Gripla - 2022, Síða 124

GRIPLA122
the late fifteenth-century medical compilation Royal Irish Academy 23 D
43 (f. 53v).26 The AM 194 8vo translation of De Lapidibus contains a total
of nineteen stones found in Marbode’s text (which contains sixty stones).27
Hauksbók’s fragment contains seven stones, all of which appear (though
with some variation in the names and transcription of names) in AM 194
8vo, and in the same order of presentation.28 RIA 23 D 43 contains two
stones (both of which appear in AM 194 8vo and Hauksbók, but which
appear in a different order).29
Given that the translation of De Lapidibus in AM 194 8vo is the most
comprehensive of the Icelandic attestations of the lapidary and that it is yet
to be translated into English, this is the lapidary text on which I base the
following analysis.30 Furthermore, AM 194 8vo is a particularly interesting
(and under-studied) small encyclopaedic compendium. It spans a variety of
scientific and historical texts but maintains across a number of its texts a
marked interest in health and the human body: from its medical treatise on
ff. 37r–45v, to smaller miscellaneous texts on human embryology (f. 34v),
blood-letting (f. 48v) and the number of bones, veins and teeth in the body,
as well as the properties and skills assigned to specific body-parts (f. 34v).
A range of treatments is found in the AM 194 8vo lapidary. The prop-
erties of stones can be prophylactic, diagnostic, curative and palliative, pro-
viding aid for humans before, during and after the body comes into contact
with injury or illness. The stones can heal and augment physical, cognitive
and emotional conditions. The lapidary is therefore largely anthropocentric
in focus, concerned with the ways in which stones could improve human
26 Henceforth RIA 23 D 43. On this manuscript, see Henning Larsen (ed.), An Old Icelandic
Medical Miscellany; Ms. Royal Irish Academy 23 D 43, with supplement from Ms. Trinity
College (Dublin) L-2-27 (Oslo: Dybwad, 1931).
27 “Lapis,” “Saffirus,” “Caledonius,” “Smaralldus,” “Sardonix,” “Onix,” “Sardius,” “Crisolitus,”
“Berillus,” “Topacius,” “Eirsaprassus,” “Iacinctus,” “Amatistus,” “Crisopacius,” “Geretisses,”
“Magnes,” “Adamantis,” “Illiasborius,” “Saledonius.” Kristian Kålund (ed.), Alfræði Íslenzk:
Islandsk encyklopædisk Litteratur. I. Cod. Mbr. AM. 194, 8vo. (Copenhagen: S. L. Møllers
Bogtrykkeri, 1908), 77–83. Henceforth AÍ.
28 “Ematistus,” “Crisopatius,” “Gerathises,” “Magnetis,” “Adamantes,” “Allectorius,” “Celi-
donius.” Eiríkur Jónsson and Finnur Jónsson (eds), Hauksbók: Udgiven efter de Arna-
magnæanske håndskrifter no. 371, 544 og 675, 4⁰ samt forskellige papirhåndskrifter (Copenhagen:
Det Kongelige nordiske oldskrift-selskab, 1892–96), 227–28.
29 “Amatista” and “Adamas.” Old Icelandic Medical Miscellany, 110.
30 NB: the Danish Harpestræng collections also contain fragmentary lapidaries; however,
these are not included in the analysis since my focus is specifically on medieval Iceland.