Medium: ink drawing on paper with coloured ink wash
Date: 1765
Dimensions (mm): 135 x 165
Provenance:
The last page of the manuscript lists three names which likely
represent the earliest owners of SAM 66: Gísli Gíslason (1797 -
1758) from Skörð in Reykjahverfi; St. Petersen, who has not been
identified; and Magnús Guðmundsson, a farmer at Sandur in Aðaldalur.
Magnús' daughter, Elín Sigríður emigrated to Canada in 1876 and took
the manuscript with her. Elín Sigríður's farm near Gimli, Manitoba
was called Melsted which also became the family's surname in
Canada.
The Icelandic counsel to Minnesota, Örn Arnar, bought the manuscript
from one of Elín Sigríður´s descendents, Ken Melsted in Wynyard,
Saskatchewan and donated it to the Ární Magnússon Institute in
Iceland on February 2, 2000.
The manuscript is now known either by the title Melsteð Edda or by its shelf mark SÁM 66 4to.
Rights:
Images from SÁM 66
are displayed with permission from the Stofnun Árna
Magnússonar í íslenskum fræðum in
Iceland. Link to E-manuscript Description. E-manuscript illustration f. 75r.
Bibliography:
Primary Sources
Reykjavik: Stofnun
Árna Magnússonar í íslenskum fræðum. SÁM
66. 1765. Hand
copied paper manuscript.
Secondary Sources
Cleasby, Richard
and
Vigfússon
Guðbrandur
. An Icelandic-English Dictionary.
Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1957.
Driscoll,
Matthew. The view From the North: Some Scandinavian digitisation
projectsReview of the National Center for Digitization.
4 (2004):
22 - 30.
Sigurðsson,
Gísli. The
Last Manuscript Home?The Manuscripts of Iceland.
Gísli
Sigurdsson
and
Vésteinn
Ólason
. Reykjavik: Árni Magnússon
Institute in Iceland, 2004. 179 -
186.
Simek,
Rudolf.
Angela
Hall
. Dictionary of Northern Mythology. W
Woodbridge: D. S. Brewer,
2007.
Sleipnir (non.)
Óðinn´s eight-legged horse which Loki bore after mating with the Giant
Builder's stallion Svaðilfari.
Giants and Giantesses
Hel (non.)
A monstrous female being who is one of the three offspring of Loki and
his mistress, the giantess Angrboða.
Gods and Goddesses
Baldr (non.)
Balder (en.)
The god who was killed by his brother Höðr.
Hermóðr (non.)
Hermod (en.)
The god who rode Sleipnir to Hel to try and obtain the release of
Baldr.
Myths
Death of Baldr Myth
A myth concerning an accidental fratricide. It sometimes includes Loki
as an instigator who dupes Baldr's brother, Höðr, into the act and
actually guides his hand. In the Prose Edda,
Snorri says that Höðr was blind.
Hermóðr´s Ride to Hel
A part of the Death of Baldr myth. Hermóðr rides Sleipnir to Hel in
order to try and obtain the release of Baldr.
Mythological Places
Hel (non.)
In the Prose Edda, Óðinn assigns Loki and
Angrboða's daughter Hel to rule over a domain named Hel in
Niflheim.
Prose Edda (is.)
Snorri Sturluson's thirteenth-century prose work concerning Old Norse
mythology and poetics.
SÁM 66 4to (is.)
SAM 66 4to (en.)
SAM 66 4to is also known as Melsted Edda.
Source Persons
Jakob
Sigurðsson (is.)
Jakob
Sigurdsson (en.)
b. 1727
d. 1779
Nationality: Icelandic
Jakob was a tenant farmer, poet, scribe, and illustrator, who created
full-page Edda illustrations in hand-copied
paper manuscripts in Iceland in the eighteenth century.
Snorri
Sturluson (is.)
b. 1179
d. 1241
Nationality: Icelandic
Snorri was an Icelandic statesman, scholar, and author who is credited
with writing Heimskringla, The
Prose Edda, and possibly Egil's
Saga.
