Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1985, Qupperneq 239
231
Chronica Carionis in a section “De ecclesia,” but the only year men-
tioned is the jubilee year of 1400 (1572, p. 617; 1573, p. 983; ep. 1595,
ff. 177v-178v).
Under “Anno 1398” O-A tells a story of the cruelty of Tamburlaine:
how once when a besieged city sent out its maidens to ask for mercy,
wearing white clothes and holding olive branches in their hånds, he
had his men ride them down with horses. When asked how he could
do such a cruel and godless deed, he answered that he was not a man,
but rather the wrath of God. This story is not told in Carion, even
though most European historians who wrote about Tamburlaine -
such as Perondinus, Pedro Mexia, Pius II, and Sebastian Muenster -
tell it as a sequel to a legend which is preserved in Carion: about how
Tamburlaine used differently colored flags or tents (white, then red,
then black) on successive days of a siege, symbolizing his decreasing
disposition toward mercy (1572, p. 644; 1573, pp. 1027-28; not in
1595).
Under “Ano Christi 1400” O-A has “woru slegnir margar jmsundir
Gydinga af Praga jnnbyggiurum.” This is not reported in any of the
consulted versions of Chronica Carionis.
Under “Anno Christi 1410” O-A begins: “war keisari Sigismundus
saa 36 jjyduerskur keisari walinn: x aarum fyrri war fyrst tijdkat bysna
medferd j Augzborg.” The numeral which Storm read as “36” might
just as well be read as “35” - see AM 417 4to, f. 62r. In Melanchthon-
Peucer the German emperors are not numbered. In Carion’s original
edition (f. 157v), on the other hånd, as well as in both Danish editions
(1554, f. 237v; 1595, f. 180r), Sigismund is the thirty-fifth German
emperor. The “bysna medferd j Augzborg” may have something to do
with a nameless monk who with the aid of the devil was said to have
invented firearms (1572, p. 616; 1573, p. 981; 1595, f. 177v), but there
is no mention of Augsburg in these places.
O-A continues under 1410 to tell a story about a servant who re-
proached Sigismund for not being generous with him, pointing to a
resemblance between the emperor, whose gifts were bestowed only on
those already rich, and his horse, who had just then been making
water in a river. Sigismund responded that the man’s lucklessness and
not his own stinginess was the cause. To prove this he offered him a
choice between two boxes, one containing lead, the other gold. The
luckless servant chose the former. Although this story is told in all the