Norwegian Minister Visits the Arnamagnæan Collection

Anne Mette Hansen, curator for the Arnamagnæan Collection, welcomed the guests at the Southern Campus together with University of Copenhagen Prorector Bente Stallknecht and Dean of the Faculty of Humanities Kirsten Busch Nielsen. Employees at the Arnamagnæan Institute presented eight medieval manuscripts, four of which originate in Norway and four in Iceland.

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The Norwegian Manuscripts

AM 243 bα fol. is a parchment manuscript from ca. 1275. The manuscript was written in Norway, possibly Bergen, by a Swedish scribe. The manuscript contains The King’s Mirror, a manual for the education of young rulers, written as a dialogue between father and son. Árni Magússon purchased the manuscript in 1695 as part of the collection Jens Rosenkrantz (Danish nobleman and book collector) owned prior to his death. Among the manuscript’s previous owners are also Chancellor Arild Hvidfeldt, royal historiographer Jon Jacobsen Venusinus and nobleman Otte Friis.

See the entire manuscript here: https://handrit.is/en/manuscript/imaging/da/AM02-0243-b-alpha#

AM 619 4to is a parchment manuscript from the first quarter of the thirteenth century. The manuscript was written in Norway and can possibly be traced to either the Benedictine monastery Munkaliv in Bergen or Bergen Cathedral. The manuscript contains an Old Norse translation of Alcuin’s De virtuibus et vitiis liber (Book of Virtues and Vices) and various homilies (sermons). Árni Magnússon writes in his own catalogue that he received the manuscript in Norway in the beginning of the eighteenth century.

See the entire manuscript here: https://handrit.is/en/manuscript/imaging/da/AM04-0619

AM Dipl. Norv. Fasc. V, 6 (Sættargjerden) is a Norwegian charter in Latin written in Tønsberg on 9 August 1277. It is a settlement agreement between the Norwegian Church and State, represented by Archbishop Jon Raue and King MagnusVI (‘Magnus the Lawmender’). This document is the king’s copy. Árni Magnússon received the charter from Jens Rosenkrantz.

Read more about the charter and its text here (in Norwegian): http://vestfoldmuseene.no/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Sættargjerden.pdf

AM Dipl. Norv. Fasc. XXI, 4 is another Norwegian charter in the Arnamagnæan Collection. It is a notice of sale concerning rental land which Erlend in Belsås sold to the honourable Audun Hugleiksson for the price of 24 marks. The document is written in Old Norwegian and is dated 8 February 1298 (corrected from 1299). Among the diploma’s three seals is the oldest preserved city seal of Bergen, portraying a three-towered fortress. The text and a reproduction of the charter are published as number 52 in Finn Hødnebø’s Norske diplomer til og med år 1300 (Norwegian charters up to the year 1300; Oslo 1960).

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The Icelandic Manuscripts

AM 45 fol. (Codex Frisianus) is a parchment manuscript from the beginning of the fourteenth century. The manuscript was either written in Iceland or in Norway by an Icelandic scribe. It contains the Norwegian kings’ sagas Heimskringla and Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar. Árni Magnússon received the manuscript following the death of Jens Rosenkrantz in 1695, but the manuscript’s first known owner was the nobleman Otte Friis, who also had AM 47 fol. (see below) and AM 243 bα fol. (see above) as part of his private manuscript collection. The history of the manuscript is unknown until the middle of the sixteenth century, when it was used by Laurents Hanssøn and Mattis Støssøn in Bergen.

Se the entire manuscript here: https://handrit.is/en/manuscript/imaging/da/AM02-045

AM 47 fol. (Eirspennill) is a parchment manuscript from the beginning of the fourteenth century. The manuscript was written in Iceland with the intention for export to Norway. The manuscript contains the Norwegian kings' sagas Heimskringla, Bǫglunga sǫgur and Hákonar saga Hánkonarsonar. Árni Magnússon bought the manuscript following Jens Rosenkrantz' death in 1695, though previously the manuscript had been owned by Otte Friis together with AM 45 fol. and AM 243 b⍺ fol. (see above).

See the entire manuscript here: https://handrit.is/en/manuscript/imaging/da/AM02-047

AM 226 fol. is a parchment manuscript from the second half of the fourteenth century. The manuscript was written in Iceland, likely in the monastery Þingeyrarklaustur in the north. The manuscript contains the Old Norse translation of the Bible, Stjórn, together with translations of other ancient works: Rómverja sǫgur (on the history of Rome), Alexanders saga (on Alexander the Great) and Gyðinga saga (on the history of the Jews). Árni Magnússon received the manuscript from Brynjólfur Þórðarson in 1708 and until that point the manuscript had been in Iceland.

See the entire manuscript here: https://handrit.is/en/manuscript/imaging/da/AM02-226

AM 310 4to is a parchment mansuscript from the second half of the thirteenth century. The manuscript was written in the monastery Þingeyrarklaustur in northern Iceland. The manuscript contains Oddr Snorrason’s Ólafs saga Tryggvasonar with additions from the Old Testament. Árni Magnússon received the manuscript from the bishop Christian Worm in 1706. At that time the manuscript was bound together with another manuscript, AM 68 fol., but Árni Magnússon chose to divide these into two. Previously the manuscript had belonged to Christian Worm’s grandfather, the Danish professor and antiquarian Ole Worm.

Read more about the manuscript here: https://handrit.is/en/manuscript/view/AM04-0310