antiquarian Árni Magnússon (1663-1730) – Arnas Magnæus in Latinised form – who, in

• Main Author: Ref N
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Iceland
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.403.8296; http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/CI/CI/pdf/mow/nomination_forms/Arnamagnaean.pdf

addition to his duties as secretary of the Royal Archives and, from 1702, professor of Danish Antiquities at the University of Copenhagen, spent much of his life building up what is by common consent the single most important collection of early Scandinavian manuscripts in existence, nearly 3000 items, the earliest dating from the 12th century. The majority of these are from Árni Magnússon’s native Iceland, but the collection also contains many important Norwegian, Danish and Swedish manuscripts, along with about one hundred of continental European provenance. In addition to the manuscripts proper, the collection contains about 14000 Icelandic, Norwegian (including Faroese, Shetlandic and Orcadian) and Danish charters, both originals and first-hand copies (apographa). Upon his death in 1730 Árni Magnússon bequeathed his collection to the University of Copenhagen. Along with this he made an endowment from his private estate from which money was to be drawn for the publication of text editions and studies pertaining to the manuscripts. A royal charter formally establishing a foundation to administer the bequest was issued in 1760, and 12 years later a permanent Commission was established as the governing body of that Foundation.