Gripla - 20.12.2016, Side 285

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leaves made of both parchment and paper. the manuscript contains several
Danish law texts, among others Valdemar’s Zealand law and Eric’s Zealand
law.1 Kristian Kålund dates the manuscript to the second half of the fifteenth
century.2 at the back of aM 22 4to, there are four additional leaves (fols.
243–246) which were written in the sixteenth century.3 It is not known how
or when the manuscript came into Árni Magnússon’s collection.
Dating of the old binding
the old binding of aM 22 4to, inside which the fragment was found,
appears to be an original binding. It is a dark brown full binding made
of blind-tooled leather on wooden boards. there are traces of corner and
center pieces as well as indications of two former clasps on the boards.
from the fact that the leaves only have one set of sewing holes it can be
assumed that this is the first binding of AM 22 4to.
the attachment style of the binding can be described as a so-called
“Gothic” or late medieval binding, where the supports of alum-tawed
skin are laced through the exterior face of the board instead of the edge.4
other examples of such an attachment style of the boards on European
manuscripts range from the early fourteenth century through the six-
teenth and seventeenth centuries.5 Bindings with this attachment method
often have shaped boards, as does the present binding, where the boards
are beveled toward the spine. this kind of shaping is most common in
1 Both laws have been edited as part of Danmarks Gamle Landskabslove. Med Kirkelovene,
udgivet af Det Danske Sprog- og Litteraturselskab, Vols. 5–8 (København: Gyldendal,
1936–1941). a translation is available in The Danish Medieval Laws: The Laws of Scania,
Zealand and Jutland, ed. by Ditlev tamm and Helle Vogt (London and new York:
Routledge, 2016), 111-232.
2 Kristian Kålund, Katalog over den Arnamagnæanske Håndskriftsamling, udgivet af Kom-
missionen for det arnamagnæanske Legat. 2 vols (København: Gyldendal, 1889–1894), I,
351.
3 Kålund, Katalog, I, 351–352. Due to an error in the foliation, it runs up to 246 while there
are only 245 leaves (number 135 was skipped).
4 See Karen Jutzi et al., Medieval and Early Modern Manuscripts: Bookbinding Terms, Ma-
terials, Methods and Models, compiled by the Special Collections Conservative unit of the
Preservation Department of Yale university Library (2015), 18 and 30, accessed april 26,
2016, www.travelingscriptorium.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/binding-booklet-2015.pdf.
5 J. A. Szirmai, The Archaeology of Medieval Bookbinding (Surrey & Burlington: ashgate,
1999), 174; Jutzi et al., Manuscripts, 28.
A RECENTLY-DISCOVERED FRAGMENT