Gripla - 2021, Page 15

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The two romances appear to be written in Thorkelin’s own hand and
may have been copied especially for the trip, with Thorkelin perhaps
thinking that there might be interest in Old Norse translations of Old
French romances in England. It is also possible that he copied them espe-
cially for Thomas Astle, to whom Thorkelin presented the manuscripts in
1787, according to notes that accompany them. The Elís saga manuscript
now has the shelfmark Stowe MS 979, but the Partalopa saga manuscript
and the parchment bifolium have at some point been combined and bound
together and now bear the shelfmark Stowe MS 980. The two parts have
a (later) running foliation in pencil: Partalopa saga occupies folios 2–38,
and the parchment bifolium occupies folios 40–41. Folio 1 is a small note
in Thorkelin’s hand with information on Partalopa saga, and folio 39 is
another small note, also in Thorkelin’s hand, with information on the
parchment fragment. This note reads: “Anecdotes of Several Archbishopes
of Canterbury written in the Icelandic language about the beginning of the
xiv Century,” and below that: “This fragment presented to Thomas Astle
Esqre Keeper of the Records in the Tower and at the Paper office F. R. S.
& S. A. etc by his most humble servant GThorkelin,” accompanied by the
year 1787 in Roman numerals.19
Thorkelin had been in contact with Astle prior to his departure from
Denmark and may have learned of Astle’s interest in old texts and manu-
scripts in their correspondence.20 As well as being the keeper of records
in the Tower of London, Astle was an antiquarian and an avid collector
of manuscripts, and although he did not own any other manuscripts writ-
ten in Icelandic or Old Norse, he had encountered them before. In 1784,
Astle published a treatise on palaeography, which included many engraved
specimens of writing from various manuscripts, among which were two of
Icelandic origin that had been given to the British Museum by Sir Joseph
Banks.21 These specimens were also transcribed diplomatically (albeit with
19 In notes that accompany Elís saga and Partalopa saga, Thorkelin writes that both texts are
transcribed from a parchment manuscript in the Arnamagnæan Library, number 533, i.e.
AM 533 4to, written in the second half of the fifteenth century.
20 A few of their letters survive, the earliest dated to 10 September 1784. See Harvey Wood,
“Letters,” 506, 545.
21 Thomas Astle, The Origin and Progress of Writing, as well Hieroglyphic and Elementary,
Illustrated by Engravings Taken from Marbles, Manuscripts and Charters, Ancient and Modern:
Also, some account of the Origin and Progress of Printing (London: s.n., 1784), 156. The manu-
scripts can be identified as BL Add MS 4892 (no. 26 in Astle’s treatise) and Add MS 4883
ANECDOTES OF SEVERAL ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY