Gripla - 20.12.2018, Side 242

GRIPLA242
Many of ferrer’s sermons, therefore, circulated not only in multiple
more or less abbreviated versions but also in multiple languages, and the
two sermons on which the Icelandic text in aM 696 VIII and IX 4to was
based are no exception. the Christmas sermon (theme: Natus est vobis
[Lk 2:11]) survives in several Latin versions — one of which formed the
basis of the text found in the early printed editions of ferrer’s sermons,
which began to appear in the 1470s35 — as well as in one Castilian version
and one (still unedited) Catalan version.36 The Christmas Eve sermon
likewise survives in multiple versions and in all three languages.37 To be
able to compare the Icelandic sermon to its source, then, we must first
determine which version of that source the Icelandic author had before
him. It is of course unlikely that the Castilian or Catalan versions of these
sermons would have been available in Iceland, since these seem to have had
a limited circulation and would have been of little use outside the Iberian
Peninsula and southern france.38 We are therefore left with the Latin ver-
sions of the texts. In the table above I present a passage of the Icelandic
sermon alongside the corresponding passages in the three Latin versions
of ferrer’s Christmas sermon that have so far appeared in print, as well as
the Castilian version for the sake of comparison.
the short note found in the Perugia manuscript obviously could not
have given rise to the corresponding section of the Icelandic sermon.
the version of the Valencia manuscript also could not have been the
source, since, in addition to lacking details shared by the Icelandic text and
the other, longer versions, it is ordered differently. for instance, in the
Icelandic sermon Joseph questions Mary after the signs that she is about
to give birth have already been described, while in the Valencia manuscript
Joseph asks Mary whether she is ready to give birth before most of these
signs are listed. the general order of the Icelandic sermon conforms to
35 Catédra, Sermón, 89; Daileader, Saint Vincent Ferrer, 194.
36 Cátedra, Sermón, 147–51; Perarnau, “aportació,” 671–72; Perarnau, “Manuscrits,” 202;
Josep Sanchis Sivera, Estudis d’història cultural (Barcelona: abadía de Montserrat, 1999),
220–21.
37 Perarnau, “aportació,” 644–45; Perarnau, “Manuscrits,” 166, 202, 231; Sanchis, Estudis,
220.
38 for a list of the most important Latin and vernacular manuscripts of ferrer’s sermons, see
Perarnau, “aportació,” 479–80. the contents of the manuscripts are discussed in detail in
the remainder of Perarnau’s article.