Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1980, Page 48

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been tom off, resulting in only slight damage to the text, and the lower
margin of f. (12) = pp. 21-22 has been shom off, causing loss of part
of the marginal text. Rubrics are in red, and the initials, designed over
two to five lines, are in red, blue, green, or multicoloured, sometimes
plain, sometimes decorated with spirals or leafy scrolls. The R of
Resurrexi, f. (5)r = p. 35, consists wholly of such scrolls. The
manuscript has musical notation on four red lines.
Kålund dated the main hånd of the manuscript to c. 1200, which
may be a bit too early. Subsequently, it received marginal additions
from a scribe who wrote c. 1300 or somewhat later, and further
additions in several hånds from c. 1400 and later.
The main hånd uses the un-barred, upright ef-sign, very like that of
Lbs. fragm. 58. Round s is generally used for the double letter. A few
instances of the use of majuscules for minuscules can be found
(tHronus, Hodiema, corintHios, pluRimorum). However, the conclusive
evidence for the Icelandic origin of the manuscript is fumished by the
rubrics. When written in full, they appear in Icelandic forms, i.e.
communia for communio, prefatia for prefatio, ojjerenda for ojfer-
torium. Script, musical notation, and decoration are all executed with
the utmost care and finish. This small, graceful book is not only the
oldest extant Icelandic missal, but also the most beautiful one. It
contains 17 masses.
The marginal hånd c. 1300 or later has a cursive, barred ef-sign,
and the diagonal x. In abbreviations the scribe prolongs the stem of the
r beneath the line and places the abbreviation stroke at the base of the
line, as found in manuscripts written c. 1300. His additions consist of
two masses, here numbered 18-19, seven sequences, and seven tracts.
The marginal hånds c. 1400 or later added the following items: a
prayer and two benedictions in the margins of f. (l)v = p. 28, and f.
(4)v = p. 34; the chants of the Trinity Mass in the margin of f. (8)r =
p. 13; an epistle in the margin of f. (9)v = p. 16.
Also, post-Reformation scribbles in Icelandic disfigure the margins
of the Resurrection Mass, f. (5)r = p. 35.
Nothing is known about the provenance of AM 98 I 8°. In the lower
margin of f. (8)r = p. 13, a note in Icelandic is written, upside-down:
‘f>etta er vphaf og vnd/rstada aa moti vrskvr[di] sira sira salamons’.1
See Plates 14-30.
1 Sira Salamon may possibly be identical with Salomon Jonsson, vicar of Hals i