Gripla - 20.12.2010, Qupperneq 65

65M A R G R É T A R S A G A I I
first end-leaf (1r) contains the title “Margretar | Saga” and the sentence
“Hamingia fi|lger og heijl margolld | þeӱm ä.” On the second end-leaf (2r)
is written “Þesa Bök | A | Helga Si|gurdar Dötter” along with “A þig
Drötten Treӱ|ste eg.” The last end-leaves (46v–48v) are blank with the
exception of 48v, on which it is written in what appears to be the hand of
the scribe: “Þesa Bok Hefur Att Adur | Sira Þorkell Gudbiartzson og |
Sӱdar Effter Hann Jon Biskup Ara|son Huoria Eӱgnadest Sydan | Helga
Ara Dotter og voru allra þe|szra Nofn a Sydasta blade A Bok|enne Adur
hun Var Uppbundenn | Anno 1689 þann 27 Decembri | JÞSmeh.”14
Underneath, the date 1716 is found along with a thank-you note for the
loan of the book. On an inserted slip of paper, Árni Magnússon provides
the information that the manuscript is “Fra Hr. Jon Haldorsen i Hiterdal
annammet med Buudeskib 1728. den 10. Julii. Var þä innbunded, enn eg
tok banded af.”15
AM 429 12mo is a small, stout vellum manuscript now consisting of 84
leaves. In addition to the legend of Saint Margaret, it contains a Latin verse
in praise of Saint Catherine of Alexandria, a Latin prayer to Saint Cecilia,
14 Kålund, Katalog, vol. 2, p. 479, reads “JSsmeh” instead of “JÞSmeh.” The latter is Jón
Samsonarson’s reading reported by Rasmussen, “Unpublished materials,” and later published
by Jón Samsonarson, “Ævisöguágrip Hallgríms Péturssonar eftir Jón Halldórsson,”
Af mælisrit til Dr. Phil. Steinsgríms J. Þorsteinssonar Prófessors 2. júlí 1971 frá nemendum
hans (Reykjavík, 1971), 74–88. According to Jón Samsonarson, the first two letters are
“samslungið JÞ,” and he further notes that “[b]ókina hefur Helga Sigurðardóttir átt, en hún
var gift Jóni [Þórðarsyni] á Bakka [í Melasveit]” (83, fn. 13).
15 See also Árni Magnússon’s letter to Jón Halldórsson (Jón Margeirsson, “Bréf Árna
Magnússonar til Íslands 1729 og fleiri skjöl hans í Ríkisskjalasafni Dana,” Opuscula 5,
Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana 31 [Copenhagen: Munksgaard, 1975], 123–180, esp. 148. In JS
272 4to, Jón Samsonarson, “Ævisöguágrip,” found two leaves written by Vigfús Jónsson in
Hitardal, son of the Jón Halldórsson, who in 1728 sent the manuscript to Árni Magnússon.
On these pages, there is a description of AM 428a 12mo, and Vigfús explains that the
comment at the end of AM 428a 12mo is “Eiginhandar skrif Jons sa. Þordarsonar ä Backa
i Melasveit skӱnugs og rädsetts manns, Eiganda nefndrar Bökar.” He further notes that
“Það sem aftast var ä Bökenne, og roted var, hafde hann siälfur uppskrifad ä membranam
i sama forme og Bokin var, og sydan läted Jnnbinda eins og ädur hafde vered. Enn þessa
membranam eignadest sydarst Prof. Arne Magnusson fyrer utvegun mins sal. fódurs” (Jón
Samsonarson, “Ævisöguágrip,” 83, fn. 13). Finally Vigfús Jónsson reports that he copied
the entire manuscript (“Enn Eg skrifade hana alla upp”), but, as Rasmussen, “Unpublished
materials,” points out, this copy must be lost, since there are no young manuscripts of
Margrétar saga II. Rasmussen also notes that Vigfús Jónsson’s comment in many ways
contradicts the information in the manuscript itself (“þetta er skrifad a þessare Bök | epter
gmlum kalfskinz Bokum || Og Epter Nýum Bænum vr | saxlendsku Vtlogdum”).