Runic Medieval Vellum Manuscript Leaf – Lay Of GundrÚn

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Runic Medieval Vellum Manuscript Leaf – Lay Of GundrÚn Picture(s) and Description:

[Runic Paleography] [Medieval Runes] [Literature: Poetry; Mythology] [Sigurd and Gudrn] [Medieval Manuscripts] [Scandinavia] [Eddukvi ] [Smundr frgi] [Poetic Edda ] [Smundur Edda ] [Elder Edda] Fragment of a manuscript on vellum, from the Gurnarkvia Hin Forna: Sine Loco [doubtless Scandinavia, and almost certainly Norway, judging from comparisons in the Regesta Norvegica, though because of the late date, and the fact that this small fragment contains no words with the hl , hn or hr consonant blends, perhaps Iceland]; Sine Datum [latter half of the fourteenth century, most likely 1375 1400]; Sine Nomine; Sine Titulo [but certainly a passage from Gurnarkvia Hin Forna]; roughly rectangular, nominally 4.5 cm by 24 cm 1 inches by 9 inches, apparently a the lowermost portion of a much larger manuscript.

In Good antiquarian condition, doubtless once used as a sewing guard between the signatures of a later manuscript, but with a small (8 mm by 24 mm) late nineteenth or early twentieth century London bookseller's sale label affixed to the verso, indicating the passage of some years since the fragment was stripped from its later position as a guard. One roughly oval natural inclusion, approximately 10 mm by 20 mm, with a resulting semicircular tear spanning 100 mm, repaired at some early date by sewing with an overcast stitch in unbleached twine, else very good indeed, and quite fresh and unsullied. Written both sides, in deep brown ink, now somewhat faded in places, in a Medieval Runic hand, in Old Norse, in single columns, each line ruled top and bottom in red, with the written area ruled vertically in red at both margins, with the verses divided by a circular Paragraphus; approximately of one (vertical) line recto, and one full line, verso, on relatively well prepared vellum (unsplit; probably deer hide prepared with Lime and Chalk) .

Text, recto: "Skip Sigmundar skriu fr landi gylltar grmur grafnir stafnar byru "

"Sigmund's ship by the land was sailing golden the figure head gay the beaks on board "

Text verso: "Huga ek mr af hendi hauka fljga bralausa "

"I dreamed my hawks from my hand had flown eager for food "

The lines are taken from the sixteenth and forty second verses of the Gurnarkvia Hin Forna The Old Lay of Gudrn perhaps the oldest poem of the Sigurd Cycle, according to Henry Adams Bellows who, in collaboration with Everett James Ellis, translated the whole of the Poetic Edda the immense Norse Icelandic poetry which encapsulates Viking mythology as literature.

The poem, composed at some date prior to the year 1000, was considered by Henry Bellows to be in a "rather bad shape," though despite this pronouncement, it was the Gurnarkvia Hin Forna which provided the groundwork upon which was laid the Vlsunga Saga, wherein it was faithfully paraphrased. The Gurnarkvia Hin Forna is the only known Old Norse to have come down to us from a time before the year 1000, and still remain relatively intact in its makeup, while older works Reginsml, Ffnisml and Sigrdrifuml are known only by fragments, and only the final portion of Brot af Sigurarkviu is known to the modern world, while the remaining works in the the Sigurd cycle of Eddic poems can be generally dated to the latter half of the eleventh and first half of the twelfth centuries. The Lay of Sigurd and Gudrn would be, some thousand years after its composition, immortalised or vandalised, depending upon one's perspective by J. R. R. Tolkien.

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Only but seldom do Old Norse fragments come to the marketplace, and then, as a general rule, these are confined to legal documents such as land grants, tithes, and cetera. We are pleased to present this very pleasant little medieval vellum manuscript fragment for consideration with no reserve, and to ship this item anywhere in the world, via insured and bonded carrier, at no additional cost. Residents of New York State are responsible for 8% Sales Tax.