Gripla - 2023, Qupperneq 178

176 GRIPLA
Introduction to AM 239 fol.
Before diving into the methodology and codicological description of the
individual production units, a few words on some basic aspects of AM
239 fol. should be provided. AM 239 fol. consists of 109 leaves in its pre-
sent state and contains five texts: Tveggja postula saga Jóns ok Jakobs (fols.
1v–35v), Jóns saga baptista (fols. 36r–52v15), Pétrs saga postula (52v15–95v),
Andrés saga postula (96r–101v) and the Dialogues of Pope Gregory,
Viðræður Gregoríusar (fols. 101v–109v). The manuscript is paginated, but
a large number of leaves went missing from the first half of the manusc-
ript before the pages were numbered.9 Two sets of comments in the
lower margins document approximately how many leaves are missing,
one of them referencing the shelfmarks of Árni Magnússon’s copies of
SÁM 1.10 The current collation contains fifteen gatherings (see figure
1).11 The ownership note on fol. 1r connects AM 239 fol. to Helgafell
on the Snæfellsnes peninsula in West Iceland as early as the beginning
of the fifteenth century. The manuscript’s provenance is again docu-
mented from the seventeenth century onwards on note slips written
by Árni Magnússon, so-called AM slips. It appears that the codex was
located in the Westfjords of Iceland for a considerable period of time.12
According to Árni Magnússon’s notes, Magnús Jónsson í Vigur (1637–
1702) received the manuscript from Magnús Magnússon and passed it on
to Páll Jónsson.13 Magnús Jónsson í Vigur added a paper gathering to the
manuscript, supplying the missing part of Pétrs saga postula (see figure 1,
quire XIII).14
9 For further information of the lacunae in AM 239 fol., see table 1 below and footnote 9.
10 According to the marginalia, the following leaves are missing: two leaves missing after fol.
2; one leaf missing after fol. 4; ca. twenty leaves missing after fol. 20; one leaf missing after
fol. 29; one leaf missing after fol. 33; ca. seven leaves missing after fol. 35 (potentially six
containing the end of Tveggja postula saga Jóns ok Jakobs and one containing the beginning
of Jóns saga baptista); two leaves missing after fol. 36; two leaves missing after fol. 37; ca.
six after fol. 38; one leaf missing after fol. 44; one leaf missing after fol. 45; end of Pétrs
saga postula missing – supplied by paper addition; one leaf missing after fol. 103; end of
Viðræður Gregoríusar missing after fol. 109.
11 The terms “gathering” and “quire” are used interchangeably in this article. A gathering of
four bifolia will be referred to as “quaternion.”
12 Ólafur Halldórsson, Helgafellsbækur fornar, 40.
13 AM 239 fol., fylgigögn 3rv and fylgigögn 4rv.
14 Árni Magnússon identifies the scribe on the first AM-slip. See also Kristian Kålund,