Manuscript Detail

Parchment

Foliated in the upper right-hand corners of the recto-pages in red and black ink.

Alternative foliation from fol. 111r.

17 quires; mostly consisting of eight leaves (four bifolia).

• I: 1+6, 2+5, 3+4, 7 (7 leaves)
• II: 8+15, 9+14, 10+13, 11+12.
• III: 16+23, 17+22, 18+21, 19+20.
• IV: 24+31, 25+30, 26+29, 27+28.
• V: 32+39, 33+38, 34+37, 35+36.
• VI: 40+47, 41+46, 42+45, 43+44.
• VII: 48, 49, 50+51, 52, 53 (6 leaves; singletons are sewn together at the spine.
• VIII: 54+61, 55+60, 56+59, 57+58.
• IX: 62+69, 63+68, 64+67, 65+66.
• X: 70, 71+76, 72+75, 73+74, 77 (the outer bifolia has gone apart at the spine).
• XI: 78+85, 79+84, 80, 81+82, 83 (the original singletons, ff. 80 and 83, are sewn together).
• XII: 86+93, 87+92, 88+91, 89+90.
• XIII: 94+101, 95+100, 96+99, 97+98.
• XIV: 102+109, 103+108, 104+107, 105+106.
• XV: 110+117, 111+116, 112+115, 113+114.
• XVI: 118+125, 119+124, 120+123, 121+122.
• XVII: 126, 127, 128, 129+132, 130+131.

Written in two columns.

• Fols 1v-109v, den ældste del af håndskriftet, har 38 linjer pr spalte (med undtagelse af bl. 10r på 37 linjer, bl. 46v og 47r på 39 linjer, bl. 78ra på 36 linjer, 86ra på 39 1/4 linjer).
• På bl. 110r-132v, den yngste del af håndskriftet, varierer linjerne fra 34-48 linjer.

Only a few red rubrics occur and these are very faded. A few contemporaneous red, blue and yellow initials on f. 48r-v and a single red initial on f. 53 are so worn that they are hardly legible; everywhere else space are left blank for initials. At places, a seventeenth century-hand has added some initials in black ink.

Due to wear large parts of f. 132v are illegible. the manuscript ends defectively but it appears as if only one leaf is missing (f. 133) of which only a thin strip along the margin is left.

Hand 1: Ff. 1v-109v, the oldest part is written in a beautiful, clear and very practiced Icelandic gothic bookhand.

Hand 2 (ff. 110r-126va and 127va:13-127vb) is a younger hand. The style of the writing changes on f. 118r but the text is, however, written by the same scribe. The script of the second hand is much less consistent and appears more amateurish than the first. The size of the writing and the number of line per page differ. Occasionally variation occur because of a sharpened quill. Hand 2 displays two types of script: Gothic bookhand and gothic semi-cursive.

Hand 3: Ff. 126vb-127va:13 til and 128-132 (133r) are written by a third scribe. The style of this scribe differs considerably from the second scribe and appears definitely younger than the second. However, Hand 3 takes over where hand 2 left, at the same page, and the two last hands must therefore be considered as contemporary.

• Fol. 75va, the beginning of Ólafs saga Hararaldsonar has a major initial, a littera florissa with foliage. One of the branches extends all the way down the margin.
• Another major initial is found on fol. 78rb.

Both contemporaneous and later marginalia up to the seventeenth century occur. There are several personal names, apophthegms and other notes too; these are mostly from the seventeenth century. At the top of f. 27r a pen-drawn portrait of a man is found. Stanzas and pen-trials, especially on the originally blank fols 1r and 52vb, and also fol. 132v, where the original script has faded, have also been added. An otherwise unknown drápa (poem) on Ólafr Tryggvason in the lower margins of fols. 69v, 71r and 72r in a neat handwriting, regrettably only partly legible. Árni Magnússon has attached two notes on this.

On f. 1r pen-tails and stanzas in ferskeytt are found. Among the people mentioned, the bishop of Hólar, Gísli Þorláksson, can be noted. In places dates and personal names occur, together with a few corrections by Árni Magnússon. At the inner margin of f. 67vb opposite the words minn drottin fram sotti, the words + her var or blad are found - from which it appears that the source text lacked a leaf.

There are two AM-slips written by Árnirne Magnússon, inserted between ff. 70 and 71, and ff. 71 and 72, respectively.

• 1: Valldr nam vígs a kvelldi vitr um dd (corrected by a different hand to kong) at sitia. For i braut a baru bauglestir a hesti.
• 2: Þessar 3. visur: Vard eigi varr fyrr sverda do do hefi eg upskrifadar, og ligia "þær" hia mier medal quæda Hallarsteins.

Written in Iceland in the third quarter of the fourteenth century (1va-109vb) and the first half of the fifteenth century (110ra-132r) (Ólafur Halldórsson 196618,22 (1va-109v) and Ólafur Halldórsson 198222 (110ra-132r). Kålund's date: c. 1400 ( Katalog I p. 40 ).

According to Árni Magnússon's account in his catalogue of Icelandic parchment manuscripts, AM 435 a 4to, the codex belonged to the following people: Magnús Björnsson, lögmaður of Munkaþverá in Eyjafjörður who gave the manuscript to Jórunn Henriksdóttir, married to Benedikt Halldórsson (1608-1688) of Seyla, the Reynistaður monastery. The next owners were the bishop Gísli Þorláksson of Hólar and his wife, Ingibjörg Benedikstdóttir. Ingibjörk was the daughter of Jórunn Henriksdóttir and she must have brought the manuscript to Hólar when she got married to Gísli Þorláksson.

Oddur Jónsson, Klausturhaldari at Hólar (1675-78) and steward of the crown lands of the earlier Reynistaður nunnery (1678-99) borrowed the codex from Gísli Þorláksson and acquired it after his death. Then Christofer Heidemann, government official in Iceland 1683-93 owned the manuscript, and Thomas Bartholin in København got it from him.

Heidemann feck þessa bök af Odde Jons syne ä Reynestad: inter veniente, nisi fallor, Gudmunde Sigurdzsyne ä Alftanese: Af Heidemann feck Bartholin bokena Bokina hefr annars Magnus Biörns son lögmadur gefed Jorunne Henriks dottur, sem var qvinna Benedicts Halldors sonar. Halldor Þorbergsson skrifadi mier til 1703. ad Olafs Sögur Tryggvasonar og Haralldzsonar ä Kalfskinn, hefdi att Benedict Sal. Halldorsson, og vid þeirri bok hefdi tekid Sal: herra Gisle. Benedict var son Halldors lögmanns Olafssonar, og broder Hallgrims. biö ä Seilu, og atti þä iörd, hiellt og Fyrri Reynstadar klaustr hans qvinna var Jorunn Henriksdotter, hustru Hr. Gisla Þorlakssonar. Þetta stendur allt heima. Hr. Gisle hefur feinged bokina med qvinnu sinne, enn oddr Jonsson (þä ä Holum var) hefr feinged bokina (til läns eda ödru vïs) af herra Gisla imò, sic est. hann feck hana þar .

In AM 435 a, 4to, fol. 38v Árni Magnússon writes: eg eignadist hana epter Bartholin daudann. Bartholin died November 05, 1960.

Photographed in February 1977. The following copies are kept at The Arnamagnæan Collection:

• 70 mm, 70mm 197.
• Plate, plade 22, (fols. 69v, 71r and 72r, bottom half).
• Plate, plade 100 (wooden boards).
• Black and white prints.