Gripla - 20.12.2010, Blaðsíða 47

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material elsewhere: “hefir Þorlákr biskup Skúlason fundið hann á einhver-
jum skinnblöðum, og látið rita hann hér inn, en þetta frumrit er nú alveg
glatað” [Bishop Þorlákur Skúlason has found it on some parchment leaves
and had it written in here, but this original is now completely lost].95 In a
footnote at the beginning of Jarteinabók II, Guðbrandur Vigfússon further
claims that this part of Þorlákur Skúlason’s version of the saga in
AM 379 4to must have been “niðurlag einhverrar annarrar Þorláks sögu”
[the end of some other Þorláks saga].96 From Jón Helgason’s personal
notes, it is evident that he considered the possibility that Jarteinabók II was
part of the missing arks in AM 382 4to. But he comes to the conclusion
that because some of the miracles in Jarteinabók II appear in AM 382 4to
in a different order, this cannot be the case.97 Nevertheless, a special rela-
tionship between AM 382 4to and AM 379 4to is confirmed by the fact
that 382 is the only other manuscript of the whole tradition which pre-
serves some of the same miracles as Jarteinabók II, and Jón Helgason, in
his detailed study of the tattered remains of AM 382 4to,98 notes parallel
texts in 382 for 21 of the 45 chapters in AM 379 4to.99 Since AM 382 4to
is mutilated towards the end, we are justified in assuming that further par-
allels were on the lost leaves, even the epilogue in the last chapter. As we
shall see below, Bishop Þorlákur Skúlason of Hólar, the owner of
AM 379 4to, seems to have had AM 382 4to, too, at his disposal, perhaps
before it was mutilated. He may have taken particular interest in this part
of the miracles of St Þorlákr because it contains a special section on mira-
cles taking place “í öðru byskups ríki á Íslandi” [in another diocese in
Iceland (i.e. the diocese of Hólar)], and another set containing “Vitranir
þær er Guðmundr prestr er síðar var byskup sendi Gunnlaugi mú[n]k at
hann skyldi dikta” [The visions which Guðmundr the priest, who later
became bishop, sent to Gunnlaugr the monk for dictation (in Latin)].100
The monk who is referred to is Gunnlaugr Leifsson of Þingeyrar, in the
diocese of Hólar.
95 Guðbrandur Vigfússon Biskupa sögur I, XLIX–L.
96 Ibid., 357, footnote 1.
97 Jón Helgason, “Archive Box 12”.
98 Jón Helgason, Byskupa s†gur, 328–337.
99 Ibid., 385–98.
100 Ásdís Egilsdóttir, Biskupa sögur II, 238, 243.
THE FORGOTTEN POEM