Gripla - 20.12.2010, Page 64

GRIPLA64
godt som hver eneste variant kan prioriteres ud fra den latinske tekst.
Versionens ordvalg afviger som regel fra både version I’s og version III’s,
og det kan konstateres at indlån praktisk taget ikke har fundet sted.”9
2. AM 428a, 429, and AM 433c 12mo
The vellum manuscript AM 428a 12mo comprises an older and a younger
part and consists of 48 leaves (including end-leaves). The older part, fols.
3–18, has, as noted above, been dated to ca. 1300–1400.10 It contains the
legend of Saint Margaret, which concludes with a Latin prayer to her fol-
lowed by a brief account of the death of her suitor Olibrius, two Latin
prayers (each with an Icelandic epilogue), and an Icelandic prayer. This
part has red chapter titles and red or blue initials; many of the chapter titles
have faded and are no longer legible. It also contains on fol. 3r a full-length
illumination of Saint Margaret.11 It depicts the saint standing under a tre-
foiled arch with the inscription “sancta margreta virgina.” She has a gilded
crown on her head, and her blonde (yellow) hair is falling over her shoul-
der. She is wearing a white and blue dress with a red cloak draped over her
shoulders. In her left hand, she is holding a book, and in her right a sword
whose point pierces a dragon by her feet. The younger part, which has
been dated to the seventeenth century,12 contains Catholic prayers, espe-
cially so-called “Maríuvers,”13 followed by an epilogue (beginning “Nu
Ender þær gỏm|lu Bæner [fol. 36r1–2]), and Protestant prayers (“Nockr|ar
gödar Bæner Nӱlega | vtlagdar” (fol. 36r11–13]). The scribe concludes with
the note that “Þetta er skrifad a þesare Bök | epter gmlum kalfskinz
Bokum || Og Epter Nӱum Bænum vr | saxlendsku Vtlogdum | Anno
MDCXC þann | xvj Martii” (fol. 45v10–46r4). This younger part is even
more splendidly illuminated with considerable use of red and gilding. The
9 Rasmussen, “Tekstforholdene i Margrétar saga,” vol. 2, 2–3.
10 Kr. Kålund, Katalog over Den arnamagnæanske Håndskriftsamling, 2 vols. (Copenhagen:
Gyldendal, 1889–1894), vol. 2, 479.
11 Halldór Hermannsson, ed., Icelandic Illuminated Manuscripts of the Middle Ages, Corpus
Codicum Islandicorum Medii Aevi 7 (Copenhagen: Levin & Munksgaard, 1935), 21.
12 Cf. Den arnamagnæanske kommission, ed., Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog: Registre
(Copenhagen: 1989), 32.
13 See Jón Þorkelsson, Om digtningen på Island i det 15. og 16. Århundrede (Copenhagen: Høst,
1888), 26, 39, 54, and 270.