Gripla - 20.12.2010, Blaðsíða 46

GRIPLA46
mouth’) which appears in line 19 of the carmen Latinum. Another mental
figure of the Latin poem, the scythe of Þorlákr’s workings which cuts
away the thorns casting shadows in the poets mind (ll. 16-17 Te rogo,
thorlace, michi spinas mentis opace / Vmbriferas morum reseca modo falce tuo-
rum), is repeated in the prologue in the words “En svá sem hann var
byskup orðinn fágaði hann fagrliga ásjánu Skalholtensis kristni með setn-
ingu boðorða sinna, brot sníðandi lýti lastanna” [And as he had become
bishop he embellished and made beautiful the sight of Christianity in Skál-
holt with the making of his precepts, cutting away the unsightliness of
people’s vices].89 The epilogue of Jarteinabók II, furthermore, ends with
extensive alliterated prosody, using the stylistic figure of enumeratio, simi-
lar to the Latin poem preserved in AM 382 4to.90 It almost appears as if
the Latin praise poem in AM 382 4to and the end of Jarteinabók II are
reflections of each other, one in Latin, Þorlákr’s institutional tongue, and
one in the vernacular. Moreover, both the prologue to the B-redaction of
Þorláks saga helga and the epilogue of Jarteinabók II refer to Þorlákr’s ‘líf ok
jartegnir’/’líf og jarteinir’ [life and miracles].91 These two terms also appear
in the poem in the forms of facta (line 18) and miracola (line 23).
Jarteinabók II, which is a title invented by Guðbrandur Vigfússon, the
main editor of Biskupa sögur 1858-78, and taken up by later editors, is
merely the last part of the miracle collection of AM 379 4to and its copy
AM 381 4to, two manuscripts classified as belonging to the C-redaction of
Þorláks saga helga.92 AM 379 4to, which is a parchment manuscript dating
to the 17th century,93 was made for Bishop Þorlákur Skúlason of Hólar
(1628-56). Since AM 379 4to, however, and many of the miracles in
Jarteinabók II appear to be old, dating to around 1200,94 it is unclear
whether Jarteinabók II was originally attached to the C-version. As it does
not appear in any other manuscript containing the C-redaction, Guð-
brandur Vigfússon believed that Bishop Þorlákur Skúlason had found this
89 Ásdís Egilsdóttir Biskupa sögur II, 143.
90 Ibid., 250.
91 Ibid., 144, 249.
92 Ibid., 225–50; Jón Helgason, Byskupa sǫgur, 283–406; Guðbrandur Vigfússon, Biskupa sögur
I, 357–71.
93 Kristian Kålund, ed., Katalog over den Arnamagnæanske håndskriftsamling, Vol. 1 (Copen-
hagen: Gyldendalske Boghandel, 1888), 593–594.
94 Guðni Jónsson, Byskupa sögur I, XIII.