Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1943, Page 23

XXI
that he continued these studies after the appearance of the Saxo
edition, and in his correspondence we can follow their course for
some time yet. On the 8th of May 1648 Ole Worm writes to Bishop
Brynjålfur thanking him on behalf of Otte Krag for the present
treatise, as Krag was at that time too busy with the preparations
for the election of the king to write himself. Worm invites Brynjålfur
to publish his Conjectanea and expresses Krag’s and his own interest
in them1. Brynjålfur replies the same year (15/7) that he has not
yet been able to finish his studies owing to stress of work and want
of help. He likewise complains of the lack of books through which
he can make comparisons with the classical literature. In this con-
nection he also mentions his plans for a work “De prisco septentrionis
dogmate” (see below p. 343 with note). In order to be able to carry
out these plans he needs classical literature for comparison and sends
a long list of classical authors which he asks Worm to procure for
him2. The next year (10/5 1649) Worm again requests Brynjålfur
to finish the Conjectanea3 and this time Brynjolfur sends him a
sample of them, viz. the first two sections (pericula). In the accom-
panying letter (23/7 1649) Brynjolfur asks him to show the sample
to Krag4, which he in faet did, according to his later letters to Bryn-
jålfur. In these Worm continued to encourage Brynjålfur to go on
with and conclude the Conjectanea5, but Brynjålfur never parted
with more than the first two sections.
The two above-mentioned “pericula” are still preserved in AM
856, 4to, for the most part written in the hånd of Brynjålfur himself.
The preface (dated 13/4 1649) contains an extravagant eulogy of
Stephanius, Worm, and Krag. The first section comprises the etymo-
logies of the names Saxo and Suno (= Sune)6 as well as some
general remarks on Nordic names. The second section is in the main
a reproduction of Kråka-Ref’s Saga, because its principal character
according to the saga was the first ancestor of Bishop Absalon and
1 Wormii Epp. II 1036.
2 Ibid. II 1039-40.
2 Ibid. II 1046.
4 Ibid. II 1048-49.
5 Ibid. II 1053, 1054-55, 1068.
6 Father of Bishop Andreas Sunesøn, to whom Saxo has addressed the preface
of his work.