Gripla - 2021, Page 29

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tenced to lose their hands,59 but it ends rather abruptly, and the compiler
moves on to Dunstan’s death, perhaps thinking that enough space has been
devoted to Dunstan and that it is time to wrap up his story to leave enough
room for the other archbishops of Canterbury. In this concluding chapter,
which is a copy of two segments from chapter 14 of Dunstanus saga (in a
reversed order), the compiler first quotes part of Dunstan’s address to his
“kiæruztu brædr” (dearest brethren) before relating how Dunstan’s bed
was moved up to the ceiling and back down again three times by some un-
seen divine force.60 The beginning of the fifth chapter of Anecdotes, which
is devoted to Lanfranc, is adapted from the Marian miracle Af Anselmo
erkibyskupi; this is followed by the final chapter of Dunstanus saga, chapter
17, in extenso, barring the last three words.61
As was mentioned above, the first chapter on St Dunstan in Anecdotes
does not have a corresponding text in Dunstanus saga. This chapter
contains two legends relating events that supposedly happened during
Dunstan’s lifetime. In the first legend, Dunstan is among friends when
his harp, which is hanging on the wall, starts playing and singing all by
itself; only Dunstan sees that the harp is being played by King David.
This legend is found in all of Dunstan’s vitae as well as Vincent’s Speculum
historiale. The textual differences between the versions are slight, so it is
not obvious which one is the source for the Icelandic text. In the second
legend, Dunstan is working in his smithy when the devil in the shape of
a beautiful woman enters and tries to seduce him. Dunstan understands
the devil’s deceit and grabs the woman by the nose with his burning-hot
pincers. This legend is not found in Adelard’s Vita, but it is found in, for
example, Eadmer’s Vita and Vincent’s Speculum historiale. Either text could
be the source for the Old Norse translation.62
Although these two legends are missing from Dunstanus saga in AM
180 b fol., I would argue that they were probably once included where
there now is the second large lacuna. Fell has estimated that twenty-two
59 Cf. Dunstanus saga, ed. Fell, 17.26–18.10.
60 Cf. Dunstanus saga, ed. Fell, 23.10–13, 22.24–23.4.
61 Cf. Mariu saga: Legender om Jomfru Maria og hendes Jertegn, ed. C. R. Unger (Christiania:
s.n., 1871), 179.7–16/472.15–24; Dunstanus saga, ed. Fell, 29.12–30.6.
62 A different version of this legend has been printed in Islendzk æventyri: Isländische Legenden,
Novellen und Märchen, ed. Hugo Gering (Halle a. S.: Verlag der Buchhandlung des
Waisenhauses, 1882), 1:46–47. Cf. Fell, “Introduction,” lxxxiii–lxxxv.
ANECDOTES OF SEVERAL ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY