Gripla - 01.01.2000, Qupperneq 221

SAINT WALBURGA
219
vt ægram visitaremus. Quö; cum venissemus, illa toruis oculis in nos intenta,
vix nos cognoscebat: quia plerumque hominum notorum, siue etiam familiæ
cognitionem amittebat. Commiserati eius vexationem, fecimus eam flumen
transferri, & ante altare S. Walburgæ poni. Post paucos autem dies orationi-
bus & meritis sanct? Virginis, pristinæ sanitati est restituta, magnumque
gaudium non solum nobis fecit, sed etiam suis domi attulit. Si testem huius
signi habere cupis, fratrem tuum, an ita se res habeat, interrogabis; qui hanc,
marito suo in illá miserabili cæde Frisiorum interfecto, duxit vxorem.
As to how the Latin accounts of Saint Walburga found their way to Ice-
land, Bekker-Nielsen (1963:104) suggests that a retuming pilgrim or student
brought them with him possibly from Tiel, which was an important port. He
emphasizes the fact that the story of Saint Walburga’s life and miracles was
in some respects a rarity, since she was not included in the Legenda aurea
through which she could have been known in Iceland. While it is tme that
Saint Walburga is not included in Graesse’s (1890) edition of the Legenda
aurea, it should be stressed that the Legenda aurea tradition did not by any
means remain stable throughout the Middle Ages. In fact, the Legenda aurea
seems to have continually expanded to include additional lives. Cult interest
is, of course, a major reason for these additions, but the specific needs of
monastic communities must also have been a primary factor. Legends were
the most commonly used literature in daily communal readings, and the
“original” corpus of the Legenda aurea could provide only about 170 at the
most for this purpose. Williams-Krapp (1986:231) notes that an anonymous
Latin Legenda aurea printing of around 1470 contained no fewer than 448
saints’ lives. While it may be that the legend of Saint Walburga came to Ice-
land independent of any legendaries, the possibility that it was included in a
Legenda aurea type legendary that comprised, perhaps, also the lives of
Saints Cuthbert and Bede cannot be excluded."
The hand at fol. 34 of AM 764 4to is discussed in more detail in an unpublished dissertation by
Svanhildur Óskarsdóttir, Universal history in fourteenth-century lceiand (London, 2000), at pp.
29-30 and 40-43. Ólafur Halldórsson has also made a recent examination of the manuscript:
see Ólafs saga Tryggvasonar hin mesta III (EA A3, Copenhagen, 2000) at pp. 101- 108.
Readers are also referred to Svanhildur’s article in this edition of Gripla, pp. 79-124. Editors.