Gripla - 20.12.2010, Page 45

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All three words pie (13), pudice (3), and humilis (11), which occur in line 2,
occur also in our carmen Latinum of AM 382 4to.
The remainder of the poem (lines 15-24) should be understood as an
invocation by the poet and saga’s editor, a plea to St Þorlákr to grant the
author the ability to re-write the saint’s saga truthfully, to make it worthy
of St Þorlákr and his endeavors, and to recount all of Þorlákr’s miracles
accurately.
It has been noted above that while it is not impossible that AM 382 4to
is a 14th-century copy of an earlier B-version, it seems most probable that
this very manuscript represents the original edition of the B-redaction.
6. AM 382 4to – A Complete Edition?
As noted above, AM 382 4to is heavily damaged. The manuscript origi-
nally contained at least 84 leaves, but only 56 leaves and fragments of leaves
are preserved today. At least 25 leaves are missing at the end of the manu-
script. It is impossible to determine the exact extent of AM 382 4to. The
fragments of 14 leaves, preserved at the end of AM 382 4to, all describe
miracles associated with St Þorlákr. In his 1978 edition of the Byskupa
s†gur, Jón Helgason presents transcriptions of the fragments and refers to
corresponding parallel passages in the C-version of Þorláks saga helga.85 It
is evident that the B-version of Þorláks saga helga contained a large number
of miracles86 and according to the Latin praise poem, the author wanted to
record “all the miracles of [Þorlákr’s] prodigious deeds.” The epilogue of
Jarteinabók II emphasizes Þorlákr’s innumerable miracles in a similar
way.87 Additionally, it contains the curious term ‘málgögn’.88 This term
may well be a translation of the Latin phrase oris munus (ʻthe faculty of the
85 Jón Helgason, Byskupa sǫgur, 328 et seq.
86 Guðni Jónsson suggests that the redactor of AM 382 4to added many miracles at the end of
the saga in comparison to the A-version of Þorláks saga helga. Guðni Jónsson, Byskupa sögur
I, XIII.
87 Ásdís Egilsdóttir Biskupa sögur II, 247–50: “margar jarteinir” (247), “ótallig tákn” (247), “svá
mikill fjölði gjörðisk at um jarteinir” (247), “ótalligum jarteinum” (247), “jarteinir ótalligar”
(248), “marg földum jarteinum” (248).
88 Ibid., 247. According to the word collection of the Dictionary of Old Norse Prose in
Copenhagen, the word ‘málgögn’ is a hapax, with the single exception of the poem Leiðar-
vísan (2) from the 12th century.
THE FORGOTTEN POEM