Gripla - 20.12.2016, Page 238

GRIPLA238
Manuscript context
MS uppsala uB C 301 was produced in Iceland in the fourteenth century
but came into the possession of the Dominican convent of Sigtuna (in
Sweden) in medieval times.16 the manuscript is a small quarto measuring
210 x 140 mm and the pages are written in 27 long lines. It is modestly
decorated with pen-flourished initials, pen-stroke highlighting, and para-
graph signs within the text.
C 301 contains a sermon collection of 49 folia bound together with a
later tabula. the stock of sermons derives from the sanctorale of nicolas de
Gorran’s Themata sermonum with appended temporale sermons from other
sources to cover the major feasts of the church year. Within the Themata
section, omissions and substitutions of sermons indicate that the collection
had been tailored to suit specific local needs, probably at the episcopal see
of Skálholt. originally, it might have served a priest or even the Bishop.17
the Þorlákr sermon (fols. 4v–5v) has the incipit “Hoc honore dignus est,
quemcumque rex honorare voluerit, Ester. Verba proposita licet secundum
historiam dicantur de Mardocheo”. there is no known parallel in any
other manuscript.18 the sermon opens with the theme from Esther 6:11
on someone deserving to be honoured. It explains how the scriptural refer-
ence is literally meant in its original context, and then applies it allegori-
cally to the veneration of St Þorlákr by subdividing it into four kinds of
veneration: of a father by his children, of a doctor by the sick, of a master
16 Gjerløw, Liturgica Islandica, vol. 1, 72–73. Margarete andersson-Schmitt, Hakan Hallberg,
and Monica Hedlund, Mittelalterliche Handschriften der Universitätsbibliothek Uppsala:
Katalog über die C-Sammlung (Stockholm: almqvist and Wiksell International, 1988–1995),
vol. 4, 7.
17 the collection systematically reduces the number of choices for each feast, and some feasts
are omitted entirely. In addition, the texts themselves tend to be more concise by leaving
out subdivisions or arguments and by highly abbreviating scriptural quotation. Within the
ad status part, any sermons addressing religious communities are left out, while the sermons
on the duties of the clergy are expanded by marginal annotation.
18 See also Gjerløw, Liturgica Islandica, vol. 1, 72; andersson-Schmitt, Hallberg, and Hedlund,
Mittelalterliche Handschriften, vol. 4, 7. It must be noted, however, that sermon manuscripts
are to be found in large quantities in manuscript libraries, and that it might still be possible
for a corresponding item to be found, as the incipit list provided in Schneyer’s repertory
is not exhaustive. See Johannes Baptist Schneyer, Repertorium der lateinischen Sermones
des Mittelalters für die Zeit von 1150–1350, Beiträge zur Geschichte der Philosophie und
theologie des Mittelalters, texte und untersuchungen 43/1–11 (Münster: aschendorff,
1969–1990).