„Haraldr hiɴ harfagri var konungr ifer ollom noregi langa æfi.“
„ ok sato at þeim svalþe sem | betz.“
Fornmanna sögur IV s. 6-386; V s. 1-66:1 The shelfmark referred to is AM 75 d fol. Ed. B
Rafn, Antiquités Russes I s. 427-477 Excerpts. The shelfmark referred to is AM 75 d fol. Ed. B
Johnsen and Jón Helgason, Den store saga om Olav den Hellige I s. 6-554:11
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.
The manuscript was once bound in a grey cardboard binding. This was replaced with a half binding with spine and corners of cloth and marbled side-paper in the 1880s. A rebinding took place in 1935 by Carl Lund, and now the manuscript is bound in a parchment cover with the title in gold printed on the upper board.
When Árni Magnússon acquired the manuscript, it was bound together with another manuscript (presumably AM 310 4to) in one single volume; he separated them into two. Ole Worm has made a list of contents on the first fly-leaf, which was cut away by Árni Magnússon and pasted to fol. 42r in his catalogue of Icelandic parchment manuscripts, now known as AM 435 a 4to. It reads: In hoc libro continentur | 1. Sancti olai Regis historia | 2. Regum Norvagicorum res gestæ. Árni Magnússon has also written the following account in the same place: Þesse bok er nu skild ad, og sin Sagan i hveriu | Volumine, med þvi þær og voru med mig ö-|likum hndum.
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 mig ö-|likum hndum. Framan ä bokinne stöd | Doct. olufs Worms hnd, og hefr hann (qvod | certum est) bokina ätt.
Catalogued 11. nóvember 1999 by EW-J