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approaches. the two manuscripts are nonetheless linked through shared
ornamental images.
In 1967, Stefán Karlsson suggested in a lecture to the Félag íslenskra
fræða that a further fragment written by H Kri 1 in the second half of the
thirteenth century, the Maríu saga fragment NRA 78, should be added to
the Kringla group.19 Later on, however, Stefán withdrew his initial sugges-
tion and proposed that nra 78 was either written by H Kri 1 significantly
later than the other manuscripts and fragments, or by a second scribe with
an orthography close to that of H Kri 1.20 I am inclined to follow Stefán’s
later reservation regarding his original idea about H Kri 1 and NRA 78.
nevertheless, due to the particular orthography of the second scribe (H
Kri 5 in my terminology), it appears obvious that he must have obtained
his skills in the same geographical area as H Kri 1, possibly even in the
same scriptorium.
In relation to the manuscripts and fragments of the Kringla group, the
book painting of nra 78 is unusual. upon closer investigation, this frag-
ment is closely linked with the second of the two main groups discussed
here, the Barðastrandarsýsla group. the fragment features a large initial
painted by an illuminator (a Bar 1) known from this slightly younger man-
uscript group from a similarly unknown location in the west of Iceland.21
Jonna Louis-Jensen has suggested that the group originated from the
established secular farm at Vatnsfjörður.22 However, little is known about
the existence of such a scriptorium before 1468, when sources prove that
there was a skrifstofa at that location.23 On the basis of lack of evidence,
Lena Liepe recently rejected Louis-Jensen’s theory, and instead suggested
the site of production to have been an unknown ecclesiastical institution
19 Jónas Kristjánsson, Skrá um íslenzk handrit í Noregi (reykjavík: not published, 1967).
20 Stefán Karlsson, “Kringum Kringlu,” 21.
21 the group was established by Jonna Louis-Jensen, Kongesagastudier. Kompilationen Hulda-
Hrokkinskinna (Copenhagen: C. a. reitzels Boghandel, 1977), 19–20; Stefán Karlsson,
Introduction to Guðmundar sögur biskups I. Ævi Guðmundar biskups. Guðmundar saga A
(Copenhagen: C. a. reitzels forlag, 1983), xxx–xlii; and Lena Liepe, Studies, 231.
22 Jonna Louis-Jensen, “fra skriptoriet i Vatnsfjörður i Eiríkr Sveinbjarnarsons tid,” Reykholt
som makt- og lærdomssenter i den islandske og nordiske kontekst, ed. Else Mundal (reykholt:
Snorrastofa, 2006), 130–38.
23 Diplomatarium Islandicum, Íslenzkt fornbréfasafn V, ed. Jón Þorkelsson (Copenhagen and
reykjavík: S. L. Møller and félagsprentsmiðja, 1899–1902), 517.
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT PRODUCTION