Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1957, Page 112
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INTRODUCTION
of P. M. den Hoed (Haarlem 1928) and to Safn FræSafélags-
ins IX 446-50.
II. Sagas of Icelanders.
16. Vatnshyrna. AJ refers four times in Crymogæa to a manu-
script of this name (II 5719’32, 6914, 10015; the form is Watz-
hyrna). The quotations he gives are from Kjalnesinga saga (the
first two), PårSar saga hreSu and BårSar saga Snæfellsåss. With
the help of these quotations, GuSbrandur Vigfusson was able to
identify the manuscript (see Fornsogur, hrsg. v. GuSbr. Vigfus-
son und Th. Mobius, Leipzig 1860, xiv-xvi; BårSar saga
Snæfellsåss, 1860, ix-xi). In the seventeenth century the manu-
script was divided into two parts, one of which came first into
P. Resen’s hånds and then to the University Library, Copen-
hagen, where it was burnt in 1728; eight leaves of the other part
are preserved in AM 564 a 4to. We have copies of most of the
texts originally contained in the codex. Its contents when whole
were: 1) the Resenian vellum: Floamanna saga, Laxdæla saga,
Hænsa-Poris saga, Vatnsdæla saga, Eyrbyggja saga, Kjalnesinga
saga, Kråka-Refs saga; 2) AM 564 a 4to: BårSar saga, PorSar
saga hreSu, Bergbua Jsåttr, Kumblbua J)åttr, Draumr Porsteins
SiSu-Hallssonar, Viga-Glums saga and HarSar saga.—From the
sections which here follow below, it will be seen that AJ used all
the sagas in 1 and BårSar saga and PorSar saga from 2. It is
reasonably certain therefore that Vatnshyrna was AJ’s source
for all these texts. There is at least nothing which suggests the
use of different sources, except possibly in the case of Eyrbyggja
saga, see no. 19 below. From the fragments in AM 564 a 4to, it
appears that HarSar saga followed immediately after Viga-
Glums saga, but naturally wre cannot decide their position in the
manuscript when whole. Since AJ does not seem to have known
these two sagas, it is tempting however to assume that they were
already missing from Vatnshyrna when it came to him. This as-
sumption is supported by the faet that no paper copies from
Vatnshyrna are known of these two sagas. One might believe that
they were the last sagas in the codex and were lost, at least in
part, at an early date. The name Vatnshyrna (Arni Magnusson
called the Resenian vellum Vatnshornsbok) was presumably