Gripla - 20.12.2018, Blaðsíða 38
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had a larger format; the outer margins have been trimmed to fit the size of
other quires. this raises the possibility that it was made independently and
inserted later – by Haukr or somebody else.17
the hand of the treatise, which Jón called the “second norwegian
hand,” appears on four consecutive leaves in this gathering (folios 15r–18v
line 31).18 Stefán Karlsson and Gunnar Harðarson have estimated that
this text was written at about the same time as Haukr’s own portions of
Hauksbók.19
Surrounding the treatise on the humours in this gathering are tracts
mainly on theological subjects. the source of the exempla preceding it (on
folios 15r–16r) has been identified as Disciplina clericalis by the Spanish
Christian writer Peter alfonsi (1062–c. 1140).20 Succeeding our treatise is
a text on Seth’s journey to paradise. Both are written in the same hand as
Af natturu mannzins ok bloði.
the orthography and linguistic features of the text in the “second
norwegian hand” has been described by finnur Jónsson.21 He remarks that
despite a few norwegian features in the orthography, both the language and
the orthography are on the whole Icelandic.22 finnur therefore concludes
that the scribe was norwegian but copying an Icelandic original.23
the theological section of the text
We first turn to the first part of Af natturu mannzins ok bloði.24 It tells
of how God created earth, water, air and fire, and how these elements
interact in harmony. the elements are layered: uppermost in the world is
17 See ibid., vi. See also Gunnar Harðarson, “Hauksbók og alfræðirit miðalda,” 139;
Wellendorf, “universalist aspirations in Hauksbók,” 54-55.
18 See Jón Helgason, “Introduction,” xi.
19 Gunnar Harðarson and Stefán Karlsson, “Hauksbók,” Medieval Scandinavia: An
Encyclopaedia, ed. by Phillip Pulsiano and Kirsten Wolf (London: Garland, 1993), 271; see
also finnur Jónsson, “Indledning,” xxxvi.
20 Sveinbjörn rafnsson, “Sagnastef í íslenskri menningarsögu,” Saga 30 (1992): 83, 99–101.
The text in gathering three begins in medias res and was thus presumably preceded by a now
lost quire including more of Disciplina clericalis. See ibid., 82–85.
21 finnur Jónsson, “Indledning,” xxxi–xxxvi.
22 Ibid., xxxv.
23 Ibid., xxxv–xxxvi.
24 Hauksbók, 180:7–181:15, Inc. “allzvalltandi guð...” Exp. “...veralldligum kykvendum.”