Beinecke MS 39 (olim Z113.21)                                          Denmark, s. XV
Sjaelland, Denmark: Logbok

          We thank W. F. Hansen and F. Blaisdell for assisting with the
     following Danish transcriptions.

     1. ff. 1r-227r    Haer bries een fortale aa danske ther man kaller
     prolgus [sic] aa latine. Capitulum primum.  Meth logh scal land bygges
     En vilde hwer man orues at sit eget oc lade man nyde jeffnet
     tha...[text begins, f. 4r:] i. Om Arff. Fader oc mother aer sn oc
     datter nest...hrer koning ene som guld eller sylff oc engen embetzm**
     [erasure].

          The text differs considerably from that in the edition of the Laws
     of Siaelantz published in Copenhagen, 1495 [?], "in...Hoos gotfrid aff
     geme," ff. 2r-96r.

     2. ff. 227r-232r    [Heading:] Thette ‘r then r‘tt
     som sat var a m‘lsteffne i Ringst‘de...[text:] Kircke om vigd vorter
     maa ‘y annen sinn‘ vighes vt‘n ls vorter...hwndert‘ vinter oc syntyng
     vinter oc sy [ink blotch] maanede oc tolff daghe.

     Ibid., ff. 96r-99v; text similar, but not identical.

     3. ff. 232r-240r    [Heading:] Thette ‘r then log ther koning
     Eric...[text, f. 232v:] Thet hauer oc koning j‘t riget at ‘ngen man
     scal fanges vt‘n han...alle som i hans raat ‘ren Oc serdeles hwetzmen.

     Ibid., ff. 99v-106v; text similar, but not identical.

     4. ff. 240r-244v    [Heading:] Hwilke oc sonne rett haue skule e huan
     the legge eller ‘re [followed by "tafflen"]. [Text, f. 240v:] Hwilken
     man annen slar i hiell. Oc vorter han gerpen juz f‘rske...tha n‘ffn‘
     hwer therr‘ thre m‘n aff garden// [ends imperfectly in section 21]

     5. ff. 245r-265v    //I guts naffn amen aar ‘ffter guts byrd...scal
     hawe wij latet vort sechret h‘nghe//

          Unidentified legal work, apparently imperfect at beginning and
     end.

          Paper (light-weight; watermarks in gutter similar to Briquet Main
     11417 and Lettre P 8636), ff. 265, 191 x 136 (135 x 85) mm. Written in
     19-22 long lines; frame-ruled in lead.
          I^^10, II^^12 (-12), III^^14, IV-XVIII^^12, XIX^^12 (-1), XX^^12 (-12),
     XXI-XXII^^14.
          Written in a running script with some looped ascenders, by one
     scribe.
          Crude 2-line initials, in orange. Paragraph marks and slashes
     between sentences, also in orange.
          Waterstains and signs of wear on most folios, some affecting the
     legibility of the text.
          Binding: s. xvi-xvii rebinding? Sewn on three vegetable fiber,
     double cords, the previous sewing caught up. No endbands. The cords are
     laced and pegged into oak boards. Between the cords the spine is lined
     with vellum strips which extend into the inside of the boards. Covered
     in reddish-brown calf, blind-tooled with a vine scroll St. Andrew's
     cross set in a panel border of the same on the lower board, concentric
     panels, two with vine scrolls on the upper. There is a brass catch on
     the upper board, the stub of a vellum strap attached to the lower one.
     The leather is wanting in the spine area.

     Written in Denmark in the 15th century; early provenance unknown.
     Inscription in a cursive hand (s. xviii?) inside front cover: "Then
     Raette Sialanske Logh Bog, in sex libros diuisos, quos Ordinationes
     Ecclesiasticae excipiunt." Sold by Cohn of Berlin in 1884 (entry from
     catalogue pasted inside front cover) to comte Paul Riant (bookplate; L.
     de Germon and L. Polain, Catalogue de la Bibliotheque de feu M. le
     comte Riant [Paris, 1896] v. 1, p. 360, no. 2474) whose Scandinavian
     library was given to Yale in 1896 by Mrs. Henry Farnam.

     secundo folio: oc verielse

     Bibliography: De Ricci, v. 1, p. 170, no. 39.

     Barbara A. Shailor