Snorra Goða Ættartál in the Manuscript AM 445b 4to

Snorri goði Þorgrímsson (963 / 964 — 1031) was a famous Icelandic politician and a character in many sagas (Eyrbyggja saga, Heiðarvíga saga, Laxdæla saga, Brennunjáls saga, etc.). Snorri's genealogy is given in several sources, but their information does not duplicate but rather complements each other. That is why one of them is so important: Snorra goða ættartál in the manuscript AM 445b 4to. In AM 445a 4to after the Eyrbyggja saga there is a short passage called Ævi Snorra goða by Árni Magnússon. It occupies the very last leaf of the manuscript — fol. 48v. Although the end of the text is lost due to the poor state of preservation of the manuscript, Anton V. Cimmerling believes that the volume of this work was originally small. The content of the Ævi Snorra goða echoes the Snorra goða ættartál given at the very beginning of AM 445b 4to (the first third of fol. 1r). If we accept the point of view of John McKinnell that AM 445a 4to and AM 445b 4to originally represented a single codex, then the continuation of Snorri's biography with his genealogy looks logical and justified. The placement of the Ævi Snorra goða and Snorra goða ættartál on the boundaries of the codices can serve as an additional argument for their placement in the specified order (first AM 445a 4to, then AM 445b 4to). Among the well-known Icelanders mentioned in the Snorra goða ættartál are Þórgeirr Þórkelsson, Síðuhallr, Broddhelgi and Þórðr Ǫnundarson. The following fragment of the descending lateral genealogy of the Sturlungs is also given in the Snorra goða ættartál. It is quite possible that the Snorra goða ættartál was also written by Ári fróði Þorgílsson or was written based on Ári's list. However, it is not found in the surviving schedae. The introduction of the Snorra goða ættartál into research circulation allows us to expand our understanding of the family ties of medieval Icelanders and to reveal the mechanism for including genealogies in the Landnámabók and family sagas.