Gripla - 01.01.1995, Side 141

STEFANUS SAGA IN REYKJAHÓLABÓK
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manuscript, Sth. perg. 15 4to, and fragmentarily in AM 655 XIV and
XXII 4to.
In his edition of and commentary on the fragment AM 655 XIV 4to,
Ole Widding concluded that AM 655 XIV is a homiletic text related to
that in Sth. 15, Sth. 2, Sth. 3, and AM 655 XXII, and that these texts
derive ultimately from the same translation (p. 171). Whereas the con-
clusion that all the manuscripts ultimately derive from the same trans-
lation presumably is correct, his assessment of the Sth. 3 redaction and
its place in the transmission of the legend needs to be reexamined.
Widding’s focus was the text of AM 655 XIV, which he examined in
relation to the other manuscripts. The commentary on Sth. 3 is inade-
quate, however, and therefore misleading. Although Widding refers to
readings in this youngest manuscript, the textual examples are few and
especially in one case - the variants in the casket vision (pp. 154-55) -
prejudiced by his assumption that the scribe of Sth. 3 extensively re-
vised the text of his Icelandic source. This view is untenable.
The fragments AM 655 XXII 4to and NRA 67e have to date not
been edited, but readings from them are taken into consideration in
the following discussion. Similarly, the text of AM 661 4to, from which
C. R. Unger printed selected variants in his edition of Sth. 2 (Hms), is
drawn upon below.lf! Some significant variants escaped Unger, and
these play a crucial role in assessing the transmission of Stefanus saga
in Iceland.
I. A copy of an older lcelandic redaction
The major portion of Stefanus saga in Sth. 3 is a faithful copy of an
older Icelandic redaction of the legend. Contrary to what Widding and
Bekker-Nielsen believed, the deviations and additions in Sth. 3 do not
reflect amplification on the part of the scribe but rather variants in the
source, which agreed now with one, now with the other extant manu-
script of the legend. Ultimately the extant manuscripts derive from the
same, presumably 12th-century translation, which is transmitted in re-
1K I am grateful to the Stofnun Árna Magnússonar for ordering photographs of the
manuscript from Det Arnamagnæanske Institut in Copenhagen for my use during a re-
search sojourn in Iceland in 1991.