Gripla - 2023, Page 93

91GENESIS AND PROVENANCE OF THE OLDEST SOUL
by Synnøve Midtbø Myking, that were exported to Norway during the
thirteenth century.55 The first manuscript was produced in Paris in 1230
and is known as Kristina Psalter, Copenhagen, Det Kongelige Bibliotek,
GKS 1606 4to, which belonged to Kristín Hákonardóttir (1234–62), who
was the daughter of King Hákon and was married to the brother of the
king of Spain, Felipe de Castilla (1231–74). How the manuscript came into
Kristín’s possession is still the subject of debate: a first hypothesis iden-
tifies it as a wedding gift from the king of France, Louis IX, to Kristín;
a second hypothesis sees it instead as a gift of friendship to Kristín and
alliance with Norway on the part of Louis IX.56 It is also significant
that, in order to reach the groom in Spain from Bergen, Kristín had to
travel through France. After her death in 1262, some of her entourage
returned to Norway, in all probability carrying, along with other goods,
the Kristina Psalter. The travel is described in chapter 356 of the Hákonar
saga Hákonarsonar by Sturla Þórðarson (1214–84), in which the bishop
of Hamar Peter is said to have travelled through Flanders: “But bishop
Peter fared overland into Flanders, and he came somewhat later. Andrew
Nicholas’ son stayed behind in France then twelve months.”57
The second manuscript presented by Myking to demonstrate renewed
contacts between Flanders and Norway during the reign of King Hákon
Hákonarson is Aslak Bolt’s (archbishop of Oslo, 1428–50) Bible, today
Oslo, Deichmanske Bibliotek (no call number). This manuscript was
produced in Paris around 1250, subsequently purchased by Aslak in the
fifteenth century, and finally rediscovered in 1710 within Niðaróss’s old
city walls. This Bible may have reached Norway during the thirteenth
century, when numerous clerics were studying in Flanders or Paris, a
55 Synnøve Midtbø Myking, “The French Connection: Norwegian Manuscript Fragments of
French Origin and Their Historical Context” (PhD diss., University of Bergen, 2017), 136–
45. The study of the two manuscripts is part of a larger project, called FLANDRIA, with
the aim of examining the contact between Flanders, Norway, and Denmark in the High
Middle Ages and the influence on Scandinavian culture. See “Research,” Synnøve Midtbø
Myking, University of Bergen, accessed 17 February 2023, https://bit.ly/46vueRL.
56 Myking, “French Connection,” 139.
57 The Saga of Hakon and a Fragment of the Saga of Magnus with Appendices, trans. George
Webbe Dasent, Rerum Britannicarum Medii Ævi Scriptores 4 (London: Her Majesty’s
Stationary Office, 1894), 316–17. “En Pétr byskup fór landveg í Flandr, ok kom hann
nökkuru síðarr. Andrés Nikulásson var eftir í Franz þá tólf mánaði.” Sturla Þórðarson,
Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar, Bǫglunga saga, Magnúss saga lagabœtis, ed. Sverrir Jakobsson
et al., Íslenzk fornrit 31–32, 2 vols (Reykjavík: Hið íslenzka fornritafélag, 2013), II, 202.