Árbók Hins íslenzka fornleifafélags - 01.01.1979, Side 150

154
ÁRBÓK FORNLEIFAFÉLAGSINS
SUMMARY
In the initial letter to Hákonar sag-a Hákonarsonar in Flateyjarbók is a draw-
ing of two men which until recently has been considered to depict King Hákon
gamli and his son and successor, Magnús lagabætir.
This article draws attention to two details in the drawing which, according
to Hirönkrá (a Norwegian compilation containing instructions relating to a
king’s court), pertain to the ceremony in which a king creates a duke, specifi-
cally that the king should seat the duke-elect on a throne by his side, and
should place in his hands a sword and a banner (on which presumably are the
new duke’s coat-of-arms).
To further support the contention that the man at the side of thie king
ought to be a auke, it is pointed out that the circlet he is wearing is characteristic
of those worn by dukes. Such a circlet with quatrefoils is worn by Duke Skúli
in the portrait engraved on his tombstone, a fragment of wliich has been re-
cently discovered in Trondheim (see the references in footnote 7).
As a result there can be little doubt that the drawing in Flateyj arbók is
intended to portray King Hákon and Skúli, the only Duke Hákon ever created.
In the drawing Skúli’s banner is shown only in outline, most likely be-
cause the drawing’s direct or indirect model was an illustration in Hiröskrá or
in a sketchbook which did not detail the banner of the intended duke, and the
illuminator of Flateyjarbók, who was working about 1B0 years after the death
of Skúli in 1240, had not known the Duke’s coat-of-arms.