Gripla - 01.01.1993, Page 275

SAMTÍNINGUR
A COMMENT ON THE DATING OF AM 226 FOL.
The codex AM 226 fol. consists of 158 leaves, and contains Stjórn (fols.
l-110r), Rómverja saga (fols. 110r-129r), Alexanders saga (fols.
129r-146v), and Gyðinga saga (fols. 146v-158r). The last page (158v)
was originally blank; some notes added at a later date are now almost
erased. The codex is well preserved but is not complete; single leaves
are missing before and after the present fol. 99.
Apart from fols. 62-69, inserted in the fifteenth century or the be-
ginning of the sixteenth century, all the codex is generally considered
to be in one hand. In Postola sögur (1874: xii) C. R. Unger identified
the scribe with the writer of Tveggja postola saga Jóns ok Jacobs in
AM 239 fol. According to Ólafur Halldórsson, the hand of AM 226
fol. and AM 239 fol. is also the same as hand I in AM 233a fol. (fols. 1-
12 and 28-29) and AM 350 fol. (Skarðsbók), and in the surviving leav-
es of Óláfs saga helga in Bœjarbók á Rauðasandi (AM 73b fol.).1 Stef-
án Karlsson, who investigated these MSS in detail, came to the conclu-
sion that further MSS by the same scribe or from the same scriptorium
may be added: AM 219 fol. (and JS fragment 5, Lbs. fragment 6, and
Þjms. no. 176, all originally from the same codex), AM 383 IV 4to, and
AM 325 X 4to (and 325 VIII 3a 4to from the same codex).2 Stefán
Karlsson divides these MSS into two groups: (1) Skarðsbók, 226, 239,
233a and (2) 219, Bæjarbók, 383 IV, 325 X (and 325 VIII 3a), and
claims that certain differences in the palaeography of these two groups
could suggest that two scribes were here at work. 325 X (and 325 VIII
3a) seem to fall between the two groups, but whether this means that
1 Ólafur Halldórsson, Helgafellsbœkur fornar. Studia Islandica 24. Rv. 1966. P. 37.
2 Sagas of lcelandic Bishops, with an introduction by Stefán Karlsson. Early Ice-
landic Manuscripts in Facsimile 7. Ch. 1967. Pp. 19-21. In his article “Helgafellsbók í
Noregi” (Opuscula 4. Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana 30. Ch 1970. Pp. 347-49), Stefán
Karlsson adds yet another MS by the same scribe or from the same scriptorium, i.e.
Perg. 4to no. 34 III in Stockholm.