Gripla - 20.12.2013, Síða 244

GRIPLA244
scribal network 1: Prose and Poetry Manuscripts
the three manuscripts in the group containing prose literature will serve as
the starting point for the analysis of Gunnlaugur’s scribal network. Lbs 726
4to, written in 1833, contains Margrétar saga and a collection of ævintýri.39
íB 250 4to contains Íslendingasögur and -þættir and was written in 1834–38.
íB 277 4to from 1833–34 contains fornaldar- and riddarasögur, ævintýri and
some short texts of an informative character.40 none of these manuscripts
reveal any definite information about Gunnlaugur’s scribal network,41 even
though they are of great interest for various other reasons.42
the group of manuscripts with metrical literature, including rímur,
contain possible information about Gunnlaugur’s scribal network. In this
group there are 13 manuscripts that were written entirely or partly by
Gunnlaugur.43 these include a five-volume collection, written between
1840 and 1845, and a four-volume collection, written between 1840 and
1854.44 the manuscripts contain poems and verses from both the most
39 the date is written at the bottom of fol. 48v. In the catalogue of the Landsbókasafn, the
scribe of Lbs 726 4to is listed as anonymous, see Páll eggert ólason, Skrá um handritasöfn
Landsbókasafns, 1:332. However, a comparison of the handwriting and layout of this manu-
script and of íB 250 and 277 4to clearly prove that Gunnlaugur is the scribe.
40 see Páll eggert ólason, Skrá um handritasöfn Landsbókasafns, 2:788 and 793–94.
41 A comparison of Hauks þáttur hábrókar in íB 277 4to and Lbs 2796 4to, a manuscript owned
by Halldór konrektor ‘vice rector’ Hjálmarsson (1745–1805), shows that the latter could
have been the exemplar of íB 277 4to. A comparison of Sneglu-Halla þáttur in íB 250 4to
and Lbs 355 4to, a manuscript also owned by Halldór and with marginal variants from a
manuscript written by a the Rev. jón Helgason, shows that the text in íB 250 4to agrees
with the variants from the Rev. jón’s manuscript. this makes it possible that Gunnlaugur
used manuscripts that were once owned, or perhaps borrowed, by Halldór as his exemplars,
but this seems too vague for any decisive statement about Gunnlaugur’s scribal network.
42 íB 277 4to, for example, seems to be targeted at a female audience, as it contains mostly sa-
gas that have either female heroes or strong, courageous female helpers of the male heroes,
see silvia Hufnagel, “Sörla saga sterka: transmission studies of a fornaldarsaga” (Ph.d.
diss., university of Copenhagen, 2012), 146–48.
43 see Páll eggert ólason, Skrá um handritasöfn Landsbókasafns; and www.handrit.is for
detailed manuscript descriptions and photographs. the catalogue’s attribution of íB 27 8vo
to Gunnlaugur (see Páll eggert ólason, Skrá um handritasöfn Landsbókasafns, 3:6) is most
likely incorrect, as a comparison with the script of íB 277 4to shows.
44 these are js 254–58 4to and js 588–91 4to respectively, see Páll eggert ólason, Skrá um
handritasöfn Landsbókasafns, 2:537–38 and 602–3. the other manuscripts are Lbs 1213 4to,
Lbs 563 8vo, Lbs 1765 8vo and íB 267 8vo. If Gunnlaugur is one of the scribes of Lbs 1213 is
not entirely clear. It is doubtful that he is the scribe of fols. 74–91, as is claimed in the cata-
logue (see Páll eggert ólason, Skrá um handritasöfn Landsbókasafns, 1:473), but he is probably
the scribe of fols. 46–73.