Gripla - 20.12.2008, Blaðsíða 62

GRIPLA60
72v–76v: • Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks from the beginning of the
saga through the beginning of ch. 11
At least one quire is missing here, which contained the rest
of Hervarar saga. Two of its leaves were still in existence in
the seventeenth century, as the contents are found copied by
Sigurður Jónsson of Knör. Finnur Jónsson (1892–1896, xi)
calculated that the missing beginning of Fóstbræðra saga would
have filled about six leaves, so that the end of Hervarar saga
and the beginning of Fóstbræðra saga together could have com-
prised the contents of the lost quire. Jón Helgason (1960, ix)
noted that if this were the case, the end of Hervarar saga would
have to have been significantly abbreviated. Although he did
not dismiss this possibility, he suggested that there might have
been two or more quires here that are now missing, with one
or more unknown texts between the two sagas.
What is now the eleventh quire consists of eight leaves.
77r–84v: • Fóstbræðra saga from the middle of ch. 11 through the
middle of ch. 23
Folios 77r through 80r, line 26, are in Haukr’s hand, and 80r, •
line 26, through 84v are in Hand 9 (“the first Icelandic secre-
tary”), with the exception of 81r, lines 7–9, which are in Hand
10. The saga was possibly copied down between 1306 and 1308
(Gunnar Harðarson and Stefán Karlsson 1993, 271). Stefán
Karlsson (1964, 119) dates this from around 1302 to 1310,
but Jón Helgason (1960, xxi) pointed out that a reference to
the consecration of Bishop Árni Helgason of Skálholt on 77v
means that this can be no earlier than October 25, 1304.
What is now the twelfth quire consists of eight leaves.
85r–89v: The rest of • Fóstbræðra saga
This is also in Hand 9, with the exception of 86r, lines 1–7,
which are in Hand 11, and 86r, lines 7–13, 87r, and some lines
in the upper part of 87v, which are in Hand 12.
90r–92v: • Algorismus from the beginning of the text through
the middle of ch. 17 (the last chapter)
This explanation of how to do decimal calculations is a trans-
lation of the Latin poem Carmen de algorismo by Alexander