Gripla - 2021, Qupperneq 23

21
bishops, and kings who have reigned in England since the birth of Christ.
At the beginning of this compilation, the compiler states his or her plan in
a short prologue:
HEr næst fysir oss at skrifa nockud litid af þeim byskup⟨u⟩m er
uerit hafa jeinglandi in cancía enn þvi næst af odrum byskupum ok
kongum er þar hafa rikt sidan guds son liet fædazt iþessa uerolld.44
(Now we wish to write a little something of those bishops who
have been in England in Cancia [i.e. Cantia = Kent], and then of
other bishops and kings that have reigned there since the son of
God made himself be born into this world.)
By stating that the compilation is concerned with the time after the birth
of Christ, the compiler may be referring back to a passage earlier in AM
764 4to, where a scribe (hand G) has copied text from Breta sögur, the Old
Norse translation of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia regum Britanniae.
This text is introduced with the words: “Her hefr ad segia af breta kongum
huerír rikt hafa firir higad burdínn” (Here begins the tale of the kings of
Britain who reigned before the birth [of Christ]),45 and concludes with: “þa
uurdu þau tidendi ad gud líet beraz híngad iheím” (Then those tidings oc-
curred that God made himself be born into this world),46 before the scribe
introduces text from Rómverja saga (which is written in another hand on
the following leaf). It made sense for the compilators of Reynistaðarbók to
stop copying Breta sögur at this point as the texts in this part of the codex
are concerned with the fifth age of the world, which ends at Christ’s birth.
Apparently, the compiler of Anecdotes has intended to continue with the
tales of the kings of Britain where they had been left off, and this time to
include bishops and other holy men.
Following the prologue, the compiler proceeds to tell anecdotes
featuring some of the archbishops of Canterbury, beginning with St
Augustine, the first archbishop (d. 604 or 609), and concluding with
St Edmund of Abingdon (d. 1240) and Stephen Langton (d. 1228).
44 Stowe MS 980, 40r1–3. Ólafur Halldórsson has remarked that the “hér næst” formula is
common in AM 764 4to and AM 162 m fol. when a new topic is introduced, e.g. at 9v40–
41 and 40v22 in 764 and 2v24 in 162, see Ólafur Halldórsson, “Indledning,” cxxix–cxxx.
45 AM 764 4to, 11v5.
46 AM 764 4to, 12v40.
ANECDOTES OF SEVERAL ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY