Gripla - 01.01.1984, Síða 295

KONUNGSBOK EDDUKVÆÐA
291
the Codex Regius shortly before Brynjólfur received it, but he also says that the
copying of the complete Sigurdrífumál could have taken place in the first decades
of the 17th century.
Nothing is known about the early history of the Codex Regius, save that the
name of Magnús Eiríksson is written in a margin. This was Magnús Eiríksson lög-
réttumaður in Njarðvík. Magnús’s wife was the half-sister of the father of Þor-
móður Torfason the historian. Arni Magnússon quotes Þormóður as saying that
his father had read Sœmundar Edda, which he called by that name, before Brynj-
ólfur received it. Magnús’s father was Eiríkur Magnússon lögréttumaður in Djúpi-
dalur in Skagafjörður. There are no reasons to connect the Codex Regius with
Björn of Skarðsá, but he could have had access to it whether it was in Skagafjörð-
ur or on the Reykjanes peninsula.
The earliest example of the title Sœmundar Edda is in Grœnlandsannál by Jón
lærði, dating from 1623, and the attribution to Sæmundur by Arngrímur Jónsson
lærði, Magnús Ólafsson of Laufás and Bishop Brynjólfur Sveinsson derives from
this.
A passage in Að fornu could be taken as indicating that Jón lærði had seen a
manuscript of the Poetic Edda other than the Codex Regius, but this is by no
means certain.
A direct connection seems certain between the copying of the complete Sigur-
drífumál and Bishop Brynjólfur’s activities in connection with Völsunga saga after
1641. The author therefore concludes that the lacuna in the Codex Regius occurred
one or two years before Brynjólfur received the manuscript in 1643.
Translated by Jeffrey Cosser