| Comments | #maintext #astronomy #computus #encyclopaedia #divination |
| Introduction | AM 624 4to is a composite manuscript dated to respectively around 1500 (ONP Register, 457) and the fifteenth century (Kålund Katalog II, 37). The contents point towards the later date, although it seems that at least some of the contents were collected over a longer time span. The manuscript’s last known owner was Hjalti Þorsteinsson (Vatnsfjörður), as stated by Árni Magnússon (AM slip with AM 624 4to and AM 435 a 4to f. 122v). There is a total of 170 fols, some of which are incomplete. Content-wise, it is a collection of very diverse texts, which are united by a religious-devotional or computistic theme. The majority of the texts is by far written in Icelandic, with the exception of fols. 97rv and 105r–107v. Those parts come in a highly deficient Latin that gives evidence to the scribe’s unfamiliarity with the language. As the Latin is corrupt beyond any comprehension, these parts would have been virtually useless to any reader except for maybe as a token. From the contents, it seems that a priest would be a likely candidate to own such a manuscript, but this would certainly imply a below-average knowledge of the liturgical language, even for the time of the manuscript’s production. The bad quality of the Latin also suggests that the producers or users of this manuscript cannot have been the translators of the translated texts from the Latin, such as the translations of Bernhard of Clairvaux’ Meditationes. The Latin on fols. 97rv consists of the cardinal and ordinal numbers from 1 through to 1000, an item also found elsewhere. There is nothing peculiar about this representation. Fols 105r–107v are more intriguing and diverse, despite their being summarised in the catalogues as “Um stjörnubókar fræði ok rimtal” (on astronomy and the computus). All of these texts reveal that the scribe did not know any Latin, as the sentences are not grammatical and contain words that do not even resemble Latin. The first three units, i.e. from the mantic alphabet starting f. 105r:12 to the section on the addition on fragments concluding f. 105v:9, have evidently been copied as a block from one exemplar, as the present scribe was unable to discern text borders due to his poor language skills. Thus, he frequently confused which lines had to go with which text. This is especially striking at the transition from the mantic alphabet to the verses on numbers, where the exemplar probably had an irregular line break leading to a mix-up of the two texts. The two following versions of Cisiojanus, the first dominical, the second regular, are not distinct, either, the layout is random and the frequent mistakes reduce the text to dysfunctional nonsense. It seems that the scribe had no idea what he was actually copying. Finally, there are Latin verses on the computus, otherwise known as rímtöl/rymbegla. Also here, mistakes are frequent. There are minor progressing variations in writing, however, which point towards the texts being collected over a longer time span, rather than having been written in one go. AM 624 4to is an important witness to the latinity in late medieval Iceland as well as the contemporary approach to popular science. Texts found elsewhere are copied without any knowledge of the language, thus rendering a manuscript that is partially useless except for the purpose of collecting. |
| Shelfmark | AM 624 4to |
| Provenance | Iceland |
| Summary | Miscellany |
| Type | miscellaneous |
| Repository | SÁM |
| Link | See entry on Handrit.org |
| Link | See photos at digital collections |
>106r:22–106v |
|
| Chronology | progressing |
| Interrelation | integral |
| Location | main |
| Same Hand As Norse | yes |
| Category | computus |
| Codicological Function | main text |
| Contents | calculation of communes and embolismales |
| Comments | |
| Comments | |
>105v:10–15 |
|
| Chronology | same |
| Interrelation | integral |
| Location | main |
| Same Hand As Norse | yes |
| Category | computus |
| Codicological Function | main text |
| Contents | dominical Cisiojanus |
| Comments | |
| Comments | |
>105v:15–106r |
|
| Chronology | same |
| Interrelation | integral |
| Location | main |
| Same Hand As Norse | yes |
| Category | computus |
| Codicological Function | main text |
| Contents | ordinary Cisiojanus |
| Comments | |
| Comments | |
>106r |
|
| Chronology | same |
| Interrelation | integral |
| Location | main |
| Same Hand As Norse | yes |
| Category | computus |
| Codicological Function | main text |
| Contents | verses on calculation of feast days and seasons |
| Comments | |
| Comments | |
>105v:2–5 |
|
| Chronology | same |
| Interrelation | integral |
| Location | main |
| Same Hand As Norse | yes |
| Category | computus |
| Codicological Function | main text |
| Contents | verses on Ember Days |
| Comments | |
| Comments | |
>105r:12–22 |
|
| Chronology | same |
| Interrelation | integral |
| Location | main |
| Same Hand As Norse | yes |
| Category | divination |
| Codicological Function | main text |
| Contents | mantic alphabet |
| Comments | |
| Comments | |
>105v:5–9 |
|
| Chronology | same |
| Interrelation | integral |
| Location | main |
| Same Hand As Norse | yes |
| Category | encyclopaedia |
| Codicological Function | main text |
| Contents | addition of fractions |
| Comments | |
| Comments | |
>97rv |
|
| Chronology | same |
| Interrelation | integral |
| Location | main |
| Same Hand As Norse | yes |
| Category | encyclopaedia |
| Codicological Function | main text |
| Contents | cardinal and ordinal numerals, 1–1000 |
| Comments | |
| Comments | |
>105r:22–105v:2 |
|
| Chronology | same |
| Interrelation | integral |
| Location | main |
| Same Hand As Norse | yes |
| Category | encyclopaedia |
| Codicological Function | main text |
| Contents | verses on numbers |
| Comments | |
| Comments | |
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