Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1961, Page 98

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spirits. The dying abbot understood that he had come to his judg-
ment.
He invokes Christ to have mercy upon him, a very elaborate
invocation, but of little use, since the judge answers, ‘Now is the
time of judgment, not of mercy’. In his sore need he tums to Our
Lady, and asks her to be his advocate, after some hesitation she
agrees. When her attempt to obtain mercy for her client is unsuc-
cessful, she fails on her knees, bares her breast, and begs her son
for mercy. Then Christ leaves the decision to her, and she decides
that the sinner shall revive and live for three days more to do
repentance.
We meet the same story in some English Latin MSS: British
Museum Add. 15,723 (13th cent.) fol. 87v, and Harley 2851 (c.
1300) fol. 82r (Ward: Romances II, 635, 670; IndexMir 183, 239).
Through the courtesy of the British Museum, and the Royal
Library, Copenhagen, we have been able to compare photostats of
these versions with the Icelandic texts. It is obvious that the
pattern of the anecdote is the same in all the MSS, but the two
English MSS differ from the Icelandic ones by being shorter.
However, neither Add. 15,723 nor Harley 2851 can be the source
of the Icelandic anecdote, this is most clearly demonstrated by
the faet that the Icelandic versions have an introduction which
gives the names of the dramatis personae and the places, while
the persons are anonymous in the English MSS, and no plaee-
names are mentioned.
The Icelandic versions do not agree as to all the names. The
monk who hecame abbot is called Vallterus in all the MSS, while
Bishop Henry (Heinrek) is called Helarek in AM 180d,fol., and
the name of his diocese (D and E: Vintoniensis) is omitted1. Tavi-
stock has been changed into Raudstock (the common Icelandic
equivalent for Rostock in Germany), but AM 180d,fol. has kept
the right name of the diocese in which Tavistock is situated, Exo-
niensis, while the name has been corrupted into Oxoniensis in D.
We have been unable to trace the ancecdote to other sources,
and yet it is obvious that there must have been other versions than
those extant, or the Icelanders would not have been able to give
such detailed information about the scene and the persons. It would
1 Does this mean that Helarek stands for Hilarius (bishop of Chichester, f 1169) ?