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drafts of textual works were commonly written on wax tablets, which
made it easy to change single words or phrases; scribes then copied the
final version of these drafts onto parchment.20 as far as medieval Iceland
is concerned, we find several references to writing on wax tablets in the
Biskupasögur and in Sturlunga saga. Bishop Laurentius wrote instructions
to his scribe on wax tablets.21 the cause of death of Priest Ingimundur
and his six followers was explained in runes on wax.22 Sturla Þórðarson
20 Roger Chartier, Inscription and Erasure: Literature and Written Culture from the Eleventh
to the Eighteenth Century, trans. by arthur Goldhammer (Philadelphia: university of
Pennsylvania Press, 2007), 1–5. after its introduction to Europe, paper was first used
for administration, e.g. for drafts and letters. See, for example, Erik Kwakkel, “a new
type of Book for a new type of reader: the Emergence of Paper in Vernacular Book
Production,” The Library, 7th series, 4 (2003): 237, for case studies of Duisburg and
Heidelberg; see Heike Hawicks, “Situativer Pergament- und Papiergebrauch im späten
Mittelalter: Eine fallstudie anhand der Bestände des Stadtarchivs Duisburg und des
universitätsarchivs Heidelberg,” Papier im mittelalterlichen Europa, ed. by Carla Meyer,
Sandra Schulz and Bernhard Schneidmüller, Materiale textkulturen 7 (Berlin: de Gruyter,
2015), 213–246; for Iceland, see arna Björk Stefánsdóttir, “um upptöku pappírs á Íslandi
á sextándu og sautjándu öld,” Sagnir 30 (2013): 226–236. this means that, with regard to
drafts, paper did not immediately supplant parchment, but that it first supplanted wax
tablets.
21 Laurentius saga biskups, ed. by Árni Björnsson, rit 3 (reykjavík: Handritastofnun Íslands,
1969), 101.
22 Guðmundar sögur biskups I: Ævi Guðmundar biskups; Guðmundar saga A, ed. by Stefán
Karlsson. Editiones arnamagnæanæ, Series B 6 (Copenhagen: reitzel, 1983), 68.
“HELGa Á ÞESSa LÖ GBÓ K”
Figure 3b: Bodleian Library, Oxford, MS Boreal 91, fol. 83v, outer margin with traced
inscription. © Silvia Hufnagel and Isabella Buben, with friendly permission of the
Bodleian Library.