Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1996, Side 136
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(1871). These collections are designated by Widding as B, which is pre-
served in AM 234 fol. (c. 1340), AM 232 fol. (c. 1350), and AM 633 4°
(c. 1700-1725); S, coraprising the older part of Holm perg. 11 4° (c.
1325-1375); S2, the younger part of the same manuscript (c. 1400-
1450); E1, miracles I-LXII as preserved in Holm perg. 1 4° (c. 1450-
1500); E2, miracles LXIII-CXCII in the same manuscript; and D, the
largest collection of miracles in Scandinavia, AM 634-635 4° (c. 1700-
1725). The author lists the contents of these collections, and gives the
source for each individual miracle, so far as this can be established. The
article refers also to discussion of the miracles within international
Marian research, in particular the works of Mussafia, Wilson, Southern,
Gripkey, and Boyd. He attempts also to characterise the collections as a
whole.
The B-collection consists of shorter miracles which concentrate on
the supernatural event itself. B is described as the most classical of the
collections because it contains a large part of the series of legends
which Adolf Mussafia called HM and TS (from the names of the first
and last legends, Hildefonsus-Murieldis and Toledo-Samstag (Satur-
day) respectively). In his discussion of the HM-series, Widding ques-
tions Richard Southern’s suggestion of English origin, arguing that the
manuscript tradition points rather to Continental origin.
The S-collection of miracles has a wider geographical range, con-
tains more epic material than the B-collection, and the narrative style is
wordier. S consists in part of a series of medieval exempla that have
been recast as miracles, and in part of stories of prominent historical
personages, in particular those who were canonised in the 12th and 13th
centuries. Some of the material appears to have been borrowed from
vernacular collections such as L, mentioned below, which represent a
later stage in the development of Mary miracles (cf. below); the con-
tent-based organisational principle governing the order of the material
in these younger collections is also said to be discemible in S.
The S2-collection, individual parts of which are discussed along with
E2 and D, is characterised by very short miracles, similar to those found
in early printed collections of miracles.
The E'-collection is thought to be based on a manuscript closely re-
lated to that containing the fragmentary L-collection (AM 655 XXXII
4°, a manuscript dated by Widding to c. 1300, and by the Index to the
Dictionary of Old Norse Prose to c. 1300-1400, containing many Nor-