Manuscript of the Month 2024.04.15 Danish scribes and German Bibles Biblical paraphrases in the local language were popular in the late Middle Ages. In 1482 a Danish scribe completed a Low German paraphrase of Old Testament books.
Manuscript of the Month 2024.03.15 The Danish Conquest of Dithmarschen The Low German law codex AM 2 4to contains the younger redaction of the Land Law of Dithmarschen. A later addition in Danish describes the conquest of Dithmarschen by the Kingdom of Denmark in 1559.
Manuscript of the Month 2024.02.14 One final dictionary from the first Faroese lexicographer The Faroe Islands’ first lexicographer kept producing manuscripts of his dictionary until his death on 14 February 1824. His final dictionary is today housed at the Arnamagnæan Collection.
Manuscript of the Month 2024.01.15 From Margrethe to Frederik: Danish history as told by royal lines A new chapter of Danish history was written Sunday, 14 January 2024 with the succession of the new king. A manuscript from around 1600 follows the succession of Danish kings from the legendary Dan up to Christian III.
Manuscript of the Month 2023.12.15 A Prayer Book for the Entire Year — And Every Occasion December means another year is coming to a close, at least according to our modern secular calendar. The liturgical year, on the other hand, has just begun with the first Sunday of Advent. A sixteenth-century prayer boo…
Manuscript of the Month 2023.11.15 Let me guide you through this! The interaction between scribe and readers in the main manuscript of Konungs skuggsjá The oldest and most complete manuscript of the Old Norwegian Konungs skuggsjá, AM 243 bα fol., offers a treasure trove of knowledge on various subjects. This immense encyclopaedic and didactic work can be hard to…
Manuscript of the Month 2023.10.15 Learned prehistory and Danish genealogies A miscellany manuscript written by several hands contains some genealogical material thought to derive from a lost Icelandic saga known as *Skjǫldunga saga.
Manuscript of the Month 2023.09.15 An Educational Poem by Petrus Riga A previously unidentified fragment can now be shown to contain the educational poem De venditione Joseph by Petrus Riga.
Culture 2021.08.20 Norwegian Minister Visits the Arnamagnæan Collection The Arnamagnæan Institute received a visit from Norway’s Minister of Culture and Equality Abid Raja on Monday, 16 August. The minister was accompanied by a delegation from the Norwegian Ministry of Culture and Equality…
Manuscript of the Month 2020.10.15 Behold! A Funen Clog! Humorous marginal drawings are not uncommon in medieval manuscripts. The wooden shoe from Funen found in the margin of AM 23 8vo, however, is more than just for laughs: it is a commentary on the surrounding legal text.
Manuscript of the Month 2020.09.15 Revising Danish Royal Genealogies Anno 1664 Since the time of Saxo Grammaticus and his monumental Gesta Danorum, Danish royal lineage was traced back to the legendary ruler named Dan. This changed, however, in the middle of the seventeenth century, when Thormodus…
Manuscript of the Month 2020.05.15 Indulgences for nuns in the early days of print A handwritten letter of indulgence given to the Poor Clares of Roskilde tells the story of Gutenberg's innovation, papal intervention and the Cypriot war against the Ottoman Turks.
Manuscript of the Month 2020.04.14 A Low German fragment of St Birgitta's Heavenly Revelations AM 79 8vo consists of a heterogeneous collection of medieval manuscript fragments in several languages: Danish, Low German, Dutch, High German and Latin. One of these fragments, AM 79 II α 8vo, contains a Low German…
Manuscript of the Month 2020.03.13 Getting a fair share: an Icelandic letter of partition from 1673 Two small fragments found in the binding of an Icelandic manuscript tell the story of how a farmer divided the inheritance between his two sons.
Manuscript of the Month 2020.02.15 A Reunited Law: AM 6 8vo In 2020 Denmark will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the reunification with Southern Jutland. The Danish-German character of the region shines through in manuscripts such as AM 6 8vo, which contains the Danish Jyske…
Manuscript of the Month 2019.12.13 How to Count a Manuscript - The Faroese Collection in Accessoria 4 Accessoria 4 is a single shelfmark, but is it a single manuscript? This collection of Faroese papers is surprisingly more than the catalogue number suggests.
Manuscript of the Month 2019.11.14 Naked Angels and Stolen Herring in AM 79 4to AM 79 4to is a particularly beautiful part of the Arnamagnæan Manuscript Collection. The manuscript is lavishly decorated and written in a hand so neat, your English teacher would be jealous. Furthermore, AM 79 4to give…
Manuscript of the Month 2019.09.15 An English Saint in a Danish Manuscript The story of an English saint is found in a Danish lawbook from the late 15th century. A study of the provenance of AM 28 4to shows how this is not the only religious connection.
Manuscript of the Month 2019.06.15 A Medieval Love Story Persenober og Konstantianobis is the title of a courtly romance in Danish from the fifteenth century. The fragment AM 151 b 8vo from around the year 1600 is one of five witnesses that contain the story.
Manuscript of the Month 2019.04.15 Hernando Colón’s Book of Books: AM 377 fol. One of the manuscripts in the Arnamagnæan Collection, AM 377 fol., has recently been identified as having belonged to Hernando Colón, son of the famous navigator Christopher Columbus.
2019.03.22 A New Discovery in the Arnamagnæan Collection Recently, a major discovery was made, when one of the manuscripts in the collection, AM 377 fol., an enormous codex of nearly 2000 pages, was identified as being one of the volumes of indices prepared in the library of…
Manuscript of the Month 2019.03.15 Chronicle of the Slavs in the Arnamangæan Collection While the twelfth century is generally associated with great social, political and economic transformations and cultural development in Western Europe, there was one area of Medieval Europe which did not fit the general…
Research 2019.02.21 New Marie Skłodowska Curie Fellow at the Arnamagnæan Institute The Irish scholar Peadar Ó Muircheartaigh has been awarded a Marie Skłodowska Curie Fellowship.
Manuscript of the Month 2019.02.15 Rask 113: A Ballad Manuscript in Two Parts A small 22-page manuscript, half Danish, half Faroese, tells the story of a common interest in Faroese literature.
2019.02.01 Summer School Registration The Arnamagnæan Institute is pleased to announce that the next edition of the Summer School in Scandinavian Manuscript Studies will take place at the Department of Nordic Studies and Linguistics, University of…
Manuscript of the Month 2019.01.15 AM 370 fol. Antiquities from the Bergen District In the Arnamagnæan collection, there are six illustrated manuscripts, AM 366 fol.-AM 371 fol., all addressed to the King’s physician, natural historian and antiquarian, Ole Worm (1588-1654). What all these manuscripts…
Danish history 2019.01.08 HRH Prince Joachim films documentary at the Arnamagnæan Institute In November last year, HRH Prince Joachim, younger son of Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, visited the Arnamagnæan Institute while filming a new documentary series that will be broadcast on Danish television in the autumn…
2018.12.03 Guðmundar Saga B Released Part 2 of Guðmundar sögur biskups (Sagas of the Bishop Gudmund) has just been published in Editiones Arnamagnæanæ. The edition, which was started by Stefán Karlsson, who died before he could complete the work, was…
2018.11.19 Annette Lassen awarded Research Prize for 2018 Annette Lassen, associate professor at the University of Copenhagen, is to be awarded the Einar Hansen Research Foundation’s Research Prize for 2018 for her research in the literature of medieval Iceland and its…
2018.11.19 Matthew Driscoll awarded Honorary Prize for 2018 Matthew Driscoll, Professor of Old Norse Philology at the University of Copenhagen, is to be awarded the Einar Hansen Research Foundation’s Honorary Prize for 2018 in recognition of his pioneering work in the field of…
Manuscript of the Month 2018.11.14 Rasmus Rask's Investigation Turns 200 in 2018 Rasmus Rask's foundational text on the origin of Icelandic was originally written as a prize essay. The Arnamagnæan Collection holds a copy of the first printed edition, which turns 200 years old this year, with notes…
Digitisation 2018.11.09 Images of Manuscripts in NorS Digital Collections In addition to the Arnamagnæan Manuscript Collection, the Arnamagnæan Institute also holds one of the biggest archives of photographs of Nordic manuscripts in the World, a total of 1,2 million photographs of manuscripts…
Manuscript of the Month 2018.10.15 Notes from the Sixteenth Century: AM 828 4to For the most part, AM 828 4to contains critical notes and commentaries about classical works by the sixteenth-century scholar Pedro Chacón.
Manuscript of the Month 2018.09.14 AM 673 b 4to: The Oldest manuscript of medieval Scandinavia's most prolific poetic form 20 September is the feast of St. Eustace in the Western Christian calendar and this month’s manuscript commemorates the saint in poetic form, namely the so-called Plácitusdrápa (‘poem with refrains about Placidus (St.…
2018.09.06 Materiality of Manuscripts “Materiality of Manuscripts”: Call for Papers for sponsored sessions at the International Medieval Congress 2019, 1-4 July 2019, University of Leeds, UK. Sponsor: Arnamagnæan Institute, University of Copenhagen, Denmark…
Summer School 2018.07.31 Summer School in Scandinavian Manuscript Studies The Arnamagnæan Institute organises an annual summer school in manuscript studies in cooperation with the Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies in Reykjavík and the National and University Library of Iceland. I…
Cultural Heritage 2018.07.06 Priceless manuscripts on loan to Iceland Yesterday two manuscripts from the Arnamagnæan Manuscript Collection were flown to Iceland, where they will be on display in the exhibition Lífsblómið - Fullveldi Íslands í 100 ár (Blossoming - Iceland’s 100 Years as a…
Manuscript of the Month 2018.06.17 Modern technology casts new light on old manuscripts One of the treasures of the Arnamagnaean Collection is the manuscript AM 468 4to, which dates from the beginning of the fourteenth century and is known by the nickname Reykjabók (‘the book of Reykir’). It contains the…
Manuscript of the Month 2018.05.16 Sad remains of once proud books Árni Magnússon made an effort to preserve every manuscript he could, even fragments. Among others AM 567 4to which is a collection of texts from medieval Icelandic romances called riddarasögur. Collections such as these…
Manuscript of the Month 2018.04.16 While we wait for Game of Thrones Who needs Iron Thrones and dragon queens, when you have manuscripts from the 15th century? Dwarf kings, crystal palaces, murderous dinner parties and an enchanting rose garden; this month’s manuscript, AM 32 fol., has i…
Manuscript of the Month 2018.03.15 A Scribe’s Favourite Exemplum? AM 578 i 4to is an Icelandic paper manuscript, which among other things contains a copy of the story of Sníðúlfur and his unfaithful wife that the scribe Magnús Ketilsson has copied several times.
Manuscript of the Month 2018.02.15 A hand-written copy of a printed book Among the more recent acquisitions of the Arnamagnæan manuscript collection in Copenhagen is a group of mostly early-nineteenth century manuscripts containing mainly copies of Old Norse-Icelandic sagas. The institute…
Manuscript of the Month 2018.01.15 The Law of Gotland in Danish Hands The Arnamagnæan Collection contains a manuscript written in the medieval language of Gotland in the Baltic Sea. The manuscript is best known for being the younger of the two main manuscripts containing the law code of…
Manuscript Advent Calendar 2017.12.23 23rd of December Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings.
Manuscript Advent Calendar 2017.12.04 4th of December The oldest manuscript in the collection (kind of)
Manuscript Advent Calendar 2017.12.03 3rd of December Are silk and brocade on your Christmas wish list?
Manuscript Advent Calendar 2017.12.02 2nd of December - Well-wishes from the margin Behind the second door in our advent calendar we find a scribe to took time out to write a get-well message to his colleague in a copy of the Law of Jutland.
Manuscript Advent Calendar 2017.12.01 Advent Calendar: 1st of December We begin with AM 249 a fol, a calendar produced in England sometime around 1300.
Miracle of the Week 2017.11.17 The Sacristan Didn’t Light the Lamps In the final instalment of Miracle of the Week. A sacristan learns that being frugal can have consequences.
Manuscript of the Month 2017.11.15 Early Modern Translations into Latin and Manuscripts as Scholarly Editions: The Case of AM 922 4to When Latin rather than English was the lingua franca in Europe, scholarly versions of Icelandic sagas were made with parallel Latin translations in order to reach a wider audience. One of these is AM 922 4to written by…
Miracle of the Week 2017.11.10 Oil flowed from the image of our Lady This week we bring you a story of sacred oil which flows from a portrait of the Virgin Mary.
Miracle of the Week 2017.11.03 An image of Our Lady This week we bring you a popular story of a miraculous portrait of the Virgin Mary.
Networking 2017.11.02 Network of Early Career Researchers in Old Norse Over forty young researchers participated in the inaugural workshop of NECRON (the Network of Early Career Researchers in Old Norse) held at the Institute of Nordic Studies and Linguistics on the 21-22.10.2017.
Miracle of the Week 2017.10.20 An adulteress is reformed In this week's miracle, the Virgin Mary teaches a scorned wife and an adulteress that there are more important things in the world than men.
Manuscript of the Month 2017.10.15 A Grab Bag of Early Modern Poetry Numerous poetical miscellanies, written and collected in Iceland in the 17th and 18th centuries, are preserved in various libraries, both in Iceland and abroad.
Miracle of the Week 2017.10.13 The Feast of the Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary This week's miracle is found in many different traditions and name drops both William the Bastard/Conqueror and Denmark. As if that weren't enough, it also tells you why you should remember to celebrate the feast of the…
Miracle of the Week 2017.10.06 Here is told of the Office of Our Lady This is Gazo. Gazo refused to pray to the Virgin Mary. Gazo's impiety caused a band of violent men to attack and pillage the entire region. Don't be like Gazo.
Miracle of the Week 2017.09.29 Our Lady gives a woman back her sanity We continue our series of Marian Miracles as transcribed by the Master Class of this year's Arnamagnæan Summer School. This week we feature a well-known story of Murieldis whom the Devil caused to lose her senses, which…
Miracle of the Week 2017.09.22 Monks prayed for abbot We all know the type: a saint by day but when out with his mates a foul-mouthed lout. This week the Virgin Mary sorts out a vulgar abbot.
Miracle of the Week 2017.09.15 Wrongdoers rightened This week Mary saves St Hugh of Cluny from some bad hombres.
Manuscript of the Month 2017.09.08 The Húsavík Letters - A Medieval Faroese Diploma A diploma from the beginning of the fifteenth century is written in an early form of Faroese and tells of the island nation's richest woman.
Miracle of the Week 2017.09.08 Gossiping monks Each week we will publish one miracle from the collection of Marian miracles preserved in the manuscript AM 634-635 4to - one of the largest collections of miracles in a European vernacular language. This week sees Mar…
Manuscript of the Month 2017.08.15 Medieval romance in early modern Iceland Rask 33 39r: Large initial at the beginning of part 2 of the saga. (Click on the picture for a larger version.) Rask 33 is a small paper manuscript from seventeenth-century Iceland and one of those in the Arnamagnæan…
Manuscript of the month 2017.06.16 Vermundar þáttur og Upsa (The Tale of Vermundur and Upsi) in AM 409 fol. This short tale about a king and his heroic son, written on only two leaves of paper, is not only interesting due to its literary content. The transmission of the narrative and the several layers of translations which…
Call for papers 2017.05.18 Call for papers: Care and conservation 17 Care and conservation of manuscripts - international seminars held at the Arnamagnæan Institute, Department of Nordic Research, University of Copenhagen
Medieval charters 2017.05.15 Patronage and Memory in a Medieval Charter A charter from 1259 issued by Archbishop Jakob Erlandsen charter situates him within a vast web of patronage, extending upward to the saints and downward to the nuns and poor people of Roskilde.
A new discovery 2017.05.03 A sensational discovery: Fragment of lost Norwegian royal charter from circa 1205 rediscovered in old book cover A unique parchment fragment was recently discovered at The Arnamagnæan Institute.
New publication 2017.04.26 Mirrors of virtue: Manuscript and print in late pre-modern Iceland Margrét Eggertsdóttir and Matthew James Driscoll (eds.): Mirrors of virtue. Manuscript and print in late pre-modern Iceland. Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana XLIX. Opuscula XV. 2017. Museum Tusculanums Press. Pre-modern Icelan…
Manuscript of the Month, Easter 2017.04.16 An Easter 'cheat sheet' Calendars form one of the main categories of medieval manuscripts, owing to the important role they played in medieval liturgy, recording the basic structure of the liturgical year.
Manuscript of the Month 2017.03.15 Medieval law with explanatory glosses A legal text in a manuscript from the middle ages can be difficult for a present-day reader to understand, and the same seems to have been the case for people at the time, too. This problem has been solved in this…
Manuscript of the Month, Reformation 2017.02.15 Chronicon Skibyense - Contemporary history from the time of the Danish Reformation The 2017 Reformation Anniversary has been kicked off and is celebrated worldwide. One of the treasures of the Arnamagnæan Manuscript Collection is an important source of early Reformation movement’s history in Denmark…
Manuscript of the Month 2016.12.25 A Dutch Book of Hours from the 15th Century Private books of hours were the European bestseller of the 14th-16th centuries, especially among the aristocracy and urban élite. They typically began with a calendar, which listed saints’ days and other religious…
Manuscript of the Month 2016.09.01 A schoolteacher's handbook? AM 76 8vo is a small and unprepossessing paper manuscript, the contents of which rarely rise above the mediocre. Among the Danish manuscripts in the Arnamagnæan Collection it is nevertheless one of those which have…
2016.04.20 Title deeds from the St. Clara Convent archive Among the many diplomas in the Arnamagnæan collection, there are three title deeds issued by the noblewoman Anna Pedersdatter, daughter of the Zealandic magnate Peder Nielsen of the Jernskæg family.
2016.03.15 The Vatnsfjörður Psalter The Vatnsfjörður Psalter, 241 a I fol., contains Psalms of David in an extended version, liturgical texts and not least a Latin Office of the Passion (Horae de passione domini) which is illuminated with a series of eigh…