Texts and Contexts: Bjarni Pétursson and His Saga Manuscript Lbs 2319 4to (1727–1729)(1727–1729)

Introduction

Studies in fornaldarsögur have enjoyed a veritable increase during the last 20 to 30 years. Fornaldarsögur (often called legendary or mythical-heroic sagas in English) are sagas situated in Scandinavia before Iceland's settlement in a nondefined prehistoric time. The heroes, Vikings or young royals, set out to explore the world, to increase their fame and honor, or to master some tasks—mostly to rescue abducted or otherwise troubled young women. On their journeys they frequently encounter supernatural objects and beings, such as magical swords, dwarfs, and giants. Some of these sagas share common Nordic-Germanic motifs, for example, Völsunga saga. Other sagas, however, seem to have more in common with myth, folklore, or continental courtly literature, of which Áns saga bogsveigis and Göngu-Hrólfs saga are examples. Although previous scholars tended to date the fornaldarsögur to the late Middle Ages after the creation of Íslendingasögur (e.g., Jónas Kristjánsson 1990, 243), more recent research suggests that fornaldarsögur appeared around the same time as, or perhaps even earlier than, Íslendingasögur (e.g., Torfi H. Tulinius 2007, 452). New studies suggest that the oldest fornaldarsögur were composed in the spheres of royal courts and the church (Lassen 2012) and have roots in Latin historiography (Gottskálk Jensson 2009).

The sagas enjoyed great popularity in post-medieval times, and reached the pinnacle of their popularity in the eighteenth century, as the manuscript evidence proves: the largest number of manuscripts was written in that century.¹ Taking the manuscript evidence into account, several of the latest studies focus on sagas as literary expressions of—and comments on—their creation contexts as post-medieval manuscripts. Many manuscripts of Illuga saga Gríðarfóstra from the seventeenth century are connected to the bishopric and center of learning and culture Skálholt in Iceland, and seventeenth- and eighteenth-century manuscripts and editions of that saga were subtly adapted to support the building of new national concepts in the learning centers of mainland Scandinavia (Lavender 2014). The transmission of manuscripts containing Hrólfs saga kraka shows similar tendencies in the oldest manuscripts: the saga was particularly important for antiquarian studies in learning centers in the seventeenth century, and it was copied by learned men outside such centers in the eighteenth century; in the nineteenth century, both common farmers and scholars inspired by Romanticism copied the saga (Lansing 2011; 2012). An analysis of manuscripts containing Sörla saga sterka indicates that textual variation can be a manifestation of scribes' or commissioners' specific aims and intentions, such as providing examples of proper moral behavior, advocating less revenge, or offering a more positive depiction of women (Hufnagel 2012, 91–157).²

This article focuses on four fornaldarsögur in the context of such a post-medieval manuscript: Lbs 2319 4to, an eighteenth-century manuscript containing fornaldar- and riddarasögur and exempla housed at the National and University Library of Iceland, Reykjavík,³ will serve as an example of stylistic and intertextual analyses. A focus on a manuscript with a known date of composition and scribe or commissioner allows for the analysis of very specific aims and meanings of its production. Intertextual relationships of texts contained in one manuscript miscellany provide further information on possible aims and meanings, both overt and latent.

Table 1.

Contents of Manuscript 2319

1. On fol. 1v an unknown saga, presumably a riddarasaga, begins. Due to the trimming and damage, the text is barely legible, and names are particularly difficult to decipher. From the legible part, it seems that a young knight, abbreviated Gr., hunts a deer and arrives at a forest glade where a woman offers him a strengthening drink from a horn. I have not yet been able to identify this saga.

The manuscript 2319 was written in various hands between 1727 and 1729 for Bjarni Pétursson, called ríki (the wealthy) because he was considered the wealthiest man of his time in Western Iceland. He...