„regi oc hann seti ho | sc heim sem þio“
„hon hever oc þa buit hesta .ij. | aɴan viþ fé en honom aɴan til reiþar “
Fornmanna Sögur X s. 377-421
Munch, Brudstykke
Konráð Gíslason, Um frumparta s. xxxix-xl fol. 4r, column 13-14
Dahlerup, Ágrip 1880
Finnur Jónsson, Ágrip 1929
Bjarni Einarsson, Ágrip 1984 s. 1-54
Driscoll, Ágrip 1995
Hallgrímur J. Ámundarson, Ágrip 2001
Parchment.
The manuscript has been foliated 1-24 in red ink, probably by Guðbrandur Vigfússon, and also columnated 1-96, in all likelihood by Verner Dahlerup.
There are now four gatherings, the first, second and fourth originally consisting of eight leaves, the third of seven. A fifth gathering thought to have followed has left no trace.
The manuscript is written in two columns throughout. Most columns contain 25 lines; the exceptions are cols 18 (fol. 5rb) and 22 (fol. 6rb) with 24 lines (owing to spaces left between chapters), cols 89-90 (fol. 23r) with 23 lines and cols 91-96 (fols 23v-24v) with 22 lines. The pricking is visible on all leaves.
The text begins and ends defectively, and there are two lacunae towards the end. What was originally the first leaf of the first quire, numbered 1a, has been cut away, leaving a strip approximately 15 mm wide; one to two letters, in some places on the verso up to four, remain of each line.
The manuscript contains a large number of erasures, possibly by the scribe, possibly by a later hand, but in any case for the most part not filled in; for example on fol. 3ra, lines 15-16 there are two erasures, the first of perhaps 16, the second of six characters, and four lines of text have been erased on fol. 5vb following line 21.
The manuscript is written in two contemporary hands, otherwise unknown, but clearly those of practised scribes. Hand I writes fols 1r to 22v and hand II fols 23 to 24. Some scholars, notably Verner Dahlerup ( 1880 s. IV ) and Hreinn Benediktsson ( 1965 s. xxi ), have argued for a third hand on fol. 24, but the evidence for this is insubstantial.
Spaces for initials and chapter headings were left by the scribe, but not filled in. A later, probably fifteenth-century, hand has added initials and chapter headings in greenish-coloured ink on fols 8r-9r, 10r and 11r. Although a few of these chapter headings are now rather difficult to read, most can be made out, e.g. fol. 8rb floti astridar , fol. 9rb vm olaf konung and fol. 10ra Gipting olafs konungs.
The manuscript contains the following marginalia:
There are in addition a number of illegible scribbles in a later hand (or hands) on fols 2r, 3r, 5v and 19r; what appears to be the name Þórgeir Jónsson is written in a similar hand on fols 6r and 16r.
Formerly unbound (cf. Verner Dahlerup, Verner Dahlerup 1880 s. iii ), the manuscript was bound during restoration between September 1969 and January 1970.
There are six slips (a-f) written in Árni Magnússon's hand bound into the manuscript:
Written in Iceland in the first half of the thirteenth century.
According to Árni Magnússon's account in his catalogue of Icelandic parchment manuscripts, AM 435 a 4to, fols 54v-56v, the manuscript was owned by Sr. Þórður Jónsson of Staðastaður , who had acquired it from Jón Hákonarson að Vatnshorni, who had in turn got it from Þorgeir Jónsson , ráðsmaður at Hólar and brother of Bishop Steinn Jónsson. Presumably, this man also wrote his name on fols 6r and 16r.
Þorgeir got the manuscript probably in 1696 or 1697 at Kalastaðir, Hvalfjarðarströnd, from Þórður Illugason, son of Illugi Vigfússon, son of Vigfús Jónsson, sýslumaður. Þorgeir's wife, Margrét Guðmundsdóttir, and Þórður Illugason, who had no children of his own, were related (þrímenningar).
The full text of Árni Magnússon's comments reads:Compendium Historiæ Norvegicæ, | undiqve mutilum, alias frag-|mentum rarissimum. 4to mi-|nori. Komid til min fra Þordi | Jonssyne. enn fyrer þad var þad | i eigu Þorgeirs Jonssonar, sem | þad feck… Fragmentum historiæ | Norvegicæ in octavo. | /:þad sem eg feck af Þor-|de Jonssyne, enn hann af | Jone Hakonarsyne/: eig-|nadest Þorgeir Jonsson /: mä-|gur Gudmundar Arnarson|ar i Heynese/: ä Ka|lastǫdum ä Hvalfiard|arstrǫnd fyrer 10. eda | 11. ärum (fra 1707. ad | reikna) Þad hafdi næst | firir hann ätt Þordur Jllugason Vigfussonar, brod|urson Orms i Eyum, | og hǫfdu þesse blǫd | vered langfedga eign | þeirra fedga allt fra | Vigfuse Jonssyne ford-|um Syslumanni i Kios, se|cundum traditionem þess | folks. | Þegar hann feck þesse | blǫd, voru þau eins mu|tila og nu eru þau. | hefur var og þar sem | Þorgeir þau feck, eckert meira, ecke helldr nein | stadar þar um kring ä | strǫndinne, so vïtt Þor-|geir inqvirerad gat, sem | hann segest med flid giǫrt | hafa. | Eingar utskrifter ætlar Þor-|geir þar af vera, ad vïsu | seigest hann eckert slikt | nockurn tïma sied hafa. | Dixit coram 1707.| Þorgeir atti eigi leinge | þetta fragment, helldur | feck þad, so mutilum sem þad var, Jone Hakonar|syne, enn hann Þorde Jons|syne sem adr er sagt. Jon | Hakonar son af mier | adspurdr, meinar eingar | utskrifter þar af vera i | landinu, og seigest alldri | þvilïkt neitt, fyrr | edur sidar, sied hafa.
Árni Magnússon acquired the manuscript probably in 1707 from Sr. Þórður Jónsson á Staðastað (1672-1720).
Catalogued 15. maí 1999 by MJD.
Restored and bound by Birgitte Dall between 22 September 1969 and 15 January 1970.