AM 113 fol.

AM 113 fol.
Name	AM 113 fol.
Type	Medieval Icelandic manuscript
Language	Old Norse
Date	c. 14th century
Repository	Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies
Shelfmark	AM 113 fol.

AM 113 fol. is a medieval Icelandic vellum manuscript noted for its compilation of sagas, historical narratives, and legal materials associated with Icelandic and Norse literary transmission. The codex has been central in scholarship on saga composition, paleography, and manuscript culture connected to figures and institutions across Scandinavia and the British Isles. Its contents, physical features, and subsequent antiquarian history intersect with key persons and events in medieval and early modern Northern European intellectual networks.

Description

AM 113 fol. comprises a composite codex containing narrative prose and poetic fragments linked to saga cycles, annalistic entries, and juridical texts associated with chieftains and ecclesiastical figures. Scholars have compared its compilation practices with those evident in manuscripts like Flateyjarbók, Codex Regius, and Hauksbók, and its transmission history touches on repositories such as Reykjavík Cathedral, Skálholt, and monastic centers influenced by Cistercians. The manuscript has been examined in relation to treatises attributed to clerics and scribes active in the milieu of Snorri Sturluson, Sturla Þórðarson, and later antiquarians like Árni Magnússon.

Contents

The codex preserves a mixture of sagas, annals, and excerpts from saga-related poetry, including materials that parallel episodes found in Njáls saga, Egils saga, Laxdæla saga, and shorter synoptic narratives akin to entries in the Íslendingabók. It contains genealogical notices relevant to families recorded in sources connected with Grettir Ásmundarson, Eyrbyggja saga, and regional histories reflecting ties to Orkneyinga saga and Færeyinga saga. Marginal verses and rubrics indicate awareness of skaldic meters employed by poets such as Einar Skúlason and references to legal compilations paralleling sections in the Grágás codes. Comparative text-critical work has linked particular readings in the manuscript to exemplars circulating in Norway and Greenland.

Date and provenance

Palaeographic and codicological evidence situates the manuscript in the 14th century, with hands that suggest multiple scribes operating in an Icelandic scriptoria influenced by Norwegian ecclesiastical patronage under dynastic relations with the Kingdom of Norway. Provenance trajectories proposed in scholarship trace ownership through local chieftain households associated with estates mentioned in Sturlunga saga and later custody by clerical centers such as Skálholt and private collectors who participated in the early modern circulation of manuscripts, notably figures in correspondence with antiquarians like Ole Worm and Thomas Bartholin. The codex entered the collection assembled by Árni Magnússon in the 17th–18th centuries before incorporation into institutional holdings in Reykjavík.

Physical characteristics

The manuscript is written on calfskin vellum in folio format, with quire quires typical of medieval Icelandic compilation practices; foliation and quire signatures reflect a binder’s sequence comparable to that seen in Möðruvallabók. Scripts include Gothic and cursive hands, with abbreviation systems familiar from chancery practice influenced by continental models circulating through Bergen and Nidaros. Ink composition analyses have been compared with results from studies on manuscripts such as AM 132 fol. and show iron-gall formulations consistent with late medieval Northern European practices. Measurements, ruling patterns, and prickings indicate a workshop familiarity with codicological routines present in regional scriptoria connected to bishoprics of Holar and Skálholt.

Illustrations and marginalia

While primarily textual, the codex exhibits decorated initials, rubrication, and emblematic pen flourishes reflecting decorative conventions found in manuscripts like Codex Wormianus. Marginalia include glosses in Latin and Old Norse that reference canonical authorities such as Isidore of Seville and liturgical lemmata associated with clerical readers from dioceses influenced by Augustinians. Scribal annotations and corrigenda document user engagement over centuries, with notes comparable to marginal commentary in collections once held by collectors like Peder Resen and scholars who exchanged readings with Grímur Jónsson Thorkelin.

Textual significance and influence

Textual variants in the manuscript inform critical editions of major sagas and contribute to stemmatic reconstructions used by editors building on methodologies employed in editions by scholars such as Jón Sigurðsson, C. R. Unger, and Gudbrand Vigfusson. AM 113 fol. supplies unique readings that affect narrative chronology in sagas linked to the Sturlung era and offers witness material for reconstructing lost exemplars discussed by philologists analyzing saga redactional layers, including work influenced by theories from Ferdinand Holthausen and Einar Ólacsson. Its legal excerpts and annalistic notes have been cited in comparative studies concerning law codes and medieval Scandinavian polity relations involving Haakon IV and ecclesiastical reforms.

Preservation and cataloguing

The manuscript has undergone conservation treatments consistent with protocols developed at the Arni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies and has been digitized as part of national efforts paralleling projects at institutions like the National and University Library of Iceland. Cataloguing entries link it to national manuscript registries and international indices maintained by scholars who contributed to the handlists and catalogues pioneered by Svend Grundtvig and successive Scandinavian palaeographers. Institutional stewardship ensures restricted access for research, with facsimile and diplomatic editions used in scholarly publication and classroom settings.

Category:Medieval manuscripts Category:Icelandic sagas manuscripts