The Hands of the Icelandic Homily Book
Abstract. In this paper, I intend to present the results of a study of the number of scribes in the Icelandic homily book, i.e. conclusion of a study on how previous scholars concluded that the manuscript had only one scribe was involved or many (7, 12 or 14 hands) and how they argued for the changes of hands. Did they use different methods to reach their conclusions?
The Icelandic Homily Book (Isl. perg. 4to nr 15) in the Royal Library, Stockholm, is a codex from around 1200 and actually, the oldest Icelandic manuscript which appears to be intact. It has been published twice. The first editor, Theodor Wisén (1888), believed that the book was the work of one man, but his contemporary Ludvig Larsson (1887, 1888) believed there were between 3 and 10 scribes or even 11. Vilhelm Gödel said in his catalog of Icelandic and Norwegian manuscripts in the Royal Library (1900) that there were 7 scribes. The second editor, Fredrik Paasche (1935), was more cautious and spoke of several hands but not exact numbers, like many other scholars. Then Börje Westlund (1974) came to the conclusion that the hands were 12 and Eva Rode (1974) found 14 hands. The scholars disagree not only about the number of hands, but also about where the changes from one hand to the other are to be found, so if we believe all the changes, we are up to 17 different hands in the manuscript. The last editor, Andrea de Leeuw van Weenen (1993), says that she tends more and more to the view that only one scribe was involved.
In this paper, I will consider why scholars have come up with such different opinions about how many hands are in the Icelandic Homily Book, and try to find the arguments for the changes from one hand to another. And see, if the scholars are using different methods to come to their conclusion.