Gripla - 20.12.2014, Blaðsíða 120

GRIPLA120
those that are ostensibly not ‘one of us’, and there is thin line between their
behaviour and that of Þórðar saga hreðu’s Ormr, suggesting that there is just
as much reason to fear the monster(s) lurking within every kinship group,
household or community, however difficult it may be to admit.
Conclusion
AM 152 fol. was very likely produced sometime during the height of the
inheritance dispute between Björn guðnason and Björn Þorleifsson and his
circle, perhaps in the first decade of the sixteenth century. Unfortunately,
most medieval Icelandic manuscripts have not been localised or dated with
as much relative precision as this codex, but it is perhaps possible to draw
wider conclusions from this study. given the cost of the manuscript’s pro-
duction, fornaldarsögur and riddarasögur here appear as prestigious types of
literature on an equal footing with religious and legal material. this tells us
that these types of sagas were promoted and sponsored by members of the
upper echelons of society and were not only designated for ordinary peo-
ple’s everyday consumption. they were clearly regarded as useful vehicles
to construct, communicate and promote certain ethical and moral values,
and ways to organise society, especially the dominance of certain groups
over others, based on factors such as social class, nationality or ethnicity,
region and gender. these sagas are copied alongside Íslendingasögur, shed-
ding light on the similarities and commonalities that they might have had
in their redactors’ and audiences’ minds despite their different settings in
time and space.
Much more could be said about every one of the sagas in AM 152 fol.,
but I have attempted to tease out some of its main themes, and what they
indicate about the manuscript’s milieu, its contemporary literary culture,
mentalities and social dynamics. the analysis shows that moral values were
encoded in the manuscript, and the narratives are full of characters whose
unjust, foolish, violent and immoderate actions prove enormously difficult
for its heroes, whose images are constructed as wise and moderate. the
privileging of these values and the condemnation of others may reflect its
possible patron’s self-perception and the image he (and his brother and
associates) wished to project to the world. this collection, when regarded
as a whole, expresses a great deal of fear about male behaviour, sexual and