Gripla - 2020, Page 10

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ófeigs þáttr and vöðu-Brands þáttr. Scholarly consensus is that
these never appeared in 561.3
2. When 561 picks up the narrative after a lacuna between 34v and
35r,4 the story is very similar to that of the corresponding chap-
ters 13–18 of the C-redaction. However, the narrative structure,
wording, and sometimes even the character names are dramatically
different between these two segments.5 Near the end of chapter
18, the two narratives converge again with similar text.
3. Towards the end of chapter 21, the A-redaction manuscript
breaks off (at the words “gekk til”). A codicological analysis of the
manuscript quires conducted by Guðvarður Már Gunnlaugsson
shows that it is unlikely that 561 would have continued beyond
this point,6 meaning that the C-redaction’s chapters 22–32 are
unique to that redaction. The final C-redaction chapter 32 is a tale
about Þórarinn ofsi, his killing of Þorgeirr Hávarsson, and Eyjólfr
Guðmundsson’s prosecution of the affair. The story is a variant of
Fóstbrœðra saga’s account of the affair and ends in a lacuna.7
3 Guðvarður Már Gunnlaugsson, “AM 561,” 78–79. See also Adolfine Erichsen, Unter-
suchungen zur Liósvetninga saga (Berlin: Verlag von Emil Evering, 1919), 10, and Origines
Islandicae, ed. and trans. Guðbrandur Vigfússon and F. York Powell, 347–348.
4 Folio 34v ends abruptly in the middle of chapter 4. When 35v begins, it is in the middle of
chapter 13.
5 The medieval text on folio 37v was worn down to such an extent that even in the seven-
teenth century only small parts of it were intelligible. A hitherto-unidentified seventeenth-
century hand attempted to recreate the text with partial success, creating a narrative bridge
to compensate for the lacuna. According to Guðvarður Már Gunnlaugsson’s codicological
analysis, one leaf is missing between 37v and 38r, which means that the 210 word summ-
ary could not possibly have entirely recreated the ca. 1200 missing words (Guðvarður
Már Gunnlaugsson, “AM 561 4to,” 76 ft. 20). See also Origines Islandicae, ed. and trans.
Guðbrandur Vigfússon and F. York Powell, 430.
6 Guðvarður Már Gunnlaugsson, “AM 561,” 79–81. See also Sturlunga saga including the
Islendinga saga of Lawman sturla thordarson and Other Works, ed. Guðbrandur Vigfússon
(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1878), lvi, Origines Islandicae, ed. and trans. Guðbrandur Vigfússon
and F. York Powell, 348, and Tirosh, “On the Receiving End,” 22–26.
7 This tale is commonly referred to as Þórarins þáttr ofsa, though there is no indication in the
text that it is in any way separate from the main Ljósvetninga saga narrative, despite its clear
deviation from its main chronological and plot trajectory. For a view of how this segment
is in fact consistent with Ljósvetninga saga’s C-redaction as a whole, see Yoav Tirosh, “On
the Receiving End”, 165–166. For an untraditional interpretation of this episode see the
epilogue of Yoav Tirosh, “Trolling Guðmundr: Paranormal Defamation in Ljósvetninga
saga,” Paranormal Encounters in Iceland 1150–1400, ed. Ármann Jakobsson and Miriam
A STYLOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF LJóSVETNINGA SAGA