Reading the Old Norse-Icelandic Maríu saga in Its Manuscript Contexts

Maríu saga, the life of the BVM in Old Icelandic composed in the thirteenth century, remains an understudied text. This is despite the fact that it was clearly an important and popular work in the Middle Ages, as is borne out by the number of extant manuscripts and fragments. In addition to those there is evidence of additional manuscripts, now lost, some of which survived into the eighteenth century only to perish in the great fire of Copenhagen in 1728. Research into the saga is hampered by inadequate editions. The standard text is still that of C.R. Unger's 1871 edition which is unsatisfactory in many ways, not least in the way Unger conflates the text of different manuscripts, making it difficult to appreciate the variation between the three main versions of the saga which are referred to as A, S, and E. Important dissertations dealing with the saga (Laura Tommassini, Christelle Fairise) and its manuscript transmission (Wilhelm Heizmann) remain as yet unpublished and are therefore somewhat difficult to consult. A new book which takes a fresh look at this material is therefore a most welcome thing.Daniel Najork approaches Maríu saga through the manuscripts that preserve it and thus manages to bypass many of the obstacles created by Unger's edition. In a lucid introduction he explains his premises and methodology and states that his aim is “not just to better understand the text [of] Maríu saga, but also to discover how Maríu saga and its manuscripts participated in the cultural, literary, and devotional lives of the Icelanders who copied, read and engaged with the text in a variety of ways for over five hundred years” (p. 10).The first chapter proper is also of an introductory nature. Here Najork provides an overview of the manuscripts of Maríu saga and discusses the difficulties inherent in localizing them, as well as the challenges presented by their low survival rate and the fact that a lot of the material is fragmentary. He establishes two main types of manuscripts containing the saga: on the one hand what he calls the Marian codex, consisting of the saga with miracles, on the other the legendary where Maríu saga is but one in a string of saints’ lives copied into one volume. On the whole, the analysis in the book leans towards the latter type, discussing—often in a very illuminating way—the intertextuality between Maríu saga and other texts copied alongside it, such as Jóns saga baptista and Páls saga postola. Given this focus on context, it comes as something of a surprise that the book contains hardly any treatment of miracles which form a part of all the principal manuscripts containing Maríu saga. It is one of the drawbacks of Unger's edition that it is very difficult to get an idea of the miracles which accompany the saga in any given manuscript. I had therefore hoped that a study which takes the individual manuscript as its point of departure would offer some insight into the relationship between saga and miracles in each of the manuscripts, and into the variation created by the selection of different miracles, but in this I was disappointed. As Najork remarks (p. 68), the Marian miracles are often constructed around the liturgy and the liturgy is another area where I could have wished for a more thorough treatment. Granted, Najork sometimes touches upon those aspects of the texts that link them to liturgical practices; the compiler of Maríu saga is quite concerned with educating his readers about liturgical matters. But the liturgy would also seem to be the logical framework within which to explore the uses of the manuscripts themselves, be they lectonaries or Marian codices. Is there anything in their materiality that throws a light on how they would have functioned in a liturgical setting? The book does not really delve into such questions.Chapters 2–5 each focus on a particular theme in Maríu saga which Najork elucidates by reading the saga in the light of texts that accompany it in a given manuscript. These themes are of a theological nature and some concern controversial matters of doctrine. Chapter 2 discusses the virtues of humility and patience and the way they are presented in two lectionaries, AM 234 fol. and AM 235 fol., both presumed to have been written at Skálholt for use there (or possibly for a monastery in the diocese). In the case of AM 234 fol. Najork points out how the selected virtues are not only prominent in Maríu saga but also in other texts in the manuscript, most notably Antóníus saga and Páls saga postola. He remarks (p. 53) that both manuscripts appear to have been intended for communal, ecclesiastical use rather than for private reading, though he also entertains the possibility that schoolboys at Skálholt might have perused their pages (p. 49). It seems to me unlikely that they would have been able to do that in a private capacity. These books are large and splendid and it seems more plausible that they were intended for church use and would therefore have been kept in the church. Furthermore, the texts in AM 235 fol. are condensed and arranged in calendar order which also indicates liturgical use. The inclusion of Vitae Patrum among the texts in AM 234 fol. might suggest that the manuscript was intended for a monastery (Viðey?) since such literature was popular for the prescribed reading at mealtimes. Najork speculates on the effects of these texts for “an audience also consuming Íslendingasögur, fornaldarsögur, and riddarasögur” (p. 58). This seems a somewhat wide definition of the possible audience, but might make sense if one thinks of several audiences, reflecting how literary taste and literary consumption evolved over the time that Maríu saga continued to be copied.Chapter 3 takes up the question of audiences in a more synchronic manner in an analysis of the ways complicated theological matters were conveyed to the less educated who would have had difficulties in deciphering the various levels of interpretation built into the text of Maríu saga. Here AM 234 fol. and AM 235 fol. come again into focus alongside AM 232 fol., the oldest preserved manuscript of Maríu saga, and the Helgafell manuscript AM 233 a fol. The discussion nevertheless, and inevitably, revolves more around the text of Maríu saga and the intentions of its compiler rather than individual manuscripts. Najork shows how the compiler furnishes his readers with tools to understand difficult scriptural passages and resolve any apparent contradictions. Such heavily glossed texts represented a departure from an earlier, simpler type of saints’ lives. As Najork reveals, older texts were often copied along with new texts in the manuscripts. The selection may indicate a conscious choice but that may also have been a matter of which texts were available to the scribes at any given time.AM 232 fol. offers an interesting case of a manuscript which reflects how views on a certain matter of doctrine change over time, in this instance the controversial issue concerning Mary's bodily Assumption. This is the subject of chapter 4, which along with chapter 5 (they are thematically linked) offers the richest and most innovating discussion in the book. As Najork details, AM 232 fol. was produced in several stages by various scribes. The first three phases of its production took place in the fourteenth century and included a text of Maríu saga with miracles. The saga contains a commentary on Mary's death and funeral and “expresses caution concerning belief in a bodily Assumption for the Virgin Mary” (p. 101), in line with the received theology of the time. In the fifteenth century someone added a translation of the Transitus Mariae into AM 232 fol. (after Maríu saga and miracles), a text in which Assumption in both soul and body is endorsed. The manuscript thus reflects “changing attitudes among Icelandic clerics towards the validity of the Virgin Mary's bodily Assumption to heaven” (p. 97). The chapter is informed by solid insight into the complexity of the doctrinal issue and its manifestation in the sources, both Latin and Old Norse. The discussion in chapter 5, entitled “Last Things: Death, Judgment, and the Afterlife,” is equally informative. It compares the treatment of the Four Last Things in Maríu saga and in other texts which accompany it in manuscripts. Najork reveals how Maríu saga, Mörtu saga ok Maríu Magðalenu and Niðrstigningar saga “present different, yet complementary, treatments of eschatological subjects” (p. 128) in AM 233 a fol., and he shows how Páls saga postola II in AM 234 fol., with its commentary on the afterlife, could have jarred with the account of Last Things found in Maríu saga. The latter case inspires Najork to asks how clerics resolved the difficulties this created, how it could have affected their use of these manuscripts. He doesn't really offer any answers to such questions and they may indeed be hard to come by, but asking them is important and this book prompts many thoughts on the interplay between texts and manuscripts. It brings an important but neglected text into focus and will no doubt stimulate further research into the various aspects of Maríu saga and its transmission. A handy list of the manuscripts of the saga is included as an appendix.To conclude, a brief note on the presentation of the Icelandic text. It is quoted extensively, both in-text and in blocks of quotations. These quotations are taken directly from the relevant manuscripts since using Unger's edition is not feasible. Najork opts to present the text in the spelling of the manuscripts, with abbreviations silently expanded, rather than using normalized orthography. This is a risky choice, for it would need some very thorough proofreading to prevent errors from appearing in the book (there are quite a few). I moreover think that this approach makes the text unduly hard to read for those who have at least a smattering of Old Norse and would be able to appreciate the original language were the spelling normalized. Here the series editors should have stepped in with advice. The English translations of quotations are Najork's own. They are on the whole very reliable and it is therefore a joy to read in a footnote on p. 132 that he is working on an English translation of the whole saga. It will hopefully appear soon; this text merits a wider audience.