Editiones Arnamagnæanæ. Series A - 01.10.2003, Page 31
Manuscripts and editions
13*
3. THE A CLASS
While the interrelations of Aa Ak Aj and Z are not gone into here34 it is
certain that they do have a common ancestor (*A in the stemma on p. 17*).
The A class has a number of distinguishing features when compared
with other manuscripts. The more obvious ones, long recognized, are as
follows:
(1) In particular there is the already mentioned location of the Vínland
chapter. There is a section in Eyrbyggja saga (ÍF IV, chapter 48) about the
emigration of Þorleifr kimbi and his brother Snorri to Greenland along with
the fact that this Snorri joined Karlsefni’s expedition to Vínland it góða and
that he was killed by the Skrælings. (This fate is ascribed to Snorri in W
and Ak, but to his son Þorbrandr in Aa Aj.) In the A-class texts this section,
which begins ‘Eptir sætt Eyrbyggja’, is placed immediately after Bjprn
Breiðvíkingakappi sails away and before Gizurr and Hjalti arrive in Iceland
with Christianity. Other manuscripts (W and the paper manuscript H) place
it after the Fróðárundr (the present edition, W chapter 43), just before
Snorri’s expeditions to avenge Styrr. Positive evidence for this section’s
place in E and M is lacking, but the section did not occur at the place it has
in *A, since E and M proceed directly from Bjgrn’s departure to the
Conversion (E chapter 41). As far as Þórður Jónsson is concerned, he drew
a line in the margin alongside the section where it occurred in 447 (chapter
49, see p. 226 in the present edition); one would guess that he meant that it
did not occur in M at that place, but he does not make any indication that in
M it occupied any other position. Such an exchange is an important
criterion; it would be due to a decision on the part of a reviser and not to a
mere scribe. This is one reason why I regard *A as a revision of the story.
(2) Another place where there is a discrepancy involves passages that are
absent in W. They are ÍF IV, chapter 56, p. 154: “Þorsteinn var sonr Þorgils
Þorfinnssonar ... ok þeira Þorbrandssona” (cf W 44.24) and ÍF IV, chapter
61, pp. 165-6: “ok gekk inn undir Enni ... allt í fjarðarbotn” (cf W 47.27).
Both these passages largely consist of lists, the first of people, the second of
places, which the scribe of W or its ancestor may have found uninteresting.
Here it is more likely that there is a case of excision than one of addition.
(3) In ÍF IV, chapter 37, p. 103, the death of Arnkell is followed by an
encomium “því at hann hefir verit allra manna bezt at sér ... sem nú kom
34 There is no doubt that Ásgeir Jónsson copied the manuscript of Eyrbyggja saga which was in
Peder Resen’s library and is known as Vatnshyrna. But whether Ketill Jörundsson or Jón
Gissursson also copied that very manuscript is less certain. See Scott 2003.