Gripla - 20.12.2004, Blaðsíða 13

SOME OBSERVATIONS ON STJÓRN 11
unlikely that Torfi made his copy of Bár›ar saga in Skálholt, and later got it
sent to him in Copenhagen, where he was a student from 1642 to 1646. It
seems reasonably certain that he appropriated the 227 leaf in Skálholt in order
to provide his Bár›ar saga with a cover. Since the writing on this fol 129 is not
much worn, it had evidently not spent long as a book-jacket.
Other evidence points to the same conclusion. Árni Magnússon got 227
from Bishop Jón Vídalín in 1699 (Kålund 1909: 61–62), and in his own cata-
logue he says: „fietta volumen hefur fyrrum til heyrt Skalholltz kirkiu“. (This
volume previously belonged to the church of Skálholt, ibid.:5). Elsewhere he
records that the Skálholt inventory made when fiór›ur fiorláksson succeeded
to the bishopric in 1674, included „Partur af Stiórn (x aurar). Er i stóru folio“
(Part of Stjórn [10 aurar]. It is in large folio, ibid.:48). The National Archives
in Reykjavík (fijó›skjalasafn Íslands) have the registers (Bps A VII 1) which
record details of Skálholt property and its assessed value on transfer to a new
bishop. Fols. 113–14 contain a list of the books which Bishop Brynjólfur
passed over to Bishop fiór›ur on 1 April 1674. Nr 22 is „Partur af Stiörn, sem
synist effter hinna bokanna Virdingu x aurar“ (Part of Stjórn; judged by the
prices set on the other books is apparently worth 10 aurar). The same source
permits us to trace the codex to a still earlier period. It contains a copy of the
document transferring the cathedral and its property to Bishop Oddur Einars-
son in 1588. Among the books listed we find on fol 147 „Biblia skrifud er fleir
kalla Stjörn“ (A manuscript Bible which they call Stjórn). In 1644 Bishop
Brynjólfur had a valuation made of „gπmlu og onytu Skalholts Dömkyrkju
inventario, burtseldu af Biskupinum M. Bryniolfi Sveinssyni epter Hofuds-
mansins tilsπgn og atkvædi“ (old and useless property of Skálholt cathedral
sold off by the bishop, Mag. Brynjólfur Sveinsson, on the direction and de-
cision of the governor). On fols. 58–60 of the transfer registers we find prices
put on „öbrükanlegum Kälfskins bökum, sumum fünum, flestπllum skornum
og skerdtum, πllum gπmlum og ä flessum tïmum öbrükanlegum“ (unusable
vellum books, some rotten, most of them mutilated and impaired, all of them
old and nowadays unserviceable). Nr 50 among them is „Helgra manna
blömstra“, valued at one mark. This must be 227, for at the top of fol 1r of the
codex we find „heilagra manna blomstra“ written in a hand of the first half of
the seventeenth century3, with „virt 1 mork“ added by a later hand, probably at
the time of the valuation. There can be no doubt but that this is the same book
3 This title is adopted from the prologue heading in 227, where the book is mistakenly said to
be called „heilagra manna blomstr“.