Manuscript Detail

Parchment and paper.

All of the rectos as well as versos pp. 2, 76, 82-100, 106-112, 120, 128-130 and 136-152 are paginated. The pagination was probably added in the eighteenth century.

The manuscript consists of ten gatherings:

• I: 8 leaves (pp. 1-16), bifolios, complete.
• II: 8 leaves (pp. 17-32), bifolios, complete.
• III: 8 leaves (pp. 33-48), bifolios, complete.
• IV: 8 parchment leaves (pp. 49-60 and 73-76), bifolios, and six paper leaves (pp. 61-72) inserted between the sixth and seventh parchment leaves of the original gathering.
• V: 8 leaves (pp. 77-92), bifolios, complete.
• VI: 7 leaves (pp. 93-106), the fourth leaf is a singleton, the others are bifolios, complete.
• VII: 7 parchment leaves (pp. 107-120), the first is a singleton, the others are bifolios; nine added paper leaves (pp. 121-138) after the last parchment leaf. Johansson ( Johansson 1997 p. 26-27 ) doubts the gathering has ever consisted of 8 leaves instead of 7.
• VIII: 6 leaves (pp. 139-150), bifolios, complete. Wills ( Wills 2001 p. 44, table 3 ) suggests that the gathering originally consisted of eight leaves.
• IX: 1 parchment leaf (pp. 155-156), two paper leaves (pp. 151-154) inserted before the parchment leaf, and five (pp. 157-166) after.
• X: 2 parchment leaves (pp. 167-170), bifolios, four paper leaves (pp. 171-178) inserted after the parchment bifolios. Sigurður Nordal ( Sigurður Nordal 1931 p. 5 ) speculates that the last three parchment leaves (pp. 155-156 and 167-170 of IX and X) originally formed part of one gathering of 8 leaves, five of which are now missing.

The original part of the manuscript (comprising pp. 2-60, 73-76, 77-120, 139-150, 155-156 and 167-170) is written in long lines throughout with 31-32 lines to the page. The subsequently inserted paper leaves, pp. 121-138, are by contrast written in two columns with 39 to 47 lines per column, except for pp. 151-152 which are written in one column with 26 lines to the page.

In the original part of the manuscript spaces for chapter headings and initials have been left blank, and not all of them have been filled in. Initials are red or red and green. Sveinn Jónsson filled in chapter headings in Latin in black ink.

Many of the folios have holes in them, but usually with little loss of text. Some folios have tears, e.g. p. 23/24. On p. 85/86 the outer bottom corner has been excised.

Sveinn Jónsson washed the manuscript with urine, with the result that the chapter headings and many marginalia and initials vanished or became illegible.

On p. 120 the left half of lines 1-23 are now illegible, due to the glue of a piece of paper that once was pasted over them.

The hand of the original part of the manuscript is identical with the hand of Vǫluspá on fols 20r-21r in AM 544 4to (Hauksbók), Egils saga in AM 162 A β fol. and other manuscripts. For a full list, see Jakob Benediktsson 1980 11.

Sveinn Jónsson (or Magnús Ólafsson?) wrote pp. 121-138 in 1635-37.

Ole Worm may have written pp. 61-71 and 151-152.

There are five large initials. On p. 2 the beginning of Snorra Edda opens with a large A, a littera florissa with a descender running down the left margin to the bottom margin. On p. 17 there is another littera florissa with a long, now faded, descender. Additionally, there are litterae florissae on pp. 40, 94 and 155, albeit without descenders.

There are a large number of marginalia and additions, the earliest of them dating from the fourteenth century.

On the originally blank p. 120:1-23 and on 170:1-23, respectively, two poems to the Virgin Mary written in the middle of the fourteenth century in the same hand ( Edda Snorra Sturlusonar 1848-87 III.2 p. xlviii-xlix ) are found. The left half of the lines are now illegible, because a sheet of paper once glued over the lines destroyed the ink. Below the poem on p. 120 several stanzas – one of them from Hávamál – and glosses have been added.

Below the poem to the Virgin on p. 170 more stanzas are found; the first of these was printed in Corpvs Poeticvm Boreale I p. xlv, footnote 1 . It was, however, written by a different hand than the two poems. þetta er edda has been added at the bottom of the same page, and Edda has been added more than once.

The inserted paper leaves, pp. 121-138, were written in 1635-37 by Sveinn Jónsson who also wrote some lines on p. 56 and added the chapter headings in Latin. Jón Ólafsson frá Grunnavík added numerous chapter headings, glosses, summaries, etc. in the part of the manuscript containing the Grammatical Treatises. On p. 99 Árni Magnússon made a correction to the text.

In addition to a large number of (rather crudely-drawn) ornaments, we find marginalia consisting of numerous doodlings, scribbles and single letters or words found in the marginalia. A ink-drawing of a man in a short cloak, holding a sword, is found on p. 60. On every parchment page every fifth line is numbered, and chapter numbers have also been added in many places.

In the bottom margin of p. 147 we find the monogram of bishop Guðbrandur Þorláksson, and above this Finnur Jónsson ( Edda Snorra Sturlusonar 1924 p. i-ii ) reads Jon Sigm (Jón Sigmundsson, the bishop's grandfather). In the bottom margin of p. 76 is written: gunlaugr ormsson med eigin hand. This Gunnlaugur Ormsson may possibly be a distant relative of Arngrímur Jónsson. In the bottom margin of p. 1 Ole Worm (1588-1654) has added: Olai Wormii | Dono Arngrime jonæ | Islandi in the bottom margin.

The manuscript was presumably written in the scriptorum of the monastery of Þingeyrar in Húnavatnssýsla, northern Iceland between 1340 and 1370 ( Johansson 1997 p. 11-18 ).

Pp. 121-138 were written in 1635-37 by Sveinn Jónsson, one of the owners of the codex).

There are a number of theories regarding the provenance of the manuscript up until c. 1500 when Jón Sigmundsson, lögmaður of Northern and Western Iceland (1509-18) wrote his name on p. 147.

Finnur Jónsson ( Finnur Jónsson 1924 p. i-ii ) assumes that Jón Sigmundsson acquired the manuscript from Jón Þorvaldsson, abbot of Þingeyrar and his second wife's brother. Bishop Guðbrandur þorláksson subsequently inherited the codex from Jón Sigmundsson, his grandfather.

Sigurður Nordal ( Sigurður Nordal 1931 p. 18-19 ), however, proposes two alternative hypotheses on the early provenance of the manuscript. The first revolves around two large book collections on Iceland, those belonging to síra Einar Hafliðason (Breiðabólsstaður in Vesturhóp) and Jón Hákonarson of Víðidalstunga, owner of Flateyjarbók). Both theories posit that Solveig Þorleifsdóttir (d. 1479) was in possession of the book and later passed it on to her son Jón Sigmundsson, the man who wrote his name on p. 147.

The first hypothesis posits that Einar Hafliðason gave the manuscript to his friend Jón Hákonarson of Víðidalstunga. All the literary treasures accumulated at Jón Hákonarson's house were then inherited together with the farm Víðidalstunga by his sister Guðný and given in turn to her son Þórleifur who presumably also inherited Einar Hafliðason's library via his father Árni. (Guðný was also married to Einar Hafliðason's son Árni Einarsson). After Þorleifur's death, this imposing collection of books was divided between his two children, Björn and Solveig.

The second hypothesis relates to Loptur Guttormsson, to whom the two poems to the Virgin Mary on p. 120 and the last page have been ascribed (without firm evidence). Solveig Þorleifsdóttir was married twice, first to Ormur Loptsson, son of Loptur Guttormsson, and later to Sigmundur Steinþórsson. They had a son, Jón Sigmundsson, who inherited Víðidalstunga from his mother.

After Guðbrandur Þorláksson, his relative Arngrímur Jónsson owned the manuscript from at least 1609 onwards. He used when writing his Crymogæa and lent it to Magnús Ólafsson who used the book in composing his version of the Edda, the so-called Laufás Edda; the earliest edition of the Edda (Resens Edda) is based on this copy. In 1628 Arngrímur sent AM 242 fol. to Ole Worm who then considered the book his own property (see p. 1, bottom margin: Olai Wormii | Dono Arngrime jonæ | Islandi). The codex is named Codex Wormensis or Ormsbók after him. Willum Worm inherited it from his father, Ole, and bequeathed it to his own son, Christen.

Árni Magnússon acquired the codex from Christen Worm in 1706.

• Microfilm (master), Neg. 508, from 1975 (paper leaves only, prior to restoration).
• Microfilm (archive), Pos. 508, from 1975 (prior to restoration).
• Black and white prints from February 1980.
• Microfilm (master), Neg. 593, from 1979 (supplementary photographs, during restoration)
• Microfilm (archive), Neg. 972, from February 20, 2007
• Plate 11 from 1973? (prior to restoration).
• Plate 138, s.d., supplementary photographs.
• Microfilm (master), Neg. 599, from 1980 (during restoration).
• Black and white prints from September 1980 (during restoration).
• Microfilm (archive), Pos. 949, from December 18, 2006.
• Plate 110, s.d. (prior to restoration).
• Diapositives, pocket 17, from January 08, 1998 (coloured diapositives, 4x5", s. 18, 23, 73, 90, 95, 139).
• Pocket 17, July 24, 2003 (pp. 2, 84, 85, 57, 60-61, 91, 97).
• Black and white diapositive portraits, lomme 204/TS 204, from October 27, 2004 (6x6 portraits)
• Black and white diapositive portraits, lomme 241/TS 241, from April 24, 2006 (6x6 supplemetary portraits).
• Digital photographs, CD 7/Harddisk 1 from February 22, 2005 (pp. 33, 34, 35, 36).
• Digital photographs, CD 13 and 14/Harddisk 1, from May 17, 2005 (pp. 2, 8,9, 19, 33, 34, 60 ,61, 73, 84-85, 93, 120-121, 155, 156).