Editiones Arnamagnæanæ. Series B - 01.06.1983, Side 186

CLXXX
Inngangur
younger than Aa1, which in turn derives from texts that are for
the most part considerably older than itself.
3.8. From marginalia in 394 (cf. §3.4) it can be concluded
that the MS was written in 1592, probably in Strandasýsla, and
a marginal note in its source (cf. §2.4) might indicate that the
latter was in Steingrímsfjörður in Strandasýsla in the 16th
century. One of the few scribes from Strandasýsla around 16Q0
with whose work we are now familiar is Jón Guðmundsson ‘the
learned’, a somewhat eccentric autodidact, well-known for his
literary activities. It is known that he did not share the anti-
pathy of many of his contemporaries to catholic literature;
transcripts of bishops’ sagas - and of sagas in general - were
rarities in the period between the Reformation and the time
when the influence of humanism began to make itself felt in
this field about 1630. Jón Guðmundsson was born in 1574 in
the north of Strandasýsla and spent some of his early years in
Steingrímsfjörður. Here he was married in 1600 to a daughter
of the Þorleifur who may be named in a marginal note in Aa1
(cf. §2.4). An examination of a nurnber of MSS, most of which
have earlier been assumed to be in Jón Guðmundsson’s hand
(of those dated the oldest was w'ritten in 1594 and the youngest
in 1647-48) has shown that the hand in 394 is identical with
the hand in these MSS, with the exception of Jón’s Tíðfordríf,
AM 727 II 4to, which has also been assumed to have been in
Jón’s hand. It must therefore be concluded that this last-
mentioned MS is a fair copy made by another scribe, while the
other MSS were written by Jón Guðmundsson himself. In his
original works Jón betrays his knowledge of GA and of another
Guðmundar saga, possibly GD.
3.9. Ami Magnússon acquired 394 from his matemal uncle,
Páll Ketilsson, who was priest in Dalasýsla and Snæfellsnes-
sýsla in the west of Iceland. The latter had obtained the MS
from a certain Jón Guðmundsson of Melar, who has not been
identified with certainty.
4.1. AM 401 4to consists of 154 written leaves. An older
pagination reveals that there were originally oniy 149 leaves,
and that they have not always stood in the same order as they
do now.
4.2. The original sections of 401 were copied from Aa1 by
Asgeir Jónsson in Copenhagen 1686-88, but one of the gather-
ings of Aa1 was at that time in an incorrect position, a fact that
was not noticed by Asgeir. When Ami Magnússon discovered
this error, he re-arranged the leaves of 401 in the correct order,