Árbók Hins íslenzka fornleifafélags - 01.01.1992, Page 94

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ÁRBÓK FORNLEIFAFÉLAGSINS
SUMMÁRY
Seven A's stand for Ave-Maria on an altarfrontal
An altar frontal in the National Museum of Iceland (Þjms. 4797) from the church of Reykir
in Tungusveit in northern Iceland probably dates from the first half of the 16th century. It is
worked in appliqué in wool, linen, silk and gilt leather on dark blue woolen cloth. On a cen-
tral panel of the frontal is a picture of the Virgin and Child standing on the crescent moon in
the sun. The Virgin is surrounded by 33 interlaced circles with pictures of women, birds,
roses and letters. The women's identity cannot be determined as they have neither halos nor
are they holding attributes or bands of inscriptions. Scholars have judged the letters to be a
symbol or a monogram of the virgin Mary composed of the letters A and M. Identical letter
A's can however be found on seals and in incriptions on embroideries and they may there-
fore simply stand for the letter A. It is furthermore likely that their original number was
seven as the uppermost row of circles on the frontal is in all probability a Iater addition.
In the well-known panel painting by Petrus Christus, "Virgin and Child in the Dry Tree"
from about 1444, fifteen A's hang from the branches of the tree. They are symbols for Ave-
verses of the St. Mary Psalter (Psalterium Beatae Mariae), which contained 150 different vers-
es, all beginning with the word Ave, and this psalter had fifteen divisions, the Pater Noster
being read before each section of 10 Ave-verses. The rosary consisted of fifty Ave-verses and
had five divisions, and it can therefore be ruled out that the seven A's symbolize the two
above-mentioned texts. On the other hand the so-called rosary of St. Bridgit of Sweden con-
tained 63, 72 or 73 Ave-verses symbolizing the years of the Virgin's life and one can assume
that it had seven divisions. It is, however, not known to have existed in Iceland.
Other devotions or prayers to the Virgin containing seven divisions are known. The man-
uscript AM 764 4to which was probably written at the nunnery at Reynistaður in
Skagafjörður during the years 1376-1386 contains 72 titles of the Virgin. In a short introducto-
ry passage those who read the names each Saturday in front of the image of the Virgin along
with 7 Ave-Marias are promised that they will see the Virgin in their final hour and that she
will make them heirs to her son's realm. In parallel series of the names of Mary in foreign
manuscripts Ave-Maria is to be read in between the names. Ave-Maria was also read before
each stanza of the devotion on the Seven Joys of Mary. Those prayers were translated into
Danish and Swedish and in some manuscripts they are accompanied by a promise of indul-
gences. Prayers to the Seven Joys of the Virgin have not come to light in Icelandic manu-
scripts, neither in Latin nor in Icelandic translation, although the first words of a prayer men-
tioned in a letter of vows 1403 might indicate that they were known in the country. The
theme of the Joys of the Virgin occurs in several Icelandic texts, iegends in Maríu saga,
Marian poetry and in Önnu saga og Maríu. Due to the great popularity of the prayers to the
Joys of the Virgin and the fact that indulgences were promised to the faithful for reading
them, it seems reasonable to assume that the seven A's were meant to be a kind of "aide-
memoire" to those who recited prayers to the Seven Joys of the Virgin before the Marian
altar at Reykir in Tungusveit.