Nicodemi survives in Copenhagen, Den Arnamagnæanske Samling, AM 655
XXVII 4to (ff. 6r–9v), a much-neglected homiliary written around 1300. The
text was first identified by Hallgrímur J. Ámundason in 1994 and was only re-
cently mentioned by Stephen Pelle in his article on the Latin sources of two
Icelandic homilies transmitted in that manuscript.77 The text in AM 655 XXVII
4to does not share any textual feature with Niðrstigningar saga, as the extant
translation exclusively embraces the section of the Acta Pilati that reports the
story of Joseph of Arimathea. This relates to Joseph’s arrest and imprisonment
on behalf of the Jews for having buried the body of Christ and to his subse-
quent, miraculous release from prison, which was accomplished by Christ
himself.78 Although all possible collations of their readings are hindered by the
fact that no portion of the translation in AM 655 XXVII 4to overlaps with the
text of Niðrstigningar saga, in reasoning with purely stylistic and textual evi-
dence, the two texts seem to be unrelated.79 Extracts of the Evangelium
Nicodemi are often found embedded in homiliaries, and the reason for the in-
sertion of this section of the Acta Pilati into AM 655 XXVII 4to may be ascrib-
able to its extracanonical nature. The story of Joseph of Arimathea is indeed
one of the most borrowed passages of the Latin text, and it is often found inter-
woven into homilies, either quoted verbatim or adopted to various degrees into
a different narrative.80
In reasoning with the age of the first surviving Latin manuscripts in
Scandinavian soil and that of the first vernacular translations, the Evangelium
Nicodemi seems to have been imported to Iceland between the end of the
twelfth and the beginning of the thirteenth centuries, whereas evidence of its
fruition in continental Scandinavia post-dates the Icelandic texts of more than
a century.81 An Old Danish knittel verse adaptation of a Middle Low German
original, which displays features of the Majority type, survives in a single man-
uscript written in the Lund area around 1315.82 As seen above, the Old Swedish
translation transmits readings typical of Latin T and was compiled at Vadstena
Abbey during the last decades of the fourteenth century.83 There currently
seems to be no direct or indirect evidence of the circulation of the vernacular
Evangelium Nicodemi in Norway, and although it is highly likely that the text
was also known in some vernacular form during Middle Ages, supposed Old
Norwegian translations of the Evangelium Nicodemi remain to present only a
matter of speculation.84
Besides Niðrstigningar saga, whose text enjoyed considerable circulation
and influence throughout the Icelandic Middle Ages and beyond, the core
20 Niðrstigningar saga
narrative of the Evangelium Nicodemi was also the subject of a poetical ex-
ercise on the verge of Reformation. A sixteenth-century poetic version of the
pseudo gospel known as Niðurstigningarvísur (“Verses of the Descent”),
mainly ascribed to Jón Arason (†1550), the last Catholic bishop of Iceland,
survives in a remarkably large number of postmedieval manuscripts.85 It has
been noted that the affinities between the Niðurstigningarvísur and the
Evangelium Nicodemi are exclusively thematic, rather than of pure textual
nature. On the other hand, the vísur (short for Niðurstigningarvísur) may
well have been influenced by the text of Niðrstigningar saga, but these rela-
tions are extremely difficult to determine, since there seems to be no direct
verbal similarities between the two works. The single exception is a refer-
ence at the end of stanza 27 – “upp a krossin ormuren skreid / ok andlatz beid /
salina suelgia uilldi”86 (“up on the Cross the serpent crept / and for death abode /
willing to swallow the soul”) – which describes Satan crawling up the Cross
in the shape of a serpent, on the verge of swallowing up the soul of Christ.
This scene corresponds to the fourth interpolation of Niðrstigningar saga,
which describes the entrapment of Satan on the cross.87 In this connection,
Finnur Jónsson has reasonably advanced that the text of the Niðurstigni-
ngarvísur does not necessarily revert to that of Niðrstigningar saga in terms
of direct textual borrowings and that the scenes of the vísur presumably in-
debted to Niðrstigningar saga may in fact simply be based on distant memo-
ries of the text.88
After the Reformation, the Evangelium Nicodemi continued to enjoy consid-
erable popularity in Iceland, as witnessed by two translations into Modern
Icelandic, which have been only recently investigated by Kirsten Wolf. A young-
er rendition was compiled by Magnús Grímsson (†1860), the celebrated first
collector of Icelandic folktales in the middle of the nineteenth century, whereas
an older translation, which survives in two redactions, A and B, dates from the
eighteenth century.89 Both translations seem to have been compiled anew from
an unknown exemplar of the Latin Evangelium Nicodemi and are consequently
unrelated to Niðrstigningar saga.
2 The Manuscript Tradition
of Niðrstigningar saga
Niðrstigningar saga is transmitted in four medieval Icelandic manuscripts and
fragments housed at the Arnamagnæan Collection of Copenhagen: AM 645 4to
(ff. 51v–55v), from 1220 to 1250; AM 623 4to (ff. 1r–5v), from around 1325;
AM 233 a fol. (28ra–28vb), from 1350 to 1370; and AM 238 V fol., from 1400
to 1500. The medieval text has also survived in a single postmedieval Icelandic
manuscript, JS 405 4to (ff. 2r–10r), from 1780 to 1791, housed in Reykjavík
at the National and University Library of Iceland as part of the Jón Sigurðsson
Collection. (See Figure 1.) The description of the manuscripts is followed by
a listing of their items, giving modern foliation, rubrics, incipit, explicit, and
reference to relevant and most recent editions.1
AM 645 4to
AM 645 4to, dating to the second quarter of the thirteenth century, is among the
earliest medieval miscellanies to transmit Latin hagiographical texts in Icelandic
translation. Niðrstigningar saga is extant in full in its oldest known textual
form; AM 645 4to also represents the oldest surviving witness transmitting the
first redactions of the vitae and passiones of the apostles Andrew, Bartholomew,
James the Greater, and Paul, as well as those of Saints Clement of Rome and
Martin of Tours.2 The lives of Peter and Matthew, notably some of the first de-
votional accounts to be translated into Old Norse, are found here in secondary
textual forms.3
AM 645 4to is a parchment manuscript consisting of sixty-six leaves, mea-
suring approximately 21.1 by 13.7 centimetres, composed of two distinct codi-
cological units. The first unit comprises folios 1r–42v, with twenty-three to
thirty-four lines to the page; it begins defectively with the Jarteinabók Þorláks
22 Niðrstigningar saga
Figure 1. Mapping of the manuscripts of Niðrstigningar saga
byskups in forna and covers up to two thirds of Andréss saga postola. The sec-
ond section includes folios 43r–66v with thirty to thirty-five l
ines per page; it
preserves the remnant text of Andréss saga postola and ends defectively with
Marteins saga byskups. The manuscript is in good condition overall, although
in several places, most notably on folios 52v and 53r (in correspondence to
Niðrstigningar saga), its text is almost illegible due to wear. The lower margins
are frequently damaged, the upper margins are torn, especially on folios 17,
19–22, and 24, and there are holes in folios 22 and 41. The initials are written
with black ink in the first unit and in red ink in the second.
The greatest study of the manuscript was undertaken by Anne Holtsmark,
who recognized the hands of three scribes, A, B, and C, in its compilation. The
first scribe (A) wrote the first codicological unit, which includes the Jar-
teinabók Þorláks byskups in forna (ff. 1r–11v), Klements saga (ff. 11v–24v),
Pétrs saga postola (ff. 25r–30r), Jakobs saga postola (ff. 30r–33r), Barthó-
lómeuss saga postola (ff. 33r–35v), Matheuss saga postola (ff. 35v–41r), and
Andréss saga postola (ff. 41r–43r). Two hands are recognizable within the
second section. The first (B) transcribed Páls saga postola (ff. 43r–51v) and
The Manuscript Tradition of Niðrstigningar saga 23
Niðrstigningar saga (ff. 51v–55v), and the second (C) transcribed the entire
Marteins saga byskups (ff. 55v–66v). The writing of C changes from that of
B in terms of the breadth of letters, which become progressively more spaced,
and possibly in the adoption of a different use of accents.4 Holtsmark’s con-
clusions disagree with Carl R. Unger’s first description of the manuscript. He
believed that the two units were written by two scribes. Her conclusions have
more recently been questioned by Odd Einar Haugen, who, in his survey of
the scribal practices of AM 645 4to, also identifies a single hand within its
second codicological unit.5
The script of AM 645 4to is a “praegothica” with few recognizable Anglo-
Saxon features, such as the usage of insular f and insular y, which is exclusive
to the second section of the codex (and makes its first appearance in Iceland
around the year 1200), and finally ð, which is used indiscriminately in initial
and central positions.6 Other distinguishing features are the use of the m rune
for the word “maþr” (“man”), the cross symbol (+) for the word “cross”
(“cross”), and the redundant use of Latin abbreviations for Icelandic words –
for instance, sīt “sicut” (“as”) for “svá,” dīx “dixit” (“said”) for “sagði,” fr.
“fratres” (“brother”) for “broðir,” and d. “dominus” (“Lord”) for “drottinn.”
The first scholar to date the manuscript was Kristian Kålund, who suggested
that it was compiled during the first half of the thirteenth century.7 A more
thorough survey was undertaken by Harald Spehr and Hreinn Benediktsson,
who dated the first codicological unit to approximately 1220,8 and by Didrik
Arup Seip, who dated the second unit to the second quarter of the thirteenth
century.9 Anne Holtsmark mainly agreed with their views and suggested the
diocese of Skálholt as place of origin.10
The first section of AM 645 4to transmitting the so-called Jarteinabók
Þorláks byskups in forna (“The Ancient Miracle Collection of Bishop Þorlákr,”
item 1 of the codex) may be a direct copy of the very codex containing the col-
lection of miracles of Saint Þorlákr. This was first collected and then read aloud
before a great crowd at the Althing of 1199 at the request of Bishop Páll
Jónsson, nephew and successor of Þorlákr at the see of Skálholt.11 This identi-
fication is suggested in miracle forty-one of the Jarteinabók in forna, which
serves as a small epilogue to the forty miracles allegedly performed by Saint
Þorlákr before 1199: “Á Alþingi þessu enu sama lét Páll byskup ráða upp at
bœn manna jarteinir ens sæla Þorláks byskups, þær er hér ero skrifaðar á þessi
bók”12 (“At that same Althing, Bishop Páll had the miracles of the blessed
Bishop Þorlákr, which are here written in this book, read aloud at the request
of people”). As recorded in the Icelandic annals, the year in question was 1199,
when after the public declamation of Þorlákr’s miracles, Bishop Páll instituted
the “Þorláksmessa” (“Þorlákr’s mass”) to be celebrated on 23 December. In
AM 645 4to, six other miracles follow miracle forty-one, suggesting that the
24 Niðrstigningar saga
antigraph of AM 645 4to was concluded soon after 1199, possibly during the
winter of 1200.13
The provenance of the manuscript remains obscure, although a note on a slip
records the oral account of Guðbrandur Björnsson (†1733), son of Björn
Magnússon (†1697), sýslumaður (“governor”) of Munkaþverá (northern
Iceland) between 1662 and 1688, who remembers that the volume was pre-
served in the monastery when he was a child:14
Postula sögur, 4to. med æde gamla og vanda skrift seiger Gudbrandr Biörnsson
vered hafa i sinu Barndæmi ä Munkaþverä, og hafi þær einginn lesid gietad. firi
utan einn mann þar ï Eyafirdi. Þad eru, liklegast þær eg ä.15
( Postola sögur in 4to [format] with a very old and difficult script. Guðbrandur
Björnsson says it was in Munkaþverá during his childhood and that nobody was
able to read from it except for a man there in Eyjafjörður. These are most probably
those [leaves] in my possession.)
Content of AM 645 4to
biscop.” Oldest (defective) redaction of the Jarteinabók Þorláks byskups
in forna. [ Biskupa sögur, vol. 2, 103–40; Jón Helgason, ed., Byskupa
sǫgur, vol. 13.2, 121–57; A Book of Miracles, 1r–11v; Isländska hand-
skriften 645, 1–33.]
2 11v–24v “Iulius hét inn fyrste keisare yfer ǫllom heime … / … hverso hann
of mętte sva lengi føzlolaust of lifa þar.” Oldest (defective) recension of
Klements saga. [Helen Carron, ed., Clemens saga, 2–52; Dietrich Hofmann,
ed., Die Legende von Sankt Clemens, 236–75; A Book of Miracles,
11v–24v; Isländska handskriften 645, 33–74; Postola sögur, 126–51.]
3 25r–30r “manna. Siþan gerþi Petrus fǫr braut af Iorsalalande … / … þeim
er meþ Feþr oc Helgom Anda liver oc riker oc allar alder allda.” Abridged
(defective) version of the second redaction of Pétrs saga postola. [Foote,
“A Fragment of Text in AM 235 fol.”; A Book of Miracles, 25r–30r;
Isländska handskriften 645, 74–90; Postola sögur, 201–11.]
4 30r–33r Rubric “Passio Sancti Jacobi apostoli.” “Iacobus postole Domini
Nostri Ihesu Christi frater Iohannis evangeliste … / … þess er vegr er oc
dyrþ of allar alder allda.” Oldest redaction of Jakobs saga postola ( ins
eldra). [ A Book of Miracles, 30r–33r; Isländska handskriften 645, 90–9;
Postola sögur, 524–9.]
5 33r–35v Rubric “Passio Bartholomei apostoli.” “Indialønd ero .iii. eitt
þat er ligr hia Blalande … / … enn siþan fór hann til Goþs þess er liver
The Manuscript Tradition of Niðrstigningar saga 25
ok riker of allar all
der allda. Amen.” Oldest (defective) redaction of
Barthólómeuss saga postola. [ A Book of Miracles, 33r–35v; Isländska
handskriften 645, 99–108; Postola sögur, 757–62.]
6 35v–41r Rubric “Passio sancti Mathei apostoli.” “Tveir fiolcunger menn
voro a Blalande Zareos oc Arfaxáþ … / … meþ Helgom Anda huggar⟨a⟩
nu oc ei of allar allder alda.” Second redaction of Matheuss saga post-
ola. [Ólafur Halldórsson, ed., Mattheus saga postula, 4–83; A Book of
Miracles, 35v–41r; Isländska handskriften 645, 108–24; Postola sögur,
813–23.]
7 41r–43r Rubric “Passio sancti Andree apostoli.” “Heilagr postole Andreas
fór of alt Gricland … / … ðeim er hann georði i borganne at vilia Guþs.”
Oldest (defective) redaction of Andréss saga postola. [ A Book of Miracles,
41r–43r; Isländska handskriften 645, 124–30; Postola sögur, 349–53.]
8 40r–51v Rubric “Sancti Pauli apostoli.” “Saulus var grimr viþ lęrisveina
Christz oc toc hann rit de principibus Iudeorum … / … meþ sigri til Guþs
svasem sact er i annari søgu.” Oldest redaction of Páls saga postola.
[ A Book of Miracles, 40r–51v; Postola sögur, 216–36.]
9 51v–55v Rubric “Niþrstigningar saga.” “Karinus oc Leutius fratres syner
Simeonis ens Gamla segia sva fra niþrstigningo Crisz … / … oc varþ þar
monnom alldat umb per omnia secula seculorum. Amen.” Older redaction
of Niðrstigningar saga. [Present volume, 133–53; Odd Einar Haugen,
ed., “Niðrstigningar saga,” 250–6; Odd Einar Haugen, ed., Stamtre og tek-
stlandskap, vol. 2, 17–28; A Book of Miracles, 51v–55v; Heilagra manna
sögur, vol. 2, 1–8.]
10 55v–66v Rubric “Sancti Martini episcopi.” “Martinus var æzcaþr af
Ungara lande enn hann var føddr a Langbarþa lande … / … þat er þegia
er betra enn fra at segia.” Oldest (defective) redaction of Marteins saga
byskups. [ A Book of Miracles, 55v–66v; Heilagra manna sögur, vol. 1,
554–74.]
AM 623 4to
On account of its conservatism in the script and of the fairly early dates of the
texts transmitted, AM 623 4to in the Arnamagnæan Collection in Copenhagen,
dating to around 1325, seems to be a copy of a remarkably older exemplar.