Gripla - 20.12.2016, Page 289

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Dating and character of the text
the text preserved on the three strips is missing several words and parts
of words at the beginning of each line, besides having a mutilated end-
ing, making the continuity and syntax of the whole difficult to ascertain.
nonetheless, a preliminary analysis of the names of historical individuals
that occur in the text allows for a dating with a high degree of proximity
based on comparison with established prosopographical data from other
sources.11 additionally, seventeenth-century regests of lost norwegian
letters with related contents may provide further information about the
original charters.
as will be argued further below, we seem to have a set of three letters,
written continuously and concerned with establishing related property
rights. While lines 2 and 18 clearly have recognizable epistolary salutations
(“ſænðr quediu”), which mark the beginnings of two separate letters, the
end of line 10 (“hefir nu bírt a brefue mínu”) also gives the impression of
an ending, especially when juxtaposed with the reference to a previous let-
ter in line 13 (“aa. fyrrſkrifuado brefue”), although there is some room here
for doubt. It is thus possible (but by no means certain) that a salutation is
missing in the lost beginning of line 11. If not, lines 11–18 could alterna-
tively be construed as an addition appended to the first letter rather than as
an independent letter. However, the witnesses in lines 16–18 clearly mark
the end of a letter.
In the first letter, at line 2, the name of the primary recipient is noted:
archbishop Eiríkr (“Eriki ærkibiſkupi”). the old norwegian language
of the letters shows beyond doubt that this cannot be Erik Valkendorf,
whose period of office fell in the early sixteenth century, so the individual
in question must be Eiríkr Ívarsson, archbishop of nidaros 1188–1205/6.
the second letter (lines 11–18) does not preserve the names of the sender
or recipient(s). at the beginning of the third letter (line 18), the name of
the sender, Hákon jarl, is fully legible (“Hakon jarl ſænðꝛ quedíu”). Since
11 the primary source of information about the political players of the period from 1202–1207
in norwegian history is the anonymous Bǫglunga saga, which covers events from the end
of Sverris saga to the beginning of Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar. See Þorleifur Hauksson,
Sverrir Jakobsson, and Tor Ulset eds., Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar: Bǫglunga saga. Magnúss
saga lagabœtis. 2 vols. Íslenzk fornrit 31–32 (reykjavík: Hið íslenzka fornritafélag, 2013),
including introduction and notes.
A RECENTLY-DISCOVERED FRAGMENT