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every man above the age of twelve shall sing Pater nosterpsaltara, and
nine Ave Maria on the feast of the Annunciation.’
Five masses should be celebrated in all the ‘fulF churches, the first
one in honour of the Holy Ghost, the second of Our Lady, the third of
all God’s angels, the fourth of the patron Saint of the church in
question, the fifth of All Saints. Those who organized these masses
(the church-owners?) should feed the poor after each mass. ‘And with
this, the commoners (plebs in Jonsson’s translation) shall sing three
Pater noster psaltara and two St. Mary psalters, and have accomplish-
ed both before Easter.’
Vows were also made, among others, to keep and to celebrate the
feast of the Visitation of Our Lady (2 July) with choral prayer, as the
other feasts of St. Mary, and to fast in sicco on the eves of both feasts
of St. Jon of Holar and on that of St. Gudmund.
‘May God behold and bless our vows, which we seal with Our
Lord’s prayer Pater noster. ..’ The letter was signed by Einar, Abbot
of the Benedictine Munkabverårklaustr, a priest, a judge and all the
good farmers and commoners of the region.
The Pater noster (p)saltari is not entered in the Old Norse and
Icelandic dictionaries. The need for such a distinction would make
itself felt once the St. Mary Psalter had become a household word.
Anyhow, there could hardly be found a more appropriate name for our
fifteen-divisioned psalter with Pater noster at the head of each division.
Skålholt and Nidaros
Some information on the Skålholt liturgy can be culled from the
open letter of Bishop Jon VII Stefånsson Krabbe who govemed the
See of Skålholt for the short spell from about August 1463 till his
death, 27 February 1465. Copies of this letter were inserted, one at
the end of the Nidaros Ordinary (ON), MS A, another at the beginning
of the Ordinary MS B.16 In the editions this letter, dated ‘the third day
before Gregory’s Mass, 1464’ has strangely enough been assigned to 6
March, though there could be no doubt that the Gregory’s Mass in
question must be 12 March, the feast of Pope Gregory the Great, and
the letter should accordingly be dated 9 March. The leamed bishop of
16 Jonsson 2, pp. 482-4, with Latin translation; DI 5, pp. 411-12; Norges gamle
Love. 2nd Series, 2, pp. 466-68.
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