Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.2005, Page 392
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Jonna Louis-Jensen
1700, red. Flemming Lundgreen-Nielsen og Hanne Ruus, 4, København, s.
9-114.
KLNM: Kulturhistorisk leksikon for nordisk middelalder I-XXII, København
1956-78.
Kroman 1931: Erik Kroman, Eine adelige Liederhandschrift vom Hofe
Friedrichs II., Acta Philologica Scandinavica VI, s. 214-96.
Kroman 1970: Erik Kroman, Skriftens Historie i Danmark fra Reformationen
til Nutiden, udg. af Dansk historisk Fællesforening, tredje oplag, Viborg.
NGL: Norges gamle Love indtil 1387 I-V, Christiania 1846-95.
Overgaard 1997: Mariane Overgaard, Den Ottofrisianske Håndskriftsamling,
Frejas Psalter til brug for Jonna Louis-Jensen, København, Det amamag-
næanske Institut, s. 143-150.
Storm 1885: NGL IV.
Summary
A marginal note on fol. 9v in the lavishly illuminated Norwegian law-book
Codex Hardenbergianus (GKS 1154 fol. in the Royal Library in Copenhagen;
14th cent.), reads “sanctthe oluff med synn barde” (Saint Olaf with his axe),
seemingly in the hånd of the manuscript’s former owner, the Danish noble-
woman Helvig Hardenberg (1540-99), wife of the Danish govemor-general in
Norway, Erik Rosenkrantz of Bergenhus castle. The marginal note refers to a
historiated initial ‘P\ featuring three soldiers in a ship’s prow, the foremost of
whom carries a battle-axe (see plate 36). This initial marks the beginning of the
Landvarnarbglkr of King Magnus Håkonsson’s national law, i.e. the chapter on
defence organization, and the three figures illustrate the various types of sol-
diers needed for maritime defence. Helvig Hardenberg’s misinterpretation of
the miniature depends of course on her knowledge of the axe as the attribute of
Saint Olaf, but may also have been inspired by the interest in ballads and lyrics
cultivated by the Danish nobility at the court of King Frederik II. A Danish bal-
lad on the subject of “Saint Olaf’s sailing-race”, First published by Vedel in
1591 and very likely known to Helvig Hardenberg either from the print or in a
handwritten version, contains the line “Sant Oluff sætte sig i fremmer Staffn”
(Saint Olaf seated himself in the prow). Helvig Hardenberg was a literate lady,
but the script and language of the old Norwegian manuscript probably was
beyond her, so she contented herself with looking at the fine illuminations and
making sense of them in her own way.
Den Arnamagnæanske Samling
Nordisk Forskningsinstitut
Københavns Universitet