Skráningarfærsla handrits

Parchment.

The manuscript is foliated by Jón Sigurðsson in the top right-hand corner (fols 1-19) or top margins (fols 19-64) of the recto pages.

8 quires of 8 leaves.

The manuscript is written in long lines with 35 to 40 lines to each page. Rubrics are in red. The verses in the text are generally marked by a v in the margin.

The initials are either red, green or blue or green/red or blue/red. The writer has originally left empty spaces for the initials and added instructions for the insertion in the margin. These have been cut away almost everywhere, but can still be seen on fols 41v, 42v-43v, 44v and 56r.

The part of the codex preserved is in a good condition. The manuscript ends defectively. According to Johnsen and Jón Helgason ( Den store Saga om Olav den Hellige s. 891 ), the lacuna consists of 13 to 14 leaves. A part of the text on fol. 7v is effaced and fols 29 and 52 are partly damaged with loss of text, a few others have tears and holes.

The manuscript is written in a neat and compressed Icelandic Gothic bookhand. The writer has made an effort to save space, which can also be seen by his very great use of abbreviations. He does not only use the usual abbreviations, but also omits the endings of words which he indicates with a bar. The hand is thought to be identical with that of Codex Regius (GKS 2367 4to).

Fol. 1r: Full-length pen-drawing of the enthroned St Ólafr wearing a flowing mantle and a hallowed crown, holding an orb in his left hand and an axe in his right. An imploring figure is lying prostrated under his feet (Satan or a blasphemer?). A turreted building or a church has been drawn behind Ólafr. Above Ólafr can be read: olafr konungr.

Marginalia in Icelandic and Norwegian/Danish occur.

• Fol. 1r: In addition to the drawing of St Ólafr, there are also verses in Icelandic from the second half of the fifteenth century or the beginning of the sixteenth. The first verse on the right side of the picture of King Ólafr reads: olafur kongr noregi | red likann hans hefi | ek aunguan sied haf |nar þor er en heidrar krist | hafdi hann alldri langa | vist. The second verse below the picture reads: Biarne hreppe blezan erna biarna hialpe drottin giarna biarna betrs | biarna godu uarne biarne hliote brvde kiorna biarna re stiarna biarne | drecke bior af hornum biarna alldri uiner se farner .
• 29v A contemporary marginal note reads: aue maria gracia plena dominus.

• Norwegian marginal notes from the sixteenth century occur on:
• Fol. 4v: Olafr tryggeß | vor gudfader | O. hins helge.
• Fol. 6v: gangerolf | nam nor|mandia.
• Fol. 7r: Einar | tabes.
• Fol. 23r: þorarī nefiolfson førde hræræk k: til Jsland.
• Fol. 23v: ewinder wrehorn.
• Fol. 40v: Biarmalandsferd Karls gusteins brødra ok þore huds.
• Fol. 41r: A hand points towards the text, and the two marginal notes read: jomali | biarma | gudh and ganwick i finmorck.
• Fol. 41v: geirswer, Tore| hundir | drap | karll, lengiowick, and langó biarkóy.
• Fol. 43r: Skat aff | island | Pening | for f nef | huert | þan er X. | we f alin | wanmels, Jamte | land oc | helsinge | land | bygdis.
• Fol. 58v: Ari prestir | þorgilson | skreff sogu | Olafs hins | helge.

The manuscript was written in Iceland in the first half of the fourteenth century.

On the basis of an identification of the handwriting of the marginal notes, Johnsen and Jón Helgason ( Den store Saga om Olav den Hellige s. 895 ) suggest that the Norwegian Lawman Jón Simonson of Agder in Southern Norway, was the first known owner of the codex. The codex was later brought to Copenhagen together with AM 310 4to and belonged to Ole Worm (the two manuscripts were bound together within the same volume at that time). After the death of Ole Worm in 1654, the codex came into the possession of his son, Villum Worm. Fol. l 1v in Resens Edda Islandorum reads: Olafs saga (historia S. Olai Regis qvæ MS. extat in Bibliothecâ Wilh. Wormii. Villum's son, Christen Worm, was the next owner, and he gave the codex to Árni Magnússon in 1706. The original first fly-leaf contains a note written by Ole Worm reading: In hoc libro continentur | 1. Sancti olai Regis historia | 2. Regum Norvagicorum res gestæ. This note was cut out by Árni Magnússon and pasted to fol. Ad 42r in AM 435 a 4to.

Árni Magnússon acquired the book from Christen Worm in 1706. At that time it was bound together with AM 310 4to. On fol. 40v in AM 435 a 4to he writes: Olafs Saga Tryggvasonar auctore | Oddo monacho. | Olafs saga Helga. | 4to. Þennan Codicem feck | eg 1706. af Domino christiano Wormio. til eignar. On fol. 42r he adds: Þesse bok er nu skild ad, og sin Sagan i hveriu | Volumine, med þvi þær og voru med mig ö-|likum hndum. Framan ä bokinne stöd | Doct. olufs Worms hnd, og hefr hann (qvod | certum est) bokina ätt.

• Plate, 81, s.d.
• Plate 83, s.d. (supplementary photographs of the initials).
• Diapositives from maí 1984 (colour diapositives).
• Black and white prints from febrúar 1967