Manuscript Detail
AM 180 a fol.
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Karlamagnús saga; Iceland, 1450-1499
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LATIN SMALL LETTER O WITH CURLSpecial character shown similar to its original form.
Contents
Karlamagnús saga
Non
No Title
“Enn hann vann af heidnum monnum”
“hana eíga at konu ef gud gæfi”
No Title
“voro saman .x. hundrud skíalld sueína”
“huert sem þier vilit”
No Title
“ok laugdu nu med spíotum”
“ʀíkar konur med miclum eíg”
No Title
“mercke med ymsum lítum”
“þviat þeir enu”
Unger, Karlamagnús saga ok kappa hans p. 286:17-356:15 Ed. a
No Title
“vera betur herklædder”
“sidann þeir kuomu j heím”
Unger, Karlamagnús saga ok kappa hans p. 359:15-363:2 Ed. a
No Title
“af fracklande. Sidan for hann aptur”
“hesta uora ok hauka á medan”
Unger, Karlamagnús saga ok kappa hans p. 371:3-375:4 Ed. a
No Title
“bada ok ʀeíd fram hardlíga”
“ok þar var ec staddr”
Unger, Karlamagnús saga ok kappa hans p. 379:6-388:6 Ed. a
No Title
“ok badu þeiʀ allír”
“ok suarar honum ouitrliga”
No Title
“erkibiskup sína íþrott”
“sínum fiandmonnum”
Physical Description
Parchment.
The manuscript is foliated in the upper right-hand corner by Kristian Kålund. Chapter titles are added in the margin by a later hand.
The codex consists of the remains of ten gatherings, all originally consisting of eight leaves.
- I: fols 1-2.
- II: fols 3-10.
- III: fols 11-16, six leaves, the loss of two leaves (the fourth and fifth leaves in the gathering) is indicated in the bottom of fol. 13v.
- IV: fols 17-24, complete, but the conjoint fols 18 and 23 are just fragments.
- V: fols 25-32.
- VI: consists of four leaves: fols 33-36; the first, third, sixth and eighth leaves of a regular gathering of eight leaves. The loss of one leaf is indicated in the bottom margin of fol. 33v, of two leaves in the bottom margin of fol. 34v, and again of one leaf in the bottom margin of fol. 35v. Fol. 35 is just a fragment.
- VII: fols 37-38, only the first and eighth leaves are left.
- VIII: fols 39-43.
- IX: fols 47-52, the middle pair of leaves is lost, as indicated in the bottom margin of fol. 49v.
- X: fols 53-60.
AM 180 a fol. and AM 180 b fol. presumably belonged together in the same codex but were split up later. The text of the saga ends at the bottom of the last folio of a gathering, and the codex was divided into two parts at this point, the 60 leaves of the saga were registered as AM 180 a fol. and the 52 leaves containing other works were given the number AM 180 b fol. The codex has suffered much damage, leaves have been lost, and on many of the extant folios the writing is faded or almost illegible. There are several mutilated leaves. On the recto side of the first preserved folio a note in a nineteenth-century hand indicates the loss of about nine leaves at the beginning of the manuscript.
Only the upper third of fol. 18 is left, with 16 lines of text at the top on both sides. Fol. 23 is also reduced to the upper third of the leaf, with 16 lines on the recto side and 17 on the verso, but the lines are incomplete due to cutting off the outer part. Fol. 35 is a fragment, only the lower part of a leaf with 21 lines on the two pages are remaining; the outer margin with the end/beginning of the text has also been cut away. Outer corners have been cut away here and there, but without any damage to the text. There are several holes in the leaves, while on fols 28 and 48 there are old cracks in the vellum having been stitched together. The outer edges of many leaves have tears and notches.
The manuscript is written in long lines and the number of lines ranges from about 37 to 45 per page. There are red, green and blue majuscules, indicating the beginning of chapters, but in many cases the colour is now very faint or has completely disappeared.
The manuscript is written in one hand throughout. The same scribe has also written fols 79-165 of Thomasskinna (Gl. Kgl. Saml. 1008 fol.) and the fragment AM 238 XVI fol. The script is rather coarse and untidy; the size of letters varies, and several variants of some letters are used.
- Missing leaves are indicated in the bottom margin in a nineteenth-century hand on fols 1r-v, 2v, 13v, 33v, 34v, 35v, 37v, 49v and 60v. The names of the þættir of Karlamagnús saga (when the beginnings of the text in question are still extant in the codex) are written in the outer margin in a seventeenth-century hand, and frequently the names are also written, in different hands, at the top (or bottom) of some of the folios. Thus:
- Fol. 7v: “Agulanndus Þättur” (about ten lines lower than where the þáttr actually begins).
- Fol. 9v, top: “Agulandus Þattur”.
- Fol. 35r, bottom: “Upphaf á Guitelins þætti.” (nineteenth century).
- Fol.42r: “Otuels | Þaattr.”
- Fol. 49v, top: “Geipvnar þattvr”; outer margin: “endir otuels | þattar, | Geip-|unar | Þ?ttr. | sive | geiplur.”
- Fol. 51v: “Runzivals | Þaattr”.
- There are also lines, single words, names etc. written on many of the leaves.
- On the top of fol. 10r a reader has written this comment: “Sa sem Þessa saugvna les og sannlega stalldrar [?] hvorgi”.
- Fol. 13r, top: “mynumm godumm vin”, followed by an ornament, and then in the outer margin seven lines of writing: “mynumm | godumm | vin Jone | Biornssyne”, then, after an interval: “mynum godumm | og astkiærumm | Og godumm vin”.
- Fol. 19v, top: “Þorkiell Þors [?]”.
- Fol. 22r, top: “Huor Sem þesa Sogu Les og Sann” (cf. fol. 10r).
- Fol. 24r, written from the bottom upwards in the outer margin: “Rollantt var j Runseval med Roskua bragna”, a quotation from Rollantsrímur by Þórður á Strjúgi (beginning of stanza 19 in the fourth ríma).
- Fol. 36v, outer margin: “Miog er nv ion peturs [?] son mæddur j verinu | var hann fullhvga [?]”.
- Fol. 37v, at the top, in a clear seventeenth-century hand: “magnus biornsson | logmann”.
- Fol. 38v, top: “Oddgeyr danske”.
- Fol. 60v, top: “Jon skítur min”, then in a later hand a stanza: “Hæru blærinn hleidolfs skeid | hrindi vr jndis ladj | valin dvalinz veidinn greid | vijsu prijsast nadj”.
History
The manuscript was written in Iceland. Five datings exist:
- Unger (Karlamagnús saga ok kappa hans p. xxxvii): first half of the 15th century.
- Kristian Kålund (Katalog vol. I p. 146): 15th century.
- Stefán Karlsson (pers. 1983): second half of the 15th century.
- Eyvind Fjeld Halvorsen (Karlamagnus Saga and some Religious Texts p. 17): c. 1400.
- Agnete Loth (Karlamagnús saga: Branches I, III, VII et IX p. 362): the beginning of the 15th century.
Names of owners from the seventeenth century occur in the margin of fols 13r, 19v, 37v and 40r. The name “magnus biornsson logmann” on fol. 37v is to be noted. This is presumably Magnús Björnsson (1595-1662) at Munkaþverárklaustur in Northern Iceland.
The codex AM 180 a fol./AM 180 b fol. was acquired by Árni Magnússon from owners in northern Iceland. According to fols 139v-140r in his catalogue of Icelandic parchment manuscripts, now known as AM 435 a 4to, the codex had been divided up whilst in the north, and he mentions that he got some part from Skúli Ólafsson and another from Magnús Jónsson from Leirá.
Árni gives the following account about AM 180 a fol. and AM 180 b fol.: “Karla Magnuss Saga, vantar framanvid og | vida i Miduna. | Aptanaf Konradz Sogu Keisarasonar. | Dunstani Saga (authore fratre Arnone | Laurentii f.) vantar i. | Katrinar Saga, vantar i. Bærings Saga fagra. | Ur Knytlinga Sogu, um Knut helga, Olaf, | Eirik goda, og Nikulas. Vantar vid endan. | um Svein Ulfsson og Haralld Hein (ur | Knytlinga Sogu) vantar upphafed. | Vitus Saga Pislarvottz. vantar i. | Laurentius Saga Hola biskups. vantar i. | folio majore. | Þesse bok var komin i marga parta | nordur i lande, og hefi eg hana feinged | af ymsum. Nockurn part þar af hiä Skula Olafssyne, nockurn part fra Magnuse Jonssyne | ä leyrá, enn Magnus hafde sitt feinged i ym-|sum stodum. Nockra smägeira og mutilerud | blod hefi eg feinged a Islande epter 1702. | sitt ur hverium stad”.
Additional
Catalogued 29 March 2000 by EW-J.
The manuscript was bound in 1886.
The manuscript was rebound in June 1935.
70 mm 70mm16 s.d. b/w prints AM 180 a fol. August 1963
