Gripla - 2023, Blaðsíða 193
THE GENESIS OF A COMPOSITE 191
The paper slips added by Árni Magnússon documenting the later
provenance of AM 239 fol. can be classified as production units MC, as
they are independent from the rest of the manuscript. This also applies
to the largest younger production unit, PU4, the supplied ending of Pétrs
saga postula.
The fourth major production unit contained in AM 239 fol. sets itself
clearly apart from the three fourteenth-century units through its writing
support: its only quire, XIII, is made of paper. The leaves show a water-
mark portraying a coat of arms, a crowned shield (see image 12). The main
shield is arranged into quarters with an inescutcheon. Fields 2 and 3 show
an eagle, while fields 1 and 4 are covered by a bend. In the bend, there are
two quadrupeds of what seems like the same species, lifting their right
front legs. The inescutcheon shows two slender objects that are crossed,
perhaps swords or crosiers. No counter mark is visible.40
The leaves are approximately 289x199 mm in size. The text block,
which is again arranged in one column, measures 250x170 mm on aver-
age, and features 38 lines per page, except for fol. 92r, where 17 lines are
written. Leaves 92v–95v are left blank. Neither pricking nor ruling marks
are visible. Only in this paper supplement are catch words present. There
are no illuminations or otherwise added decorations, and the ink used for
the main text is brown. As already mentioned, the scribe of PU4 has been
identified as Magnús Jónsson í Vigur in Ísafjarðardjúp. Magnús was a
wealthy farmer and learned man, who is renowned for his activity as scribe
and collector of manuscripts.41
40 At present, the watermark remains unidentified.
41 Páll Eggert Ólason, Íslenzkar æviskrár: Frá landnámstímum til ársloka 1940, vol. 3
(Reykjavík: Hið íslenzka bókmenntafélag, 1950), 28–29. For a comprehensive list of
Magnús’ scribal activities, see for example Jóhann Gunnar Ólafsson, “Magnús Jónsson
í Vigur,” Skírnir 130 (1956): 107–26. For his activities as a patron, see Sheryl McDonald
Werronen’s project “Icelandic Scribes. Scribal Networks in 17th-Century Iceland: The
Patronage of Magnús Jónsson í Vigur”: https://icelandicscribesproject.com/patron/.