Gripla - 20.12.2004, Page 28

GRIPLA26
from Stjórn III. Since these were written by our Hands A and B, it is not
surprising to find that their texts are more or less identical to those in 227.
Minor variants suggest however that 229 was more likely a copy of the same
exemplar as was followed in 227 than a copy of 227 itself.14 227 cannot
possibly be a copy of 229, since the latter sometimes lacks words present in
the former.
NRA 60A is a scrap of vellum in the Norwegian National Archives
containing the opening of Stjórn I (printed in Unger 1862:xii) written by Hand
B of 227. The text is from the top of the left-hand column on the verso side of
a leaf. The recto side of the fragment is blank. It seems that this copy could
not have included the prologue since, if it had, its text would have carried over
into the right-hand column of that recto side, just as it does in 227 (cf. Selma
Jónsdóttir 1971:51) The text on the verso agrees with 227 but has a different
title, a fact which suggests, if anything, that the fragment represents a copy not
of 227 but rather of a shared exemplar.
AM 228 fol, from the first half of the fourteenth century, is considered to
be the oldest manuscript of Stjórn III. Unger took it as his basic text, sup-
plying lacunas from 227 and the concluding chapters from 226. It is certain
that neither 226 nor 227 is derived from 228. In 226 the book of Joshua is not
translated from the Bible but is an abrigded version of the revelant part of
Historia scholastica.15 It then continues with a Stjórn III text like that found in
227 and 228, though it is often shortened and to some extent differently
phrased. In places where the text remains substantially unaltered, it is closer to
228 than to 227. 227, along with its sister manuscript represented by the 229
fragments, appears to be a remoter relation, but 227–229 can sometimes be
seen to preserve a better text than 228–226 inasmuch as they have readings
which agree with the Vulgate where the other pair are at variance with it.16
14 E.g. Unger: 112 29 lukti ok hir›i mik gud drottinn 226] lukti gu› (÷227) mik ok hir›i 229,
227; — 172 12 gipta, 226, 229] gefua 227; —172 19 Jacob 226] iacob 229, iacobi 227; — 359
9.vi. 228, 229] .iij. 227; — 35910.vii. (1) 228, .vij da 229] fiorda 227; — 35910 .vii. (2) 228,
229] iiijra 227. The readings from p. 359 given before the square bracket agree with the
Vulgate; the roman numerals have been misread in 227.
15 Printed by Unger (1862) at the foot of pp. 349–364; cf. Fell 1973.
16 E.g. Unger 1862:3841 lopthusin 228, lopthusit 226] blothus .iij. 227, blothofin .iij, 229
(Unger emends to „blothusin“ corresponding to „locum idolorum“ in the Vulgate, Judges
3:26); — 496 26–27 fa›ir fleirra er nefndr Sarphia 228, 226] moder fleirra er nefnd saruia systir
dauid 229 (lacuna in 227), cf. the Vulgate, 2 Samuel 2:18; — 497, where the addition from
229 (227 is defective) given in note 3 corresponds to the Vulgate, 2 Samuel 2:9, but is lacking
in 228 and 226; the same applies to the addition from 227 given in note 7 on p. 553, which