Gripla - 20.12.2013, Blaðsíða 78

GRIPLA78
the manuscript has received little scholarly attention, and only one of
the texts, “eitt lyted æfinntijre og vtskyring, vmm Pyläti fæding, slegte, lif-
nad, og æfelok, so og Christi saklausann dauda og pijnu, og þad fleijra sem
þessi saga jnnehelldur,” has been edited.3 In 1853, George stephens noted
the existence of the manuscript in connection with his edition of the tale
of king Abgarus.4 In 1874, C.R. unger made reference to the manuscript
and commented that the legends of the apostles in AM 629 4to are derived
at two or three removes from AM 630 4to,5 which is in turn a transcript of
AM 652 4to dating to the thirteenth century and made while AM 652 4to
was in a more complete state than it is now. Accordingly, it is conceivable
that the exempla were originally in AM 652 4to. In 1973, Howard Martin
pointed out that the version of the legend of Pontius Pilate in AM 629 4to
is closely related to the danish chapbook “en kort Beskriffvelse om Pilati
fødsel: Herkomst, lefnet oc endeligt disligest om jesu Christi u-skyldige
død oc Pijne: oc om hans opstandelse oc Himmelfart: oc meget mere
som denne Historie indeholder,” which was first published in 1614.6 And
in 1994, ólafur Halldórsson echoed unger’s statement — as far as the text
of “sagann af Matthea Postula” in AM 629 4to is concerned — that the
manuscript is derived from AM 630 4to.7
this article presents an edition and discussion of the two texts in AM
629 4to that have not so far received any comment or treatment, that
is, the exemplum of saints Cyprian and justina, “exemplum af sancte
sipriano þeim Gooda Manne,” and the exemplum of the young boy who

3 Howard Martin, “the Legend of Pontius Pilate in Icelandic and Middle Low German:
An edition of two Manuscripts.” (Ph.d. dissertation, university of Wisconsin-Madison,
1971), 68−84.
4 “en ældre Papirs-Codex, no. 629 in Quarto, i Arn. Magn. saml. Indeholder Postula-sögur
efter en Papirs-Afskrift paa Island.” Tvende Old-Engelske Digte med Oversættelser og Tillæg,
ed. George stephens (Copenhagen: schultz, 1853), 56.
5 “Interessant er det i saa Henseende at sammenligne 629 qv., der er en Afskrift paa anden
eller tredie Haand af 630 qv.” Postola sögur: Legendariske fortællinger om apostlernes liv deres
kamp for kristendommens udbredelse samt deres martyrdød, ed. C.R. unger (oslo: Bentzen,
1874),vi.
6 Howard Martin, “the Legend of Pontius Pilate,” Amsterdamer Beiträge zur älteren Ger-
manistik 5 (1973): 95−118, esp. 117.
7 “Augljóst er að textinn er ættaður frá b1 [AM 630 4to], en talsvert er þó um frávik og nýjar
villur.” Mattheus saga postula, lxxvi.