Detaljer om håndskriftet

Parchment.

Foliated 1-194 (including 1bis) by Kristian Kålund. The manuscript is paginated in the upper right-hand corners of some of the recto-pages and in the upper left-hand corners of some of the verso-pages.

From p. 60 only every tenth page is paginated: 60, 70, 80 etc. up to 200.

The manuscript has rubrics in red and initials in green. The text is written in one column with 32-34 lines per page.

Even though many of the leaves are torn, the manuscript is well preserved. The upper and lower parts of fol. 1 are, however, damaged and only a thin strip of the originally second leaf (foliated 1bis) is extant. The lower part of fol. 92 has been cut out and a leaf is missing between fols 193 and 194. The manuscript ends defectively (approximately six leaves are missing).

The prologue and the text of Heimskringla (1r-72v:4) are written in a practiced Icelandic Gothic bookhand. The script has not been found in any other extant manuscripts.

The second part of the manuscript, 72v:4-194, is written in a hand contemporary to the first. This hand also is also found in a fragment of Knýtlinga saga, AM 20b II fol..

A third hand wrote most of the chapter headings. Stéfan Karlsson identified this hand as the hand of AM 221 fol.

• Fol. 1v: Littera florissa S in five lines with branches and leaves.
• Fol. 72v: Littera florissa H in five lines with a geometric motif with foliage.
• Fol. 129r: Littera florissa D in five lines with branches and leaves opening Bǫglungasǫgur.
• Fol. 139v: Littera florissa A in four lines with branches and leaves opening Hákonarsaga. Extender with foliage in the left margin.
• Fol. 143v: a Littera florissa Ð in six lines with branches and leaves.

• Up to fol. 60 the content of the chapter was written in the top margins of the manuscript as a guide to the person who would write the rubrics.
• In the top margin of fol. 1r an extract of abbot Nikolás’ Leiðarvísir is written.
• On fol. 1r two names Pros Lauritzönn manu propria and Juer Jenssen are found.
• In the lower margin of fol. 2r the roman numerals I to M are written in a medieval hand.
• In the lower margin of fol. 3v an extract in seven lines of a prayer in Latin can be found.

Further marginalia in Latin, Icelandic-Norwegian and Danish from the sixteenth century. Most often they are concerning the content of the text. Occasional dates and corrections by Árni Magnússon.

Written in Iceland, in the beginning of the fourteenth century.

Some researchers, e.g. Finnur Jónsson ( Finnur Jónsson 1916 s. xvii ) considered Norway the place of origin of the manuscript. However, due to occasional hypercorrect Norwegian forms in the text, Stefán Karlsson (Stefán Karlsson 197859) proposed that Eirspennill was produced in an Icelandic scriptorium, exporting manuscripts to Norway.

Information on the owners of the manuscript can be found in the marginalia and in Árni Magnússon’s notes in AM 435a 4to

• The first known owner of the manuscript was the Norwegian Þróndr Gerðarsson (or Garðarsson), archbishop of Nidaros from 1371-81; cf. fol. 57v (top margin): Iste liber est throndonís gerdarí Canonici Nidrosíensis . As such the manuscript may have found its way to Norway shortly after it was written.
• Two Norwegians wrote their names Pros Lauritzönn manu propria og Juer Jenssen on fol. 1r in the 16th century, presumably they both owned the volume. They can be identified as Iver Jensen Jernskæg of Fritsø (✝ 1570 who was born in Denmark) and his son-in-law Pros Lavritssøn (Hørby) of Nørholm (✝ 1596).
• It appears, however, as if Eirspennill was in Denmark even before the death of Iver Jernskæg; In the lower margin of fol. 194v a hand that has been identified as Anders Sørensen Vedel’s wrote: 26 Maij | Anno 70 | a B: A: (See Akhøj Nielsen 2004 I s. 232-233 and 249-250 ).
• Together with AM 45 fol. this manuscript belonged to both Otto Friis and Jens Rosenkrantz. See f. 37v in AM 435 a 4to. Here Árni Magnússon tells that Friis gave the manuscript to Rosenkrantz.

Árni Magnússon acquired the manuscript after the death of Jens Rosenkrantz in 1695. On fol. 37v in AM 435 4to he wrote: Snorra Sturlusonar æfi Noregs konunga | tekr til ä Sveine Alfiſusyne. | Sverris Saga. | Hakonar Saga Hakonarsonar, vantar | nockud lited aptan vid. | Þesse bok er og ligesom AM 45 fol. komin fra Otto Friis til Rosencrantz, og epter hann | lidinn eignadizt eg bokina. er in fol.

• 70 mm, 70mm 35, s.d.
• Black and white prints, AM 47 fol., s.d.
• Microfilm (original), Neg. 619, from november 1981.
• Microfilm (archive), Pos. 570, from november 1981.
• Black and white prints from november 1981 (supplementary photographs).