards the east. This gulf is by the inhabitants called the Baltic because, after the manner of a baldric, it extends a long distance through the Scythian regions even to Greece. It is also named the Barbarian Sea or the Scythian Lake, from the barbarous peoples whose lands it washes. But the Western Ocean apparently is the one which the Romans in their writings called the British Ocean. It is of immense breadth, terrible and dangerous, and on the west encompasses Britain to which is now given the name England. On the south it touches the Frisians and the part of Saxony that belongs to our diocese of Hamburg. On the east there are the Danes and the mouth of the Baltic Sea and the Norwegians, who live beyond Denmark. On the north that ocean flows by the Orkney Islands and then encircles the earth in boundless expanses. On the left there is Hibernia, the fatherland of the Scots, which is now called Ireland. On the right there are the crags of Norway, and farther on the islands of Iceland and Greenland. There ends the ocean called dark. (Trans. Tschan, pp. 193-4)
Quotation source IV.10 (pp. 238-239)
Temporal Coverage 1072 - 1076
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Spatial Coverage Objects
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