Gripla - 20.12.2014, Page 240

GRIPLA240
Appendix
this appendix discusses the origin and age of the manuscripts analysed in this
article. We owe a great deal to Margrét Eggertsdóttir for the work she has
already done on this topic in “Hljómi raustin barna best.” this appendix is a
partial translation and re-working of her initial findings elaborated with new
information and insights on age and provenance of the manuscripts.
Origin and age of the shorter versions
JS 386 8vo, Hólar in Hjaltadalur
the oldest extant manuscript containing a text of the Christmas hymn is
JS 386 8vo, which is dated to 1684. the text on the title page, f. 1r, reads as
follows: “Saunguar og andleger psalmar af fromum guds ords kiennefedrum
samansetter vtuøldum gudz børnum til lærdöms ÿdkunar og vppmentunar
sem hanz heilaga ord elska og i minne leggia. Enn þesse Saungbök heÿrer til ad
eign Ehrugøfugre og gudhræddre hófdings jömfrü Ingebiørgu Biørns döttur
huøria hun liet vppskrifa ä Hölum i Hialltadal a þui are M.DC.LXXXIIII.”
the inscription of the title page names a certain Ingibjörg, daughter of Björn,
as the owner and commissioner of this particular manuscript. this is probably
Ingibjörg (1664–1709), daughter of the district magistrate Björn Pálsson.87
Both her parents were descendants of Bishop guðbrandur of Hólar.88 On the
front flyleaf, 1r, the librarian Jón Árnason (1819–1888)89 has written: “Þetta
sálmasafn gaf mér Þorvaldur student Bjarnarson frá Belgsholti 1859.”
ÍBR 7 8vo, North of Iceland
ÍBr 7 8vo is a psalm book written in 1693, as stated on the title page. In sev-
eral places in the manuscript (ff. 1r, 1v and 101v), the name Sveinn (or “Sveirn”)
Jónsson occurs. on f. 1v, both the text and the name written beneath it are
in the same hand. In Íslenzkar æviskrár, however, no Sveinn Jónsson who fits
within the time-frame in which the manuscript was written is listed. Sveinn
was probably not the scribe of this manuscript, as the bulk of the text is in a
more professional hand than that of the text he has written. Whether or not
Sveinn was the owner of the manuscript at some point is not evident from the
text, as no further details are known. According to the entry for ÍBr 7 8vo on
Handrit.is, guðmundur Einarsson (1823–1865), who resided in the north of
87 Páll eggert ólason, ed. Íslenzkar æviskrár frá landnámstímum til ársloka 1940, vols. 1–3
(reykjavík: Hið íslenzka bókmenntafélag, 1948–50), 1:242.
88 Margrét Eggertsdóttir, “Hljómi raustin barna best,” 167.
89 Páll eggert ólason, Íslenzkar æviskrár, 3:48–49.