Opuscula XVII

Opuscula XVII contains the first edition of all four versions of the Old Icelandic Slysa-Hróa saga, a tale of Oriental origin telling the story of Slysa-Hrói who has to battle with dangerous villains in foreign lands.This small saga is known from thirty manuscripts, and its oldest version (F) is worked into Óláfs saga helga in the Flateyjarbók. Also in this issue of Opuscula is the first edition of a letter, known only in Danish translation, written by theologist and Fjölnismaður Tómas Sæmundsson about his journey to the eastern Mediterranean on board the first ever cruise ship to these areas in 1833. Other pieces in this issue include a material-philological and multispectrographic examination of AM 601 b 4to, which contributes to the mapping out of the writing process behind this manuscript; an analysis of the genre term Íslendiga sögur / Íslendinga saga in the manuscripts; a codicological examination of the seven manuscripts which retain the mediaeval Gutnish law text Guterlov; an edition and examination of marginalia in Am 510 4to; and finally three minor pieces on a musical fragment.