Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.2003, Page 201
The “holy bishop Licius” in AM 194 8vo
Margaret Cormack
AM 194 8vo is a miscellany manuscript, one of three medieval Ice-
landic manuscripts containing a geographical treatise. According to a
scribal note on fol. 33v, this part of the manuscript was written on
Snæfellsnes in 1387. AM 194 8vo differs from the other texts of the
treatise in containing additional information pertaining to northern
Europe, notably a list of saints to be found in Scandinavian towns and a
brief account of the discovery of Vinland. The list of saints contains a
number of errors, at least some of which are probably due to scribal
slips.
The geographical treatise follows the organization of a medieval T
map, i.e. it divides the world into Asia, Africa, and Europe, noting
places where apostles died or where major churches exist.1 Of the three
manuscripts containing it, AM 47 fol. is incomplete, and does not ex-
tend to the section which is the subject of this note. AM 736 I 4to,
which was written in the first half of the fourteenth century, disposes of
Scandinavia in a mere three lines. It is used as the base text for Rudolf
Simek’s edition in Altnordische Kosmographie (text 9, pp. 428-435).
AM 194 8vo, which has been edited in Alfrædi i'slenzk I (pp. 8 ff.), adds
the material described above to the treatise.2 This section of the text
would appear to represent an attempt to supply material conceming
Scandinavian cities, and their saints, comparable to that in the remain-
der of the treatise.
The beginning of 194 8vo is in poor condition. The leaves containing
the geographical treatise (9v-llr) are marred by numerous holes, and
fol. lOv has suffered deterioration.3 Nonetheless, the contents of the
1 For T maps and medieval Icelandic cartography in general, see Simek 1990 pp. 37 ff.
and Granlund 1963 cols. 311 ff.
2 The text is available in modem Icelandic normalisation in Sturlunga saga 3 pp. 50-54.
3 Alfrædi Islenzk I p. iii.