Gripla - 20.12.2008, Page 66

GRIPLA64
3. Phases of Composition
As emerges from the dates above, Hauksbók appears to have been as sembled
in six phases, five carried out by Haukr and his scribes, and one carried out
by a continuer around 1350:
1. Folio 34r of AM 544 has been dated to before 1302 by Stefán Karlsson
(1964, 117–118). To explain how 34r could contain text that is earlier
than the writing around it, he suggested that in this quire, Haukr used
bifolia that already had writing on them. What is now folio 34 had the
lapidary written on 1r of the bifolium. 1v, 2r, and 2v were blank. What
is now folio 35 had Cisiojanus written on 1v. 1r, 2r, and 2v were blank.
In putting these pairs of leaves into the quire, Haukr refolded them so
that the leaves that were blank on both sides appeared in the first half
of the quire. Although Stefán did not address the question of the date
of folio 35v, it is reasonable to assume that it, too, is earlier than 1302.
2. Folios 1–19 of AM 544 and all of AM 675 have been dated by Jón
Helgason (1960, xx) to between 1290 and 1334, but Gunnar Harðarson
(1995, 42) dates them to between 1302 and 1310, a dating I prefer
because it is based on the research of Stefán Karlsson (1964). It is
possible that folios 15–18 of AM 544 were not written by scribes under
Haukr’s direction (Jón Helgason 1960, vi), but this does not affect our
understanding of the compilation’s overall chronology. In any case,
these folios contain encyclopedic items and Elucidarius. Some of the
scribes of this part of AM 544 were certainly Norwegian, and the
others probably were as well. Opinion varies as to whether the scribe
of AM 675 was Norwegian or Icelandic. This phase of the compilation
took place after Haukr became a lögmaðr in Iceland (1294), and it may
even date to the beginning of his career in Norway. Haukr was lögmaðr
of Oslo in 1302, and in 1306 and 1309 he is referred to as a member of
the king’s council.
3. AM 371 and folios 22–33, 34v–35r, 36–59, and 69–107 of AM 544
have been dated to between 1302 and 1310 by Stefán Karlsson (1964,
119) and to between 1306 and 1308 by Gunnar Harðarson and Stefán
Karlsson (1993, 271a). The two sets of dates were both arrived at by
Stefán Karlsson (1964, 119), who argued for a date between 1302
and 1310 on the basis of other documents written by Haukr. Stefán