Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1981, Page 86
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Among the Arthurian translations, Erex saga is the most poorly trans-
mitted. We know that the saga was among those contained in Ormsbok.
Two seventeenth-century manuscripts of Erex saga derive either directly
or indirectly from this codex: the paper manuscripts AM 181b fol. and
Stockholm 46 fol. Beyond these two manuscripts we possess only two
small strips of parchment, Lbs. 1230 III, cut from a single leaf, from c.
1500. The strips had been used in bookbinding in the seventeenth cen-
tury.28
The vellum fragments contain bits of the beginning of the saga and
approximate only 13 lines when printed; nevertheless, the fragments pro-
vide minute but invaluable evidence that the translation of Erec et Enide
had adhered more closely to the content of the source than the paper
manuscripts of Erex saga would lead us to believe. First, the hero is called
errek, a form that corresponds more nearly - than does Erex - to the
name upon which extant French manuscripts agree. Second, the hart to
be hunted by King Arthur and his knights is white according to the
fragment, and this information corresponds to v. 45 of Erec et Enide. The
color of the hart is not mentioned in the paper manuscripts. The presence
of a single, seemingly insignificant adjective in the vellum fragment sug-
gests that the translator had followed his source even in regard to details.
Two slightly differing stemmata can be proposed for Erex saga. The
variation turns on the question concerning the relationship of the two
paper manuscripts to each other. Gustaf Cederschiold thought that both
derived from the same exemplar.29 In a footnote Cederschiold ventured
to guess that the source had been the well-known codex of romances
Stockholm Perg. 4:o nr. 6 (p. x), which is known to have incurred loss of
leaves, and even whole gatherings over the centuries.30 The following
stemma represents Cederschiold’s view of the manuscript relationship:
28 Foster W. Blaisdell, ed. Erex saga Artuskappa. Editiones Arnamagnæanæ, B, 19
(Copenhagen: Munksgaard, 1965), p. XL.
29 Gustaf Cederschiold, ed. Erex saga. STUAGNL, 3 (Copenhagen, 1880), p. X.
30 See Desmond Slay, “The Original State of Stockholm Perg. 4:o nr. 6,” Afmælisrit Jons
Helgasonar. 3. juni 1969 (Reykjavik:Heimskringla, 1969), pp. 270-87, esp. p. 276.
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