The Lost Vellum Kringla
The Lost Vellum Kringla, begun twenty years ago, has its origins in plans conceived at the University of Oslo to produce a new critical edition of Heimskringla, a collection of kings' sagas commonly attributed to Snorri Sturluson. A member of the research team, Jon Gunnar Jørgensen undertook transcription work and text-critical analysis and was subsequently awarded a doctoral stipend to examine Kringla, the chief manuscript. The dissertation, which was completed in 1999, comprised a Norwegian version of the present study as well as an edition of Ynglinga saga based on Kringla. According to Jørgensen, "[n]o major alterations have been made in the translation as compared with the Norwegian original. The structure of the book is the same, the conclusions are unchanged, and there are no substantial additions or omissions" (p. viii).
In his introduction, Jørgensen explains the aims of his study: "to shed some light on the lost vellum of Heimskringla known as Kringla" and, more specifically, "to examine the transcripts of Kringla in order to find out how they can best be used to reconstruct the original text" (p. 1). He points out that "[t]he text of Kringla is fundamental to our knowledge of the collection of sagas known as Heimskringla. The transcripts of Kringla have often been used in editions, but a systematic and critical reconstruction of the text has not yet been carried out. A reconstruction of this kind is a necessary precondition for a new critical edition, if the witnesses discussed here are to be used correctly" (pp. 1–2).
Following a brief discussion of the contents of Heimskringla, the transmission of the work, the names "Kringla" and "Heimskringla" in chapter 1 ("Introduction"), Jørgensen gives in chapter 2 ("The History and Provenance of Kringla") an overview of the earlier history and use of Kringla after its arrival in Bergen in the sixteenth century until its destruction in the Copenhagen fire of 1728. He proceeds in chapter 3 ("Contents and Transmission") to settle the matter of the original contents of Kringla, demonstrating that the manuscript contained all three of the main parts of Heimskringla (that is, the story of the kings preceding Saint Óláfr Haraldsson, the saga of Saint Óláfr, and the history of the succeeding kings down to Magnús Erlingsson) as well as Skáldatal and possibly the prologue [End Page 82] to Heimskringla, although there are no textual traces of the prologue. Chapter 4 ("Current State of Research") gives a critical survey of editions and scholarly work on Heimskringla with a focus on Kringla, which has been the chief source for most scholarly editions of the text, but which has not yet been edited separately. Chapter 5 ("Historical and Philological Institutions") is devoted to an overview of activities involving transcriptions and publication of Old Norse-Icelandic manuscripts in Denmark and Sweden in the seventeenth century, activities that were to save Kringla and other texts for posterity. In chapter 6 ("The Reproduction of Kringla"), Jørgensen poses the question: "[T]o what extent can we assume that the transcript is a faithful reproduction of the exemplar?" (p. 128). Following a general discussion of types of alteration in the copying of a manuscript and the relationship between transcript and exemplar, he examines the Kringla transcripts, of which the most important are Holm. Papp. 18 fol. made by Jón Eggertsson in Copenhagen and AM 35–36–63 fol. made by Ásgeir Jónsson on Karmøy. Chapter 7 ("The Relationship between the Transcripts") is the lengthiest chapter in the volume and comprises a critical and very detailed evaluation of all the transcripts of Kringla. Jørgensen concludes that the transcripts fall into two groups, the Jón Eggertsson group and the Ásgeir Jónsson group. In the former group, only one transcript, Holm. papp. 18 fol., has textual value. In the latter, all transcripts are independent of each other with the exception only of the text filling the lacuna in NB 521 fol., which he believes is filled in from AM 38 fol. In chapter 8 ("The Quality of the Transcripts"), Jørgensen assesses the accuracy of the transcripts. As he points out: "The independent witnesses, as well as the additional information we have about the text of Kringla, give us an opportunity to evaluate the accuracy of the individual transcripts. In addition to the comparison between Holm. papp. 18 fol. and Ásgeir Jónsson's transcripts, several pages in 18 can be compared with the original on the extant leaf of Kringla. Furthermore, it is posible to determine the accuracy of the other transcripts of Ynglinga saga with the help of Asgeir Jónsson's transcript in 35 as corrected by Árni Magnússon" (p. 289). Jørgensen's analysis reveals that the two most accurate transcripts are AM 35 fol. and Holm. papp. 18 fol. (the first hand). In chapter 9 ("Conclusion"), Jørgensen briefly summarizes the history, content, and genealogy of Kringla, gives a resumé of the transmission of Kringla and the accuracy of the transcripts, and then outlines how the transcripts can and should be used for the reconstruction of Kringla. Three appendices (1: "Mattis Størssøn and the First Lacuna in Kringla," 2: "Árni Magnússon's Transcript of Ynglingatal in AM 761 A 4to," 3: "Árni Magnússon's Transcript of Háleygjatal in AM 761 B 4to"), indices of manuscripts, and a list of tables conclude the volume.
With his The Lost Vellum Kringla, which presents highly original research that combines careful philological scrutiny, insightful literary analysis, and thorough historical research, Jon Gunnar Jørgensen has done the field of Old Norse-Icelandic literature a true service. The smooth prose, the complete lack of typos (the faulty headers in the third quarter of the book can easily be forgiven), and the enormous wealth of facts and findings pertinent to Kringla, which are introduced with remarkable clarity and sufficient explanation, make The Lost Vellum Kringla a joy to read and a pleasure to learn from. [End Page 83]
