How many and where? An analysis of three texts in three hands in Stockholm Islandica perg. nr. 5 folio

• Main Author: Bechtel, William Brooks
• Format: Master Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2019
• Subjects: Iceland
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10852/70197; http://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-73307

The present thesis aims to investigate the scribes who contributed to the manuscript Stockholm Islandica perg. nr. 5 folio, establishing differences and connections between the texts and the hands in the manuscript. This occurs in two directions: the first is an analysis of three texts from the manuscript: Jóns saga Hólabyskups, Þorláks saga helga, and a series of lists of Icelandic and Norwegian bishops and abbots. These texts have thematic overlaps and occur consecutively in the manuscript. The second aspect is a comparison the three hands which copied the texts, particularly their paleographical features. These conclusions are then combined in order to suggest possible relationships between the hands and between the scribes and their scriptorial origins. Holm. perg. 5 fol. in the Royal Library in Stockholm is of Icelandic origin, dated to the third quarter of the 14th century. In 72 leaves it contains four sagas and some other material. The sagas are all of saints: three Icelandic bishops (Jón, Guðmundr, and Þorlákr) and an Anglo-Saxon king (Edward the Confessor). There is also a poem, Guðmundardrápa, lists of bishops and abbots in the Norwegian archdiocese, and a section of stories about the Apostles. Altogether it is a fundamental source for main versions of the sagas contained within–Guðmundar saga D, Jóns saga L, and Þorláks saga A. The manuscript itself has in modern scholarship typically been linked to the Helgafell monastery scriptorium in Western Iceland by analysis of its hands and artwork.