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holld ok blod d(rottins) v(ors)” (26v/18–20). as the homily is acephalous,
it is impossible to be certain which day in Lent it was intended for, but the
author’s concern with establishing the correct way to observe the season
points to an earlier rather than later occasion, probably ash Wednesday or
the first Sunday of Lent. roughly the first half of the surviving portion of
the homily deals with various charitable or penitential acts or practices that
we should perform as recompense for the various sufferings Christ endur-
ed and the benefits he bestowed (25r/1–25v/8). this theme develops into
a rather standard list of sins to avoid and virtues to adopt (25v/8–26r/13),
which is followed by a striking portrayal of the season of Lent as a spiritual
battlefield, in which all Christians stand arrayed in formation against the
devil, while Christ looks on from heaven and provides his people with
aid (26r/14 –26v/2).39 the strongest weapons in this fight are, as one
might expect, identified as fasting, prayer, and almsgiving (26v/2–16). the
conclusion, as noted above, is an exhortation to observe Lent properly so
as to receive the Eucharist worthily on Easter (26v/16–27r/4). I have been
unable to identify a source for this piece, although much of its content is
conventional for Lenten homilies.
5. Conclusion
the homiletic texts from aM 624 4to edited here offer us new sources
of evidence not only for Icelandic preaching practices at the turn of the
sixteenth century, but also (at least in the case of the annunciation homily)
for the transmission and reuse of homilies from much earlier periods.
fifteenth- and early sixteenth-century homiletic manuscripts have suffered
severe scholarly neglect in comparison with the earliest norse homily
books, but the evidence of aM 624 4to proves that medieval Icelandic
preaching texts of real historical and literary value await rediscovery in
these late manuscripts. Whether these homilies are copies of older pieces
or original compositions of the late Middle ages, their survival and use
can provide valuable information about the religious culture of Iceland
during its last decades as a Catholic country. Such texts must receive the
39 on similar imagery in the Lenten sermons of Vincent ferrer (d. 1419), see Katherine
Lindeman, “fighting Words: Vengenace, Jews, and Saint Vicent ferrer in Late-Medieval
Valencia,” Speculum 91 (2016): 701–702.
AN OLD NORSE HOMILY