Gripla - 20.12.2018, Side 35

35
BRYNJA ÞORGEIRSDóTTIR
HUMORAL THEORY
IN THE MEDIEVAL NORTH
An Old Norse Translation of Epistula Vindiciani in Hauksbók
the oldest preserved old norse text explaining the theory of the four
humours is estimated to have been written shortly after 1300.1 This rough-
ly 900-word-long treatise, connecting ancient and medieval physiology
to the character and dispositions of men, is preserved in the compilation
Hauksbók, under the title Af natturu mannzins ok bloði [on the nature of
man and his blood].2
the treatise consists of two parts, which differ somewhat in nature.
the first section is a theological preamble or preface, elucidating the divine
creation and the nature of the elements (hỏfuðefni; earth, water, air and
fire) and their harmonious interaction. the second part is a physiological
text describing how the elements are inextricably linked to the correspond-
ing four humours in the human body, followed by a systematic explication
of the constitution of the humours and their effects on the character and
dispositions of men.
although much has been written on Hauksbók, the context, origins
and nature of this treatise – which is unique in the old norse corpus –
has not been the subject of much investigation. finnur Jónsson noted in
1892 that it seemed to be a free adaption of De mundi constitutione.3 This
is an eleventh-century treatise on cosmology and the soul, written by an
1 See discussion on the dating below.
2 unless otherwise noted, all translations in this essay are the author’s. the treatise is on
folios 16r–17r in aM 544 4to, printed in Eiríkur Jónsson and finnur Jónsson (eds.),
Hauksbók: Udgiven efter de Arnamagnæanske håndskrifter no. 371, 544 og 675, 4 ̊ samt forskel-
lige papirshåndskrifter (Copenhagen: Det Kongelige nordiske oldskrift-selskab, 1892–1896),
180–82.
3 finnur Jónsson, ”Indledning,” Hauksbók: Udgiven efter de Arnamagnæanske håndskrifter no.
371, 544 og 675, 4 ̊ samt forskellige papirshåndskrifter (Copenhagen: Det Kongelige nordiske
oldskrift-selskab, 1892–1896), cxxiii. regrettably, both the false attribution of this work to
Bede and finnur’s claim that it is the source of Af natturu mannzins ok bloði have been taken
at face value in at least three recent scholarly writings on Hauksbók.
Gripla XXIX (2018): 35–66