Beinecke MS 508
Iceland, s. XVII med  and  England??, c. 1700
Anglo-Saxon Law, in Latin; Annals of Iceland, in Icelandic and Latin.

With thanks to Gudvardur Mar Gunnlaugsson for his help.

I.
1. ff. 1r-3r	Foedus Edouardi et Guthruni regum. Haec ea sunt senatusconsulta ac instituta, 
quae primo Alvredus et Guthrunus reges, deinde Edouardus et Guthrunus reges, illis ipsis 
temporibus edere (?), cum pacis foedus Daci et Angli ferierunt ... Fraudator vero (prout feret 
maleficii ratio) Deo et regi satisfacito, aut graves qui est regionis illius princeps, sceleris admissi 
poenas repetito.	ff.  3v-4v blank.

Treaty between Edward the Elder, King of England and Guthrun II, King of the Danes in East 
Anglia, in 905-906. Printed in W. Lambarde, ARXAIONOMIA sive de priscis Anglorum legibus 
libri (London, 1568), ff. 52r-56r; F. Liebermann, Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, v. 1 (Halle/S., 
1903-1916; repr. 1968), pp. 128-135 gives a deviant Latin text.

2. ff. 5r-16v	De hundredis et wapentachiis. Ewerwickshyre, Nicolshyre, Notinghamschyre, 
Leycestershyre, Northamptonshyre, usque ad Wallingstrete, et VIII mil[i]aria ultra Wallingstrete 
sub lege Anglorum sunt. ... Temporibus vero regum Danorum sepultum fuit ius in regno, leges et 
consuetudines simul sopitae, temporibus illorum prava voluntas, vis et violentia magis regnabant 
quam iudicium in terra.

Leges Edouardi regis, the Laws issued by King Edward the Elder (c. 902-c. 924) or Edward the 
Confessor (d. 1066). Printed in Lambarde, op. cit. Our text is not complete. It begins at what is 
numbered 33 (f. 134r) in Lambarde and continues to 139v, then goes back to 128v and ends on 
130v.?? Most probably copied from this edition. The text in the more recent ed. by  Liebermann, 
v. 1, pp. 627-672 is less close to our manuscript.

II.
3. ff. 17r-89v	Annales ex Boreali Islandia transmissi per Arngrimum Ionam. [the rest of f. 17r 
and ff. 17v-18v blank; f. 19r:] Annalar. Um _ad Sierligt Sem Till heffur fallid J Danmark, 
Norige, _ysdalandj Jslande og Annarstadar fraa _ui Datum skriffadist.  636.
GF.
E. Constantinus filius Heraclyti VI manudo.
D. Constantinus filius Constantini XX iar.
C.
A. 640.
.................................. 
[f. 89v:] D. 1394. Obiit Nichulas styr[e] madur aff Laffrans bollannu[m] og _ormodur Vidaron, 
Veigi[nn] Gyur... Var _etta Jons m(eu) postul[a]. Daudi _orgeyr Eigilon og T[orfe] 
Kodranon. - Peregre rediit Vilhelmus Schalholthiae episcopus.

Annals of Iceland 636-1394, in Icelandic with partial Latin translation in the margins, here 
ascribed by another seventeenth-century hand to the Icelandic humanist
Arngrimur Jonsson 
(1568-1648). A version of these Gottskalksannalar (after their copyist and
author Gottskalk 
Jonsson, c. 1524-c. 1593) was ed. by G. Storm, Islandske Annaler indtil 1578 (Christiania, 1888), 
and our text corresponds approximately with pp. 309-368 of that edition; the version covering 
the years 636-1394, of which several copies exist, is known as version b. 
Paper, ff. I (paper) + 89 + I (paper), 190 x 162 mm.

Part. I. ff. 1-16.

I 4 (ff. 1-4), II 8 (ff. 5-12), III 4 (ff. 13-16).

Invisible ruling for one column of 24 lines.
      
Humanistic Cursive script by one hand. 

Part II. ff. 17-89.

IV 2 (ff. 17-18), V-XIII 8 (ff. 19-89).

One narrow column (width c. 90 mm.) delimited by a vertical fold in the paper and leaving a 
wide outer margin. Otherwise no ruling, c. 25 lines.

Gothica Cursiva for the Icelandic text, Humanistic Cursive script for the English text written in 
the margin. The acidity of the ink of the Icelandic text has damaged the paper.

Binding: modern white parchment over cardboard.

Part II was written in Iceland about the middle of the seventeenth century. Part I, copied in 
England (?), was added about 1700. It is copied from the Latin text in the edition by William 
Lambarde, as  appears also from the marginal notes preceded by an asterisk, which occur in the 
manuscript exactly as in the printed book. Purchased in 1971 from L. Larsen. Gift of the Yale 
Library Associates.

Bibliography:
C. E. Lutz, "Manuscripts Copied from Printed Books", in Lutz,  Essays, (originally published 
1975), pp. 129-38, specially p. 135).

Albert Derolez

Updated 27.11.2007