Gripla - 2022, Blaðsíða 187

185
á tengingu handritsins við kaþólska fortíð en meðal fyrri eigenda handritsins voru
Jón biskup Arason (1484–1550) og Helga Aradóttir (c. 1538–1614). Því miður lifði
Helga Sigurðardóttir ekki lengi eftir að hún fékk handritið en annar óþekktur
notandi handritsins þakkaði afar innilega fyrir bókarlánið 3. febrúar 1716.
Pappír ruddi sér til rúms í íslenskri handritamenningu á fyrstu áratugum
sautjándu aldar. Væri Margrétar saga skrifuð á pappír í svipuðu broti og AM 428 a
12mo væri endingartími kversins væntanlega ekki langur. Þetta kann að skýra hvers
vegna Margrétar saga finnst ekki oftar í handritum frá 17. öld. Það er ósennilegt
að sagan hafi verið sérstaklega tengd við iðkun galdurs á brennuöldinni. Aftur á
móti voru gömlu skinnhandritin líklegri til þess að lifa af notkun og komast síðan
í hendur safnara.
S U M M A R Y
Magic, Margrétar Saga and Icelandic Manuscript Culture
Keywords: Margrétar saga, St. Margaret of Antioch, AM 428 a 12mo, childbirth,
birthing practices, codicology, early modern women’s manuscripts
Using the evidence of AM 428 a 12mo, this paper argues that ownership of
Margrétar saga in early modern Iceland was not closely associated with witchcraft,
as has been previously argued. Margrétar saga in AM 428 a 12mo dates from the
fourteenth century but was rebound in 1689–1690 for an Icelandic woman named
Helga Sigurðardóttir (d. before 11 June 1691), the wife of the landowner Jón
Þórðarson of Bakki in Melasveit (1648–1719). A century earlier, it had belonged to
the matriarch Helga Aradóttir (c. 1538–1614), and before Helga it had been owned
by Jón Arason (1484–1550), the last Catholic bishop of Hólar. Although Margrétar
saga continued to be associated with women and childbirth after the Reformation,
its traditional use as a birthing aid did not lead to systematic suppression of its
circulation in manuscript form. The transition from vellum to less durable paper
is the most likely reason for the poor survival of early modern copies of the saga.
AM 428 a 12mo is unusual in that Jón Þórðarson added new vellum leaves to the
manuscript for Helga Sigurðardóttir, including two elaborate title-pages decorated
with red and gold, and it is suggested that the volume was Jón’s bridal gift to
Helga. Jón’s use of vellum was a deliberate aesthetic choice that served to protect
the older fourteenth-century leaves until the volume came into the collection of
Árni Magnússon.
Katelin Marit Parsons
Stofnun Árna Magnússonar í íslenskum fræðum, Háskóla Íslands
Árnagarði við Suðurgötu
IS 102 Reykjavík
katelin@hi.is
MAGIC, M A R G R É T A R S A G A