Gripla - 01.01.1995, Blaðsíða 174

172
GRIPLA
liel’s account of the burial in the Legenda aurea there is no mention of
coffins, only of the fact that the four are entombed in one place. Simi-
larly, when the bodies are recovered at the end of the Inventio narra-
tive, the Legenda aurea mentions only that the four bodies rest in one
tomb, while the vision granted the monk Migetius is not included.
A comparison of the dream in the Legenda aurea with that in Sth. 3
shows that this Icelandic version ultimately derives from a redaction
similar to Jacobus de Voragine’s text, for he provides not only an iden-
tification of each saint with the appropriate casket, but also an explica-
tion of the symbolism in each case. The Sth. 3 and Legenda aurea re-
dactions are also linked in that the sequence of the caskets shown co-
incides with the sequence of their explication.
How did this variant dream vision come to find a place in Reykja-
hólabókl There is every indication that the Inventio narrative derives
from an older Icelandic redaction, and this derived in turn from a text
that was similar to the one on which Jacobus de Voragine’s account is
based. In the source of the Inventio account in Sth. 3 no attempt had
been made, however, to reconcile the dream with the facts of burial,
whereas in the Legenda aurea the inconsistency was resolved through
the removal of specific details.
The account of the burial and the report of the dream in the Pas-
sionael correspond to those in the Legenda aurea, which is not surpris-
ing, since one of the sources of the Passionael as a whole, albeit of its
High German predecessor, Der Heiligen Leben, was Jacobus de Vora-
gine’s compilation. The legend „Van Sunte Steffen als he ghefunden
wart“ is headed in the Passionael by a woodcut depicting the sleeping
Lucianus with Gamaliel at his side, who points toward four caskets
(xcvii, b). The dream vision is as follows:
do wisede he em .iiij. schone vate. de dre weren gulden. vnde
eyn was sulueren. Dat ene gulden vat was vul roder rosen. De
anderen twe weren vul witter rosen. Dat .iiij. sulueren vat was
vul saffaran. vnde lede em do vth wat dat bedudede vnde sprack
Dat vat mit den roden rosen is sunte Steffens sarck mit deme
hyllichdome. De roden rosen beduden syne martele. vnde de
krone de he nu dreghet. De twe guldene vate mit den witten ro-
sen. de synt min vnde Nicodemus. vnde beduden de luttere her-
ten. de wy hadden to gode. Dat .iiij. sulueren vat vul safferan. ys