I shall deal first with some aspects of the post-Reformation history of medieval codices and their

turning into fragments in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and briefly discuss their post-

medieval provenance.

1

The sources are mainly fragmentary. The fragments were used in the bind-

ing of early modern account books, many of which were sent to Copenhagen, the common capital

of Denmark and Norway in early modern times, to be audited. Firm evidence is introduced that

many account books for Norway were bound locally before being sent to Copenhagen. A note

on preserved complete codices is added. The article concludes with a discussion of how many

Latin books there were in medieval Norway. Although this is a question that may hardly be ans -

wered with assurance, I will draw attention to some evidence that sheds light on the problem.

From manuscript books to fragments

Why are the sources mostly fragmentary? In 1519, the prefaces to two books printed for the Nor-

wegian church province, i.e., Missale Nidrosiense (Copenhagen) and Breviarium Nidrosiense

(Paris), tell us that imported printed books already were widely used in the province. The purpose

of the two Nidaros books was, according to their prefaces, to standardise the liturgy in the

province and to replace the very many old and obsolete handwritten liturgical books with letters

that were hard to read, as well as printed books imported from other dioceses. The binding of

the Nidaros missal is an early example of the reuse of parchment from obsolete liturgical books

in Norway. The missal was delivered unbound from the printer, and the surviving copies with

contemporary bindings, probably made at Trondheim, contain fragments of liturgical books in

large format (Gjerløw 1986, 72; Schjoldager 1927, 52–55).

2

Thus the arrival of printing immed -

iately led to some old codices being dismembered and the parchment reused for binding purposes.

3

Most preserved fragments are preserved as wrappers on public account books or — cut into

smaller pieces — as reinforcements on the spine. There are few Norwegian public account books

1. This topic is dealt with more extensively by Pettersen in the pres-

ent volume who draws attention to the various problems it rep-

resents.

2. Breviarium Nidrosiense, however, was bound in Paris. Another

instance of reuse of parchment before the Reformation, is the

two account books of Archbishop Olav Engelbrektsson from

1537, bound with leaves from a twelfth-century bible copied in

England (see Pettersen in this volume).

3. The early printed liturgical books were rendered obsolete in 1570

when the new Roman missal and breviary appeared and became

the norm for the entire Catholic Church with the exception of

rites older than 200 years (Harper 1991, 156). Thus the printed

Nidaros books would have fallen out of use only a bit more than

three decades after 1537, if Norway had remained Catholic.

Latin Manuscripts of Medieval Norway: Survival and Losses

Espen Karlsen

Ombrukket 14_Layout 1 14.05.13 14:57 Side 27

bound with fragments earlier than c. 1560,

4

but this does not exclude the likelihood that this may

have been usual. Unfortunately some of the few account books that exist are damaged or rebound.

The practice of reusing parchment from medieval codices for binding purposes appears to have

been usual to judge from the preserved material from the 1560s on until the 1640s when the sup-

ply of parchment from old books almost came to an end. Few account books are bound with

parchment from medieval manuscripts after that date. In the present volume Gunnar I. Pettersen

discusses this process and what we may know of where the fragmented books were used.

The province of Nidaros, established in 1152/53, was vast, comprising not only Norway with

some areas in present-day Sweden (Bohuslen),

5

but also Iceland, the Faroes, Orkney and some

islands west of Scotland, Man and the Sudreys.

6

The manuscript material discussed in this book

is mostly to be connected with mainland Norway.

7

The loss of manuscripts in Norway was par-

ticularly great, whereas from Iceland where the same language was spoken, there are a large num-

ber of manuscripts preserved, in particular in the Old Norse vernacular. In Old Norse studies

much energy has been devoted to distinguish Norwegian and Icelandic manuscripts.

8

As the two

countries belonged to the same church province, and, for a long time the same state and a common

language, scribes travelled between the two countries and worked in both places.

9

Ommundsen

in her contribution on psalter fragments in the present volume considers four psalters used in

Norway that appear to have been written by Icelandic scribes.

Although many account books with fragments were sent to be audited in Copenhagen, the

common capital of Denmark and Norway, it is quite clear that many of the fragmentary books

in the NRA were used in Norway before the Reformation. It has, however, been argued that

acc ount books were bound centrally in Copenhagen (cf. Tortzen 1999, 165).

10

Recent discoveries

presented for the first time in this volume are in favour of local binding in Norway.

11

Many dismembered manuscripts were divided between Denmark and Norway. Some leaves

of a book were used to bind account books that were sent to Copenhagen for auditing, whereas

other leaves of the same book were used to bind other kinds of account books and documents,

4. A public account book (lensregnskap) for Nordfjord and Sunnfjord

1522 is bound with a large fragment; the same goes for two public

account books for Akershus from 1557 and 1560. Also ecclesias-

tical registers as the two account books of Archbishop Olav En-

gelbrektsson from 1537 (mentioned in footnote 2 above) and the

account book of the Lutheran minister Jørgen Madsen from Oslo

Hospital 1538 are bound with fragments (see footnote 12 below).

Due to lack of material it is not possible to draw any firm conclu-

sions. A closer enquiry of the six ecclesiastical registers and one

account book from 1540 to 1555 may throw further light upon

this (the register for the church of St Mary in Oslo from 1542 is

bound with a fragment). Another early example of a patristic

manuscript used in a binding preserved from medieval Norway

is a bifolium of the Vitae patrum (NRA lat. fragmenter 18). It has

been removed from an account book from c. 1540 from Akershus,

the castle that was then just outside Oslo.

5. Jämtland belonged to the province of Uppsala, but was also a part

of the Norwegian kingdom.

6. See Helle (2003b, 377); Orrman (2003, 426–427; 430). The area

was restricted from c. 1350 on (Hamre 2003, 653–654). An Ice-

landic reprint of the Nidaros Breviary at Holar 1534 indicates that

Iceland at this late time still adhered to the use of Nidaros (Collijn

1914).

7. In this volume, Guðvarður Már Gunnlaugsson focuses on the de-

velopment of script in both Norway and Iceland in the twefth

century.

8. As for liturgical manuscripts in Latin used on Iceland, see Gjer-

løw (1980). Vol. 2 offers a collection of plates. Geert Andersen

(2008) is a catalogue of Latin fragments of Icelandic provenance

in Den Arnamagnæanske Samling, Copenhagen.

9. A good example of a book connected to both countries, is Hauks-

bók (now the AMI manuscripts 371, 4to, 544, 4to, and 675, 4to),

copied at the initiative of Haukr Erlendsson (born c. 1265 on Ice-

land, died 1334 in Bergen), who was counselor of the King, law

speaker in Oslo c. 1302 and in Bergen 1302–1322. Some parts of

the book are in Haukr’s own handwriting. There are at least fif-

teen scribes altogether, some of whom appear to be Norwegian

(Helgason 1960, ix–xii). The hand of Haukr Erlendsson is also

present in Old Norse law fragments (NRA norrøne fragmenter

2, reproduced in Eken 1963, pls. 38–51) from account books from

the western part of Norway (Sunnmøre from the years 1630–

1633 and 1637), the part of Norway where he served as a law

speaker (Helgason 1960, x).

10. There are no account books from Denmark or Norway that are

proven to have been bound in the Royal Accounts Chamber. For

examples of Danish account books bound locally in Denmark,

see Mejer & Raasted (1973, 380–382).

11. Each account book was made in two copies of which one re-

mained locally and one was sent to Copenhagen (see Pettersen in

this volume). As none of the duplicate account books that re-

mained locally are known to have survived, it is uncertain whether

they were bound with fragments or not. If they were bound with

fragments, this provides an explanation of where much of the

parchment ended up.

28 espen karlsen

Ombrukket 14_Layout 1 14.05.13 14:57 Side 28

such as land registers (jordebøker), fragments from priest accounts,

12

and court protocols that re-

mained locally in Norway.

Several land registers from eastern Norway were sent in 1624–1626 to Akershus Castle close

to Oslo, and in western Norway to Bergenhus in Bergen, and from there to Akershus (see Pet-

tersen in this volume). These account books (at least seventeen with one or several fragments

each) concerned a special tax to be audited by a special commission at Akershus and not in Copen-

hagen. As this is a recent discovery made by Dr Tor Weidling, it has not been possible to evaluate

in detail how many manuscripts this involved and how many fragments from the same manu-

scripts that were sent to Copenhagen.

13

As for the manuscript Gjerløw gave the designation Lec-

Br 5, there are twenty-one fragments preserved (NRA lat. fragmenter 787, 1–21). Two fragments

of Lec-Br 5 were used in the binding of land registers (Franz Rantzau and Lyse kloster). As just

mentioned, such land registers were sent via Bergen to Akershus and never reached Denmark.

Eighteen other fragments of Lec-Br 5 were used to bind account books (lensregnskaper) from

Bergenhus and Sogn during the years 1608–1629. They were almost certainly bound in Bergen

and sent to Copenhagen for auditing, whereas the provenance of the last fragment is unknown.

The fact that there are two fragments from land registers that were not sent to Copenhagen, but

from Bergenhus to Akershus, confirms a local binding, and the manuscript dismembered must

have been present in the chancery in Bergen from at least 1608 to 1629.

Some fragments used in the binding of Norwegian account books (lensregnskaper) share

scribes with Old Norse manuscripts known to have been copied in Norway.

14

Most of the frag-

ments come from liturgical books, and several of these conform to the Nidaros ordo (Gjerløw

1968, 34–38).

15

Fragments from some books appear in the bindings of account books from one district over

a long time, but not from others (for an example, see above on Lec-Br 5). It is unlikely that frag-

ments from one manuscript were reserved in Copenhagen for account books from one Norwe-

gian district, and not from others.

16

Annotations in the Old Norse vernacular also reveal a

Norwegian provenance in some cases.

The evidence of the vernacular Old Norse and Old Danish fragments is not in favour of a

central binding of Norwegian account books in The Royal Accounts Chamber (Rentekammeret)

in Copenhagen (cf. Tortzen 1999, 165).

17

There are two main reasons:

12. See, e.g., Gullick 2, no. 139, in this volume. Another example is

the two consecutive double leaves in the NB (Ms.fol. 364) from

a glossed bible that were used as covers on an account book of

the Lutheran clergyman Jørgen Madsen from Oslo Hospital 1538.

The leaves have been removed from the account book (NB Ms.4º

916). The content is from John 1, 13 to John 2, 7. The old Fran-

ciscan convent was turned into Oslo Hospital after the Reforma-

tion in 1537. Thus this manuscript probably belonged to the

Franciscans in Oslo.

13. I am most grateful to Dr Weidling for informing me of this.

14. The scribe who copied the Old Norwegian Homily Book (AMI

AM 619 4to; see Gullick 2, no. 57) also copied a missal (Gullick

2, no. 111) and an antiphoner (Gullick 2, no. 126) that are now

fragmentary. The initials in a second fragmentary antiphoner (see

Gullick 2, no. 127) were probably made by the Homily Book

Scribe (Gull ick 2010, 84–91), probably working in Bergen. These

manuscripts are related to the work of a second scribe who wrote

an antiphoner (Gullick 2, no. 124) and a Norse translation of the

Rule of St Benedict (Gullick 2, no. 138). Another manuscript by

the same scribe is a sacramentary in Copenhagen (DKB, Thott

110 8º; see Gullick 2, no. 62). A third Norwegian scribe called the

St Olav scribe is known to have produced at least six books in the

last quarter of the thirteenth century. The two in the Norse ver-

nacular, the legendary saga of St Olav (UUB, MS De la Gardie

8II) which on linguistic grounds connects the scribe to the Trond-

heim area, and a Norse law manuscript, are also connected to

Trøndelag (Gjerløw 1968, 35–38; Ommundsen 2007, vol. 1, 213–

218). There are fifteen Latin fragments of this scribe (of a manual,

a missal, an antiphoner, and a breviary) used in the binding of ac-

count books that were sent to Copenhagen. A fourth scribe

penned the most important manuscript of the Norse Konungs

skuggsiá and (probably) a missal used in the binding of an account

book from Stavanger (Gjerløw 1968, 35).

15. For antiphoner fragments that follow the Nidaros ordo, see Gjer-

løw (1979, 228–254).

16. Other examples are the missals studied by Hartzell and Rankin

in this volume (Mi 11 and Mi 14).

17. To me, it makes much more sense that the account books were

bound before being sent by ship to Copenhagen rather than after.

This procedure would certainly have been more practical for the

receiver ensuring that all parts of the book were in the right place.

latin manuscripts of medieval norway [karlsen 1] 29

Ombrukket 14_Layout 1 14.05.13 14:57 Side 29

1) There are close to 500 fragments in Old Norse in the NRA in Oslo used in the binding of

public account books for Norway. Very few Danish account books from the same time appear

to be bound with vernacular Norwegian fragments. The register volume (1989) of ONP

18

lists no such fragments under Rigsarkivet (i.e., the DRA) in Copenhagen.

19

The vernacular

(including Old Norse) fragments were transferred to the AMI before the publication of

Kålund (1889–1894) (according to Andersen & Raasted 1983, 1). Of the signatures of the

transferred fragments, only AM 1056 4to contains a few Norwegian vernacular fragments

used to bind Danish account books.

20

2) Only seven Norwegian account books in the NRA in Oslo were bound with Danish ver-

nacular fragments.

21

The account books in question are dated between 1612 (Telemark) and

1651 (Mossedal). One would expect more instances of Danish fragments used in the binding

of Norwegian account books if they were bound in Rentekammeret. In comparison, there are

more than thirty Danish account books with vernacular Danish fragments listed by Kålund

of fragments transferred from the DRA to the AMI (see above under 1).

22

By comparison,

the number of Norwegian account books bound with Old Swedish fragments is higher.

Eleven Norwegian account books were bound with Swedish fragments from four books.

23

There are some fragments of books certainly or probably used in Norway in Scandinavian coll -

ections outside Norway. E.g., ten leaves of a choir antiphoner written for Nidaros Cathedral

were used as binding material for account books for Copenhagen Studiigaard, a hostelry for stu-

dents of the University of Copenhagen, for the years 1624–1630 (Gjerløw 1979, 230; Attinger

& Haug 2004).

24

A royal rescript dated 11 August 1622 to bishops in Denmark and Norway or-

ders all kinds of old documents and books to be sent to the royal chancery in Copenhagen

(Laursen 1922, 401; Reiss 1908, 4 with footnote 1). Occasions like this provide a probable explan -

ation of how ten leaves of the above-mentioned antiphoner used in the cathedral at Trondheim

are now found in Copenhagen. It also suggests that more fragments of Norwegian provenance

may be found in Copenhagen.

25

A systematic investigation and cataloguing of Danish fragments

18. The register volume includes a list of Old Norse manuscripts

under their respective institutions.

19. Danish account books could of course have been bound with Old

Norse fragments due to the collection of parchment ordered to

be sent to the royal chancery by Danish and Norwegian bishops

in 1622 (see below), but it is hard to find examples of it.

20. The Norwegian vernacular fragments removed from Danish ac-

count books with the signature AM 1056 4to are Stjernholm

lensregnskab 1636 (Biblíusaga), Visborg toldregnskab 1630 (Konungs

skuggsjá = Speculum regale). A fragment of Heimskringla, possibly

Icelandic, is used in the binding of Vennebjærg herreds tingbog

(court protocol) 1632. A few fragments are without explicit prove-

nance, whereas two others under the same signature have an ex-

plicit Norwegian provenance (Hedemarkens fogedregnskab 1646,

Bahus 1610).

21. Two of them are edited by Diderichsen & Nielsen (1931–1937,

64–112).

22. Kålund (1889–1894) mentions thirty signatures for Danish public

account books (lensregnskaper) in his catalogue for AM 1056 4to

and AM 79 8vo, but to judge from the number of fragments for

each designation, it is obvious that there in many cases were sev-

eral account books under each designation.

23. There are remains of Old Swedish homilies from four books

under the signature NRA norrøne fragmenter 88. There is one

leaf without explicit provenance, three small fragments (Hardan-

ger 1625), four small fragments (Bergen 1629 and 1623, Trond-

hjems len 1620, Hardanger 1624), seven small fragments

(Nordhordland 1630, Bergen 1630 and Trondheim 1638). NRA

norrøne fragmenter 89 consists of two small fragments from a

Swedish homily book (Nordhordland len 1622). NRA norrøne

fragmenter 90 consists of two small fragments of a Swedish hom-

ily book (Hadeland 1604). NRA norrøne fragmenter 91 contains

one Swedish law fragment (Romerike 1626). I am indebted to

Gunnar I. Pettersen for the information in this footnote.

24. The manuscript carries the designation DKB MS Add. 47 fol.

The Studiigaard was the name of several buildings belonging to

the university in central Copenhagen just north of the cathedral

(Vor Frue Kirke) (Villadsen 1980, 138).

25. Parchment was also collected in Denmark and Norway to serve

as wrappers for fireworks for the wedding of Prince Christian in

1634. A lively account of this incident is given by the Danish hist -

orian Thomas Broder Bircherod (1661–1731), who strongly

laments in humanist Latin the destruction of old books and docu -

ments (Bircherod 1743, 387–388). Bircherod’s account may be

seen as an indication of change of attitude towards the old books,

at least among scholars.

30 espen karlsen

Ombrukket 14_Layout 1 14.05.13 14:57 Side 30

would probably be of great importance for the understanding of Norwegian fragments and vice

versa as it is likely that there are fragments to be linked together in Danish and Norwegian coll -

ections.

26

Moreover, there are fragments of Danish provenance in Oslo that it might be possible

to link to other items in Copenhagen, e.g., of a christian version of Chalcidius (see Karlsen 2 in

this volume). Further investigation of this will be a task of the future.

The early modern provenance of the fragments is investigated in more detail by Pettersen in

this volume.

27

A note on complete codices

The present book will for obvious reasons focus mostly on fragments. This does not mean that

there are no more or less complete codices preserved that were used in medieval Norway and

some will be mentioned in this book. There may be more surviving codices from medieval Norway

not mentioned in what follows.

Of the large number of liturgical books that existed in Norway in the Middle Ages, there are

a few manuals, psalters, and bibles preserved. I have chosen here to exclude early printed books

used before the Reformation.

There are three manuals, edited by Fæhn (1962) that are certainly Norwegian. The volumes

are composite and they bear witness to seven books used in Norway in the Middle Ages (Skån-

land in Fæhn 1962, xvi), the oldest part being from c. 1200 or the late twelfth century and the

core parts from the thirteenth century. Other parts are late medieval.

From approximately the same time there is a sacramentary written by the Benedict scribe,

now in Copenhagen (DKB, Thott 110 8

0

). The Benedict scribe, named so by Gullick (2010, 91),

also copied the Rule of St Benedict in Old Norse, as well as fragmentary liturgical books (see

footnote 14 above).

Ommundsen mentions five psalter codices in her contribution to the present volume, four of

which were copied between about 1200 and 1250. The fifth was copied in Bergen c. 1450. Only

the oldest of these remains in Norway (the Kvikne Psalter, Ms.8

o

102 in the NB, Oslo). The

Christina Psalter, a French manuscript from the first half of the thirteenth century, is connected

to Princess Christina (1234–1262), daughter of King Håkon Håkonsson who ruled 1217–1263,

and married to Philip of Castile and León.

When the Birgittine order abandoned Munkeliv monastery in Bergen in 1531, they took books

in Latin as well as in the vernacular with them to Sweden, some of which now are in the C-coll -

ection of the UUB.

28

Three of the Latin codices probably belonged to Bishop Arne of Bergen

(1304–1314) and are now in the UUB, Uppsala (Kolsrud & Reiss 1913, 60–70). UUB C 233 con-

tains various texts, inter alia a hymn for St Magnus of Orkney and Carmen gratulatorium in nup-

tias Eyrici regis Norwagie, for the royal wedding in Bergen 1281. C 29 contains the forty homilies

of Pope Gregory the Great and dates from the twelfth century. C 564 is a copy from the end of

26. The fragments in Copenhagen appear to be less investigated com-

pared with the Norwegian and Swedish ones. The classical

scholar and musicologist Jørgen Raasted began his cataloguing

work of Latin material in Copenhagen in 1944, but was never

able to work full-time (Raasted 1960, 145). In 1960 he had cata-

logued c. 1000 fragments for a report on which see Raasted

(1960). Later appeared the inventories published by Albrectsen

(1976) and Andersen & Raasted (1983) of Latin fragments in the

DRA and the DKB, respectively. There is a register of selected

Danish fragments used in the binding of account books by Dr

Knud Ottosen (Århus) with reproductions on the internet

(www.liturgy.dk). A recent contribution on some new discoveries

of Latin fragments in the DRA is Harpsøe (2011). There is no

mention of Old Norse fragments used in the binding of Danish

account books in any of these publications.

27. I have also added some observations concerning provenance in

my contribution to this book on ecclesiastical manuscripts.

28. For the Uppsala manuscripts mentioned in the following text, see

the relevant entries in MHUU.

latin manuscripts of medieval norway [karlsen 1] 31

Ombrukket 14_Layout 1 14.05.13 14:57 Side 31

the thirteenth century of Summa Gaufredi, a commentary on the decretals of Gregory IX by Gof-

fredus de Trano (✝ 1245), a scholar in Bologna.

29

The same codex also contains a list of Bishop

Arne’s library, dating from 1313/14 and comprising twenty-eight codices in Latin and eight in the

vernacular.

30

UUB C 448 contains the Birgittine Cantus sororum and was probably copied in

Munkeliv monastery in Bergen in the early sixteenth century.

There are a few codices that once belonged to Norwegian monasteries in libraries abroad, such

as UUB, C 278, copied in Hovedøya monastery close to Oslo c. 1467–1471. Another is UUB C

250, containing inter alia Jerome, In Ezechielem and dating from the middle of the twelfth century

that belonged to the Franciscan convent at Konghelle, now Kungahälla (near Göteborg) in pres-

ent-day Sweden (Gullick 2, no. 144). A third manuscript of correspondence of Munkeliv

monastery (ed. Munch 1843) now belongs to the AMI (AM 902 a 4to).

Two Norwegian archbishops have left us bible manuscripts. The bible of Aslak Bolt (c. 1375–

1450; archbishop from 1428) was copied in France in the middle of the thirteenth century. It is

now in the municipal library in Oslo (Deichmanske bibliotek). The bible of Erik Walkendorf

(born in Denmark c. 1465; died in Rome 1522; archbishop 1510–1522) is in small format (16 × 10

cm) and believed to have been copied in the first half of the fourteenth century (Duin 1983, 6–

7). It is now in Museum Enschedé in Haarlem.

31

The register of another archbishop, Henrik

Kalteisen (1452–1458), still exists (Universitätsbibliothek Bonn, Codex 326; edited by Bugge

1899). Kalteisen took it with him to Germany when he left the country.

The Vatican Library has a codex containing the comprehensive chronicle of William of Tyre

in French translation (Pal. lat. 1963) that carries the ownership inscription

LIBER DOMINE ISA

-

BELLE DEI GRATIA REGINE NORWEGIE

in red on the first and last leaf (Christ 1916, 56–60). Queen

Isabella (Isobel Bruce) was the sister of Robert Bruce, who was king of Scotland 1306–1329. She

was married to King Eirik Magnusson (1280–1299) and stayed in Bergen until she died in 1358.

The codex was probably copied in Antioch in the 1260s and left Antioch before its destruction in

1268 (Folda 2008, 133–134 with further references). It seems mostly to have remained unknown

to Norwegian scholars.

32

It has received attention for its miniatures. There seems to be no other

French manuscript preserved today that had been in Norway in the Middle Ages, although such

manuscripts may have existed, as there are translations of French books into Old Norse.

33

E.g.,

Chretien’s Le Roman de Tristan and the lais of Marie de France were translated freely into Old

Norse at the initiative of King Håkon Håkonsson (1217–1263).

29. Summa Gaufredi is linked to the diocese of Bergen in another

way. It may have influenced an incomplete ordo iudiciarius in

Latin for the diocese of Bergen preserved in a composite codex in

the AMI (AM 671 4to, fols. 9r–16v; see Kålund 1889–1894, vol.

2, 87–89). The codex has an Icelandic provenance (Kålund 1889–

1894, vol. 2, 89). The copy of the ordo probably dates from the

late thirteenth century or c. 1300 at latest if it originated in Nor-

way. A later date in the first half of the fourteenth is possible if

copied by an Icelandic scribe (I am grateful to Guðvarður Már

Gunnlaugsson for suggesting this possibility to me). I have only

seen Xerox copies of the manuscript. It is possible that Uppsala

C 564 was used in the composition of the original ordo. The rel-

evance of this ordo iudiciarius for Bergen has until recently been

unnoticed until it was recently discovered by Kristoffer Vadum

(Oslo), who presented it at a seminar 24 March 2011. He will in-

clude a study of it in his forthcoming doctoral thesis.

30. See the relevant entries for these manuscripts in MHUU, the

dating of which I have followed.

31. The manuscript is known as the Occo Bible (without signature)

and belongs to the collection of bibles in the Museum Enschedé

in Haarlem. Erik Walkendorf gave the book to Pompeius Occo

during his stay in Amsterdam in 1521 (Duin 1983, 5). The bible

was bought at an auction in 1750 by Johannes Enschedé, and re-

mained in the Enschedé family until 1969, when the family sold

it to the Enschedé company. In 1976 the bible was donated by the

Enschedé company to the museum.

32. It was, however, mentioned en passant by Gjerløw (1959a, 66). Dr

Bjørn Bandlien (Oslo) drew attention to this manuscript in a fea-

ture article in the Norwegian daily Klassekampen 24 January 2011.

33. E.g., Tristams saga and Strengleikar. Budal (2009, vol. 1, 417–418)

argues that the translation of Strengleikar may have been made in

England since no Old French manuscripts are known from med -

ieval Norway. Still there was an extensive loss of manuscripts in

Norway, so some books in Old French may very well have existed

in Norway (cf. the existence of Pal. lat. 1963, once owned by a

Norwegian queen). French influence in the sphere of Latin liter-

ature was visible already in the twelfth century. The literature

known to the Norwegian historian Theodoricus Monachus (c.

1180) suggests a northern French background, and the clergy had

close contacts with France (Johnsen 1939, 90–94; Mortensen

1993, 24–27; Gunnes 1996, 195–196). French influence was also

strong in several fields within art in thirteenth-century Norway

(Blindheim 1959).

32 espen karlsen

Ombrukket 14_Layout 1 14.05.13 14:57 Side 32

How many Latin books were there in Norway before the Reformation?

In the introduction I presented the reconstruction work of Gjerløw with 543 liturgical codices. In

comparison, there are only 130 preserved Old Norse manuscripts from Norway until c. 1370

(Gunnlaugsson in this volume). In this context it is only natural to pose the question of how

many Latin books were there in medieval Norway. The answer to this question may only be

conjectural.

34

It depends on how many churches there were and how many books each church

owned.

35

It also depends on the number of monastic houses and the number of books in each

and to which degree there were other book owners around, e.g., at court. The number of churches

and institutions may also have changed during the centuries.

36

Some books went in and out of

the country during the Middle Ages. An unpublished catalogue in progress by Jan Brendalsmo

(Oslo) of archaeological and written evidence gives 1258 churches in Norway within its present

borders (including monastic churches).

37

In addition there are traditions, in place names or other

traditions, for approximately 1000 additional churches, of which a few have been proved to have

existed (Brendalsmo 2007).

To these 1258 churches the number of churches in three areas in present-day Sweden should

be added, i.e., Bohuslen, Härjedalen and Jämtland. They were all part of the Norwegian kingdom

in the Middle Ages, and account books from these areas are bound with fragments:

1) Bohuslen was in the Middle Ages part of the diocese of Oslo. The Red Book of Bishop

Eystein Aslaksson (1386–1407) in Oslo lists seventy churches in Bohuslen; to these should

be added one more church proved to have existed (Emanuelsson 2005, 50). This gives a

total of 1329 churches. Bohuslen remained a part of Norway until 1658, and account books

from this len carried parchment fragments that are now in the NRA.

2) Härjedalen was in the Middle Ages part of the diocese of Nidaros proper. There were at

least seven churches in Härjedalen (see the map in Brendalsmo & Bonnier 2009, 95), the

oldest of which is held to have been built in the eleventh century (Almqvist 2002, 18 –19).

38

3) Jämtland belonged to the province of Uppsala before the Reformation, but was nevertheless

a part of Norway from the 1100s until 1645, and it is likely that parchment was collected

there by the len administration as well as in other parts of the len. Jämtland was usually re-

ferred to as a len in its own right, but it was administered from Trondheim and had the

same governor (Pettersen in this volume). There were at least forty-five churches in Jämt-

land, forty-one of which are documented by Trondhjems Reformats and four by documen-

tary sources and archaeology. As Jämtland had belonged to the Swedish diocese of Uppsala

before the Reformation, it is hardly any coincidence that liturgical books printed for Swe-

den before the Reformation are found as covers on account books from Trondheim len.

There are several Norwegian account books in the NRA from Jämtland and Härjedalen

bound with fragments until the 1640s (see Björkvall in this volume for Norwegian account

books from this area in the SRA).

The number of known churches within the borders of medieval Norway is then 1381, albeit forty-

five of them belonging to the diocese of Uppsala. This is a total number of churches that are cer-

34. Other recent attempts at estimating the number of books are

Karlsen (2003), Ommundsen (2007, vol. 1, 72–81), and Om-

mundsen (2008).

35. I am greatly indebted to Dr Brendalsmo for discussing the foll -

owing with me.

36. Institutional book owners, such as cathedral chapters and monas-

tic centres, are found on map 1 (p. 37).

37. Brendalsmo’s catalogue does not include churches in Bohuslen,

Jämtland and Härjedalen.

38. The main source for the number of churches in Härjedalen and

Jämtland is the so-called Trondhjems Reformats of 1589 (edited by

Hamre 1983). It is a report from a royal commission with the task

to evaluate the organisation of the parishes in the diocese of Ni-

daros. Several churches were recommended by the commission

to be abandoned.

latin manuscripts of medieval norway [karlsen 1] 33

Ombrukket 14_Layout 1 14.05.13 14:57 Side 33

tainly known to have existed, but the number may have been changing throughout the Middle

Ages. The figures concerning Bohuslen, Jämtland and Härjedalen reflect the situation in the late

Middle Ages.

In England in the second half of the thirteenth century all churches were expected to have

seven books each (missale, breviarium, antiphonarium, graduale, troparium, ordinale, and psalterium)

(Edwards 1989, 175–176).

39

Larger churches should have two of each. The churches frequently

possessed two or three antiphoners, but rarely as many as four. An inventory from the church of

Holdhus (Hålandsdalen) from 1306 (DN XXI, 7)

40

mentions eight books (missale, legenda per

annum, aspiciens de tempore et de sanctis per annum,

41

an old psalter, a small hymnary, a small psalter,

a commune suffragium (a prayer book for Mass and office), and a manual (hand bok). The church

of Ølmeim (Ylmheim) in Sogn in Norway, which was not a parish church, owned twelve books

in 1321: missale, aspiciens de tempore et de sanctis per annum (two copies), legenda de tempore et de

sanctis (two incomplete copies), one legenda de sanctis, hymnarium and capitularium (possibly in

one volume), an old psalter, a good graduale per annum, two more graduals, one de tempore and

one de sanctis, and one sequentiarium (Munch 1843, 83; DN XV, 8). A large, complete ordinal, a

benedictional, prefaciones cum canone, and an old and small notula for preachers

42

were added to

the list two years later. Larger churches may have possessed more books than Ølmeim. The

monastic church at Kastelle in Bohuslen owned twenty-one books in 1485. Other inventories are

referred by Holm-Olsen (1990, 124–144) and Ommundsen (2007, vol. 1, 75–76).

If we are to judge from these two churches (Ølmeim and Hålandsdalen), we could expect

13000–14000 books owned by the churches, but it is not clear whether they are representative

for other churches.

Due to the scarce sources concerning Norway proper, the situation in another part of the

Nidaros province may be illuminating where more inventories from churches are preserved (Ole-

son 1957). Iceland is well documented by an exceptionally high number of such inventories by

European standards (Oleson 1957, 502), as the number of such documents from Norway is ex-

ceptionally low. From 1318 there is preserved a collection of inventories from churches in the

diocese of Hólar. Thirty-seven churches owned one to five books each (all had missals); sixteen

churches possessed from six to ten books each; thirteen churches had eleven to fifteen books

each; five churches owned sixteen to twenty books each; four churches possessed from twenty-

one to twenty-five books. Two churches had as many as twenty-six and thirty books. Only two

churches had as many as forty-three and fifty-seven (Oleson 1957, 508–509). The number of

books obviously differed due to the position of the individual churches in the hierarchy. In all

seventy-nine churches had, according to the inventories, 733 books.

43

This makes an average of

nine to ten books a church.

In 1804 there were still twelve old books in the church at Trondenes in Northern Norway

(Johnsen 1908, 81), three of which are now in the NB (see below).

In this context it is relevant to take into consideration an addition to the third statute of Arch-

bishop Eiliv (1320) (NgL 3, 307–310; Brendalsmo 2006, 169–171 and 347–349). In this addition

all priests were ordered to bring their manual to the regular assemblies of priests (prestestevne)

39. For definitions of the different kinds of liturgical books, see

Hugh es (1982).

40. The inventory is discussed by Ommundsen (2004, 83–84).

41. Teresa Webber tells me that this term occurs in medieval book

lists from England referring to an antiphoner (cf. Gneuss 1985,

116–117). This sense of the word is not recorded in Latham &

Howlett (1975–) nor in the national Scandinavian dictionaries of

medieval Latin. According to Oleson (1957, 503) it was ‘a very

large breviary which was used in the choir and could be easily read

at some distance’, but he does not cite a source. As the legendae,

present in Holdhus and Ølmeim, possibly referring to office lec-

tionaries that in combination with an antiphoner would have been

sufficient, it is not unlikely that the term refers to antiphoners in

these two Norwegian inventories.

42. Probably a small document for support of preaching.

43. Seventeen inventories do not mention books (some of them may

be incomplete). Four others mention books, but without exact

information.

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Ombrukket 14_Layout 1 14.05.13 14:57 Side 34

called by the archbishop or pay a fine of one øre (Brendalsmo 2006, 171).

44

Books were apparently

important to the archbishop. The statutes also require parish priests to possess a breviary after

five years of service and that all priests should have a missal at Mass.

The evidence of early printed books may give a clue as to how many books there were in

Norway in the late Middle Ages. There is still preserved a contemporary transcript of a contract

(DN VII, 552) between the Nidaros canon and secretary of the archbishop Hans Reff and the

printer Doen Pietersson in Amsterdam. The contract is dated 30 April 1520 and concerns the

printing of a prayer book on the Passion of the Lord.

45

Doen Pietersson should deliver 1200

copies in large format and printed in red and black before Easter next year, or, alternatively 1000

copies if that number should seem sufficient to Hans Reff. This is a high number of printed

books, and it fits well with the estimate of 1200–1300 churches.

46

It is unclear whether at least

some copies were printed. Being printed on paper, it would not have been very attractive as bind-

ing material as books on parchment. This may have led to its disappearance, if it ever came to

exist.

47

Political problems led the archbishop to leave the country in 1521, and these circumstances

may have prevented the printing. The number of copies printed of the Breviarium Nidrosiense

and Missale Nidrosiense from 1519 was probably at least 1200 copies. Extant copies of the Nidaros

missal may be linked to specific churches.

48

Other printed books were about before the Reformation. Approximately 150 fragments,

mostly on parchment, in the NRA are from early printed books, e.g., some books printed for

the Uppsala province. There are three incunabula preserved from the church of Trondenes in

Northern Norway, one of them in three volumes.

49

During the late Middle Ages important monasteries and cathedrals had large libraries, such

as in the Vadstena monastery in Sweden in the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, with its

1400–1500 volumes. The Norwegian monasteries flourished earlier, before 1350, and such large

collections of handwritten books never came into being in Norway before the Reformation. The

Cistercian monastery of Tautra in the diocese Nidaros proper, owned seventy old books accord-

ing to an inventory of 1531–1532 (DN XI, 583). In our context this is no small collection. Unfor-

tunately the inventory does not contain information of which books. I have already mentioned

the library of Bishop Arne of Bergen (✝ 1314), who alone possessed thirty-six codices, twenty-

eight in Latin and eight in the vernacular. This was an impressive private collection of that day,

but there were other high-ranking clerics with several books such as Botolf Asbjørnsson, bishop

of Stavanger (Johnsen 1908, 84–85).

An inventory of the cathedral chapter at Nidaros dating from the 1550s (DN XII, 673; cf.

Johnsen 1908, 90–93) no doubt contains books that were present at Trondheim before the Re -

formation, e.g., items of canon law mentioned in the register of Archbishop Henrik Kalteisen

(1452–1458) a century earlier (Bugge 1899, 171). There are nineteen titles of Latin law in twenty-

two volumes, forty-two titles of liturgical books, glossed bibles, sermons etc. It is odd that there

is no mention of Nidaros-based literature in Latin, e.g., Theodoricus Monachus (see Karlsen 2

44. The addition to the third statute concerned Eiliv’s own diocese,

not the entire province of Nidaros.

45. I am indebted to Edgar Ytteborg (Ås) for the interpretation of

this document, which is in Dutch.

46. The books should be printed on good large paper of high quality

and be delivered unbound. The printer should follow an exem-

plar, probably handwritten, that apparently was supplied by Hans

Reff. The contract contains instructions for illustrations and dec-

oration, and demonstrates the strong interest in printed liturgical

books at Trondheim c. 1520.

47. Doen Pietersson who was a printer in Amsterdam between 1518

and 1532, in fact printed a book called Passio domini nostri Iesu

Christi, with 160 leaves in octavo that appeared in 1524 (Moes &

Burger 1900–1907, 1: 60–62). The prayers in this book was

comp iled from different authors from Prudentius to Angelo Po-

liziano by Alardus Amstelredamus (1491–1544). There is a preface

by Adrianus Verdunius Hagesis, but there is no Nidaros preface

as there is in the printed Nidaros breviary and missal. The book

was the result of a cooperation between Occo, Alardus, Theodo-

ricus Syrenius and Jacob Cornelisz. van Oostsanen (Graaf 1958,

25). On a letter by Alardus concerning Walkendorf in Amsterdam

a few years earlier (1517), see Graaf (1958, 32).

48. The three copies in the NB (NB, DPal 42–44) belonged to the

churches of Eid on Ytterøy, Beitstad, and Ørlandet.

49. NB, Pal 61, Pal 65, and Pal 68 (of the latter are three out of four

volumes preserved). See the relevant entries in Amundsen (1926).

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in this volume). This and other books once there were apparently already lost. Among the books

of history (Titulj librorum historicorum) there are twenty-three volumes, including grammar and

some classical authors (the letters of Cicero, De Bello Iugurthino of Sallust, Prudentius, Valerius

Flaccus, Lactantius, the younger Pliny, Vergil). The list apparently contains handwritten

50

books

with a few exceptions (the widespread commentary on the Roman poet Martial Cornucopiae by

the well-known grammarian Niccolò Perotti (1429–1480), the Adagiae by Erasmus, Tacitus and

Marsilio Ficino probably belong to the exceptions). Similar collections of manuscripts were prob-

ably present in the other four cathedral chapters.

To conclude, it is hard to estimate in detail the number of Latin books. Even with a full, sys-

tematic survey of all the written documentary evidence to be held together with the full remains

of the Latin books,

51

the answer would still be conjectural. As for the books owned by the

churches, the situation was probably very much the same as the situation on Iceland, with an av-

erage of about ten books for each church with some churches owning more, giving a total of c.

13000–14000 (including Jämtland and Härjedalen).

The leading men of the church in medieval Norway appear to have been learned men – as

one could expect. It also appears that the parish priests in the first half of the fourteenth century

were familiar with books in Latin, if one is to judge from the sparse information we have. If so,

this is a formidable improvement from the early days of christianity in Norway: according to

the twelfth-century lawbook for a landscape in eastern Norway (Borgarting, chapter 12), the only

way the bishop can discharge a priest, is if the priest is incapable of performing his duties. A

reas onable understanding of this passage is that if the priest was unable to read Latin, which

must have been a prerequisite for delivering Mass, the bishop could remove him from his post.

50. It is evident from several expressions, such as Sermones .  .  . in

membrana scripti.

51. Johnsen (1908) is an unsystematic survey of information found

in many sources.

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