Studia Islandica - 01.06.1960, Page 35

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Selma Jónsdóttir thinks the adjective ermskr is pos-
sibly derived from the noun ermit and compares it with
the adjective hermskr in the Konungsbók manuscript of
the Grágás, and the noun hermit (“eremitus”)- The ad-
jective girzkr, on the other hand, she identifies with
grískr (“Greek”). In this way, she establishes the con-
nection with Southern Italy, the Basilian monks and the
Benedictine Abbey of Monte Cassino.
This theory is admirable in many respects, but the
only snag is that it is just as likely that the model was
brought by the Benedictine monks who later established
the first monastery in Iceland under the auspices of St.
Jón of Hólar (1106—21). Their origin is imknown. Be-
sides, the search for a model on which the Bjarnastaða-
hlíð panels were patterned was, for natural and inevit-
able reasons, confined to Western Europe.
Let us now revert to the history of Ermland, Poland,
and Rus in the days of King Jaroslav I. According to
Nestor’s Chronicles, he made raids on the Jatvagians,
the Latvians and the Mazovians in the years 1038—1047,
and about 1031 he conquered the Lyakhs. It should be
noted that, in Mazovia, the Greek Orthodox Religion was
replaced by the Roman Catholic Chrn-ch.9 This could
have been the southern part of Ermland, because the
Mazovians lived on the banks of the Narev, the Bug, and
the Vistula, the Jatvagians between the Narev and the
Njemen and in the area immediately to the north, and
the Prussians on the Baltic coast. The Lithuanians lived
to the north of the river Njemen, but the Samogitians,
the Semigalians and the Kurlanders farther north and
on the coast between the Njemen and the Dvina.
The boundaries and the extent of many countries in
the llth century cannot be established with any accu-
racy because the countries are frequently referred to by
the names of the tribes inhabiting them. If the tribe
moved, the boundaries moved with it.
3