Manuscript Detail
AM 645 4to
View ImagesHeilagramanna sögur — Legends of Saints; Iceland, 1220-1249
TWO DOTS OVER COMMA POSITURASpecial character shown similar to its original form.
This special character is not currently recognized (U+ef97).
LATIN SMALL LETTER V WITH ACUTESpecial character shown similar to its original form.
This special character is not currently recognized (U+f20d).
Contents
Jarteinabók Þorláks Biskups
Clemens saga
“Ivlius hét iɴ fyrste keísare.”
“føzlo laust of lifa þar”
Larsson, Isländska handskriften No. 645 4° p. 33:28-74:9
Pétrs saga postola
Jakobs saga postola
Bartholomeus saga postola
Matheus saga postola
Andreas saga postola
Páls saga postola
“Sancti p?li apostoli”
“Saulus var grimr viþ lęrisveina christi”
“svasem sact | er iaɴari s?gv.”
Unger, Postola sögur p. 216-236
Niþrstigningar saga
“Niþe stignincar Saga.”
“Kaʀinus oc levcius fratres syner Simeonis ens ɢamla segia sva”
“oc varþ þar | monnom. alldat vmp per omnia secula seculorum Amen”
Unger, Heilagra manna sögur vol. II p. 1-8
Martinus saga biskups
“Sancti Maʀtini. episcopi”
“Martinus var æzcaþr af uɴngara lande.”
“þeɢia er betra en fra at segia”
Unger, Heilagra manna sögur vol. I p. 554-574
Physical Description
Parchment.
The manuscript is foliated in the bottom margins of the recto pages and paginated in the top margins on both recto and verso pages.
The manuscript consists of ten gatherings:
- I: 8 leaves, fols 1-8, originally bifolios, now fols 1 and 8 are separate (1, 2+7, 3+6, 4+5, 8).
- II: 8 leaves, fols 9-16, bifolios.
- III: 8 leaves, fols 17-24, originally bifolios, now fols 17 and 24 are separate (17, 18+23, 19+22, 20+21, 24).
- IV: 4 leaves, fols 25-28, bifolios.
- V: 6 leaves, fols 29-34, bifolios.
- VI: 8 leaves, fols 35-42, bifolios.
- VII: 10 leaves, fols 43-52, originally bifolios, now fols 43 and 52 are separate (43, 44+51, 45+50, 46+49, 47+48, 52).
- VIII: 8 leaves, fols 53-602 singletons, 3 bifolios (53+60, 54+59, 55, 56+57, 58).
- IX: 2 leaves, fols 61-62, singletons.
- X: 4 leaves, fols 63-66, bifolios.
On fol. 62 a little strip along the gutter is visible, and some letters can be deciphered. When looking at the text of Martinus saga biskups, however, there does not seem to be a lacuna.
In places, particularly on fol. 53r, the text is almost illegible. The upper margins are damaged on fols 17, 19-22 and 24. The lower margins are damaged on several folios. Fols 13, 29 and 58 are torn, and the parchment has several defects, e.g. holes in fols 22 and 41. There are lacunae after fols 26, 28 and 34.
The manuscript which consists of two codices begins and ends defective. The first codex, fols 1-42, ends defective in Andreas saga postola, and the second one, fols 43-66, begins defective in the same saga; however, this is a different version.
The two parts of AM 645 4to are written by two scribes; the initials in the first part (bl. 1r-42v) are written by the first hand and are in black ink, while the initials in the other part (bl. 43r-66v) are in red ink. The text is written in long lines with 23 to 34 lines to the page in the first part, and 30 to 35 lines in the second part.
The first, and older, hand wrote fols 1r-42v.
The second hand wrote fols 43r-66v. Holtsmark (Corpus Codicum Islandicorum Medii Ævi vol. XII p. 13), however, doubts this and suggest three different hands for this part of the manuscript: Hand a for fols 43r:1-29, hand b for fols 43r:30-55v:23 and hand c for fols 55v:23-66v.
On fol. 37v, left margin, there is “Þorsteirnn þorarinsson á þessa Bók nu” written in a seventeenth century hand; the name is repeated on fol. 40v, bottom margin. On fol. 39v the name “teitvr” appears, and Larsson (Isländska handskriften No. 645 4° p. iv) deciphers “Teitvr S a þessa bok” on fol. 28v.
There are eight accompanying AM-slips: The first, (a), written by Guðbrandur Björnsson (c. 1657-1733), gives an account on the possible whereabouts of the manuscript: “Postula s?gur, 4to. med æde | gamla og vanda skrift | seiger Gudbrandr Bi?orns-|son vered hafa i sinu | Barndæmi ä Munkaþverä, og hafi þær einginn lesid | gietad. firi utan einn mann | þar ï Eyafirdi. | Þad eru, liklegast þær eg ä | membrana majori 8vo. Slip (b) is a list of contents, and the other slips explain abbreviations used in the manuscript or correct readings.”
History
Kristian Kålund (Katalog vol. I p. 51) dated the manuscript to the first half of the thirteenth century. A more precise dating was made by Harald Spehr and Hreinn Benediktsson, who dated fols 1r-42v to c. 1220 (Early Icelandic Script p. xx). Didrik Arup Seip (Palæografi, B: Norge og Island p. 43) has dated the rest of the manuscrip (fols 43r-66v) to the second quarter of the thirteenth century. Holtsmark (Corpus Codicum Islandicorum Medii Ævi vol. XII p. 9) finds it reasonable to assume that the manuscript was written in or around Skálholt.
On fol. 37v there is a marginal note from the seventeenth century in which Þorsteinn Þórarinsson is mentioned as the owner of the book. He and Teitur, mentioned on fol. 39v, could not be identified. According to Guðbrandur Björnsson's (c. 1657-1733) account on AM-slip (a), the bookblock presumably belonged to the convent of Munkaþverá in the northern part of Iceland during the seventeenth century. Guðbrandur was the son of sýslumaður Björn Magnússon (1623-97) who held the convent from 1662 to 1688, and Guðbrandur remembers the book in the convent in his youth.
Additional
Catalogued 12 May 2000 by AWS.
The manuscript was photographed before restoration in 1963.
70 mm 14 70 mm (suppl) 10