Stjórn () is the name given to a collection of

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

translations of

Old Testament The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...

historical material dating from the 14th century, which together cover

Jewish history Jewish history is the history of the Jews, their Jewish peoplehood, nation, Judaism, religion, and Jewish culture, culture, as it developed and interacted with other peoples, religions and cultures. Jews originated from the Israelites and H ...

from Genesis through to II Kings. Despite the collective title, Stjórn is not a homogeneous work. Rather, it consists of three separate works which vary in date and context, labelled Stjórn I, II and III by scholar I.J. Kirby.Kirby, I. J. (1986) Bible Translation in Old Norse, Genève:

University of Lausanne The University of Lausanne (UNIL; ) in Lausanne, Switzerland, was founded in 1537 as a school of Protestant theology, before being made a university in 1890. The university is the second-oldest in Switzerland, and one of the oldest universities ...

, Publications de la Faculté des Lettres XXVII p. 51 Stjórn I covers Genesis to Exodus 18 with much additional material from Peter Comestor and Vincent Beauvais.Kirby, I. J. (1986) Bible Translation in Old Norse, Genève: Université de Lausanne, Publications de la Faculté des Lettres XXVII pp. 52-3 Stjórn II completes the

Pentateuch The Torah ( , "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch () o ...

; it is based closely on the text of the

Vulgate The Vulgate () is a late-4th-century Bible translations into Latin, Latin translation of the Bible. It is largely the work of Saint Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels used by the Diocese of ...

but is significantly abbreviated. Stjórn III treats

Joshua Joshua ( ), also known as Yehoshua ( ''Yəhōšuaʿ'', Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: ''Yŏhōšuaʿ,'' Literal translation, lit. 'Yahweh is salvation'), Jehoshua, or Josue, functioned as Moses' assistant in the books of Book of Exodus, Exodus and ...

to the

Exile Exile or banishment is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons ...

with some abbreviation and expansion and uses both the Vulgate and Comestor's ''Historia scholastica'' as the source of its translation.Kirby, I. J. (1986) Bible Translation in Old Norse, Genève: Université de Lausanne, Publications de la Faculté des Lettres XXVII pp. 60-1 These texts were edited under the title Stjórn by C. R. Unger in 1862. This, as well as the existence of many manuscripts which contain the three works, contributed to the perception of Stjórn as a unitary work.

Title

The name Stjórn, which in

means 'guidance' or 'governance', was first recorded by Árni Magnússon in 1670 in reference to AM folios 226 and 228.Astås, R (1991) An Old Norse Biblical Compilation: Studies in Stjórn, New York: Peter Lang p. 5 He reported that AM 228fol., which was at the farm Hliðarendi, was called ''Minnir Stiorn'' (the minor Stjórn) and AM 226 fol. was called ''Stærri Stiorn'' (the major Stjórn). A number of theories have been put forward as to why it should have come to be the title of these works.. Henderson (1818) considered that it referred to the

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

ish

theocracy Theocracy is a form of autocracy or oligarchy in which one or more deity, deities are recognized as supreme ruling authorities, giving divine guidance to human intermediaries, with executive and legislative power, who manage the government's ...

, whereas Unger thought that it referred to God's guidance of the Jewish people.Astås, R (1991) An Old Norse Biblical Compilation: Studies in Stjórn, New York: Peter Lang p. 6 However, Astås argues that because Stjórn places very little emphasis on the fact the Jews were the people of

God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

, it is more likely that ''stjórn'' refers to “God’s moral upbringing of man.”Astås, R (1991) An Old Norse Biblical Compilation: Studies in Stjórn, New York: Peter Lang pp. 6-7 This is based on the use of the verb ''stjórna'' in the preface which refers to God's reign over the world, and that ''stjórna'' has moral connotations in 13th century religious texts. Storm (1886) thought it was a translation of ''regnum'', thus meaning royal history or reign. In a similar vein Jónsson (1923) considered it possible that it was a translation of ''liber regnum'', and thus referring to the books of the Kings in the

. Kirby thinks that the title stems from a misreading of ''uaar konungr. Sa sem stiornar…''.

Manuscripts

The Stjórn texts are preserved in many manuscripts but only three early manuscripts are considered to have independent value: AM 226 fol., AM 227 fol. and AM 228 fol.. Of these only AM 226 fol. contains Stjórn I, II, and III. The earliest of these manuscripts is AM 228 fol., which is traditionally dated to first quarter of the 14th century; it contains only Stjórn III.Kirby, I. J. (1986) Bible Translation in Old Norse, Genève: Université de Lausanne, Publications de la Faculté des Lettres XXVII p. 51-2 AM 227 fol. dated to c. 1350 contains Stjórn I and III.Kirby, I. J. (1986) Bible Translation in Old Norse, Genève: Université de Lausanne, Publications de la Faculté des Lettres XXVII p. 52 AM 226 fol. originally contained Stjórn I and III, as evidenced by AM 225 fol. which is a copy of AM 226 fol. dating from c. 1440. After AM 225 fol. was copied from it, the gathering in AM 226 fol. containing the end of Stjórn I and beginning of Stjórn III was cut and Stjórn II inserted, written in a much later hand. AM 226 fol. and many later paper copies also contain, after Stjórn, '' Rómverja saga'', ''

Alexanders saga ''Alexanders saga'' is an Old Norse translation of ''Alexandreis'', an epic Latin poem about the life of Alexander the Great written by Walter of Châtillon, which was itself based on Quintus Curtius Rufus's ''Historia Alexandri Magni''. It is att ...

'' and '' Gyðinga saga''. Some Stjórn manuscripts are beautifully illustrated and AM 227 fol. has been called one of the greatest achievements of medieval Icelandic bookmaking.Óskarsdóttir, S (2004) pp. 13-24

History

The preface to Stjórn records that king Hákon Magnússon of

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

commissioned a compilation of

Biblical The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) biblical languages ...

material to be read aloud for the benefit of those at his court who could not understand

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

.Kirby, I. J. (1993) "Stjórn" in Medieval Scandinavia: An Encyclopedia ed. Puliano, P. and Wolf, K. pp. 611-12 The veracity of this is, however, uncertain.Kirby, I. J. (1986) Bible Translation in Old Norse, Genève: Université de Lausanne, Publications de la Faculté des Lettres XXVII p. 53 The compiler states that he makes use of extra-Biblical texts, such as Peter Comestor's ''Historia scholastica'' and Vincent of Beauvais's S''peculum historiale''. However, this can apply only to Stjórn I, as the others do not display the wide-ranging compilation of sources evidenced in Stjórn I. Nothing certain is known of the history of the Stjórn translations before 1670. However, a “biblia j norænu’’ is mentioned as belonging to the

cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

of Hólar in 1525, which some have argued to be a Stjórn work.Astås, R (1991) An Old Norse Biblical Compilation: Studies in Stjórn, New York: Peter Lang p. 162 A similar, possible sighting of ‘Stjórn’ comes from c. 1580 when Peder Claussøn Friis,

vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English p ...

of Audnedal in

reports in his ''Om Iisland'' that a “well-born Norwegian man, named Erik Brockenhus” had seen an illuminated manuscript containing the

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

in Icelandic, in “around 1567”.Astås, R (1991) An Old Norse Biblical Compilation: Studies in Stjórn, New York: Peter Lang pp. 7, 162

Early Critical Reception

The first person to inform the

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

an public of Stjórn was Danish

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

Ludvig Harboe in his 1746 ''Kurze Nachricht von der Isländischen Bibel-Historie''.Astås, R (1991) An Old Norse Biblical Compilation: Studies in Stjórn, New York: Peter Lang p. 7 In 1818 Ebenezer Henderson, a Scottish minister, pointed to the similarities between Stjórn and ''Konungs Skuggsjá'' (the King's Mirror), which has been an important aspect in the discussion of Stjórn since. The first edited publication was by Unger in 1862 as ''Stjorn: Gammelnorsk Bibelhistorie''; he attempted to provide a text as close to that used by the original compiler as possible.Astås, R (1991) An Old Norse Biblical Compilation: Studies in Stjórn, New York: Peter Lang p. 8 In 1866 Keyser questioned the authenticity of a note in AM 226 fol. which suggested that the Icelandic

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the head of an independent monastery for men in various Western Christian traditions. The name is derived from ''abba'', the Aramaic form of the Hebrew ''ab'', and means "father". The female equivale ...

Brandr Jónsson was the author of Stjórn. This paved the way for arguments for a Norwegian provenance of the work: a topic which was hotly debated.

Stjórn I

Stjórn I covers the

material from Genesis to Exodus 18 and is considered by Kirby to be the youngest of the three sections. It is not a simple translation of the relevant

texts, but rather a compilation based on the

which is augmented with information from various sources, principally from Vincent of Beauvis and Comestor's Historica scholastica. The additional material is either in the form of commentaries on the Biblical text or as discrete information.Kirby, I. J. (1986) Bible Translation in Old Norse, Genève: Université de Lausanne, Publications de la Faculté des Lettres XXVII p. 54 The latter is mainly derived from Vincent of Beavis, including a treatise on geography, tales of the legendary love affairs of

Joseph Joseph is a common male name, derived from the Hebrew (). "Joseph" is used, along with " Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the modern-day Nordic count ...

and

Moses In Abrahamic religions, Moses was the Hebrews, Hebrew prophet who led the Israelites out of slavery in the The Exodus, Exodus from ancient Egypt, Egypt. He is considered the most important Prophets in Judaism, prophet in Judaism and Samaritani ...

. Additionally, there are also two homilies on

Lent Lent (, 'Fortieth') is the solemn Christianity, Christian religious moveable feast#Lent, observance in the liturgical year in preparation for Easter. It echoes the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring Temptation of Christ, t ...

. There are a number of similarities of vocabulary and style between Stjórn I and Stjórn III.Kirby, I. J. (1986) Bible Translation in Old Norse, Genève: Université de Lausanne, Publications de la Faculté des Lettres XXVII p. 55 Kirby accounts for this by stating that the author of Stjórn I translated from the above-mentioned sources, but made reference to the text of Stjórn III while doing so.Kirby, I. J. (1986) Bible Translation in Old Norse, Genève: Université de Lausanne, Publications de la Faculté des Lettres XXVII p. 55-6

Stjórn II

Stjórn II completes the

Kirby, I. J. (1986) Bible Translation in Old Norse, Genève: Université de Lausanne, Publications de la Faculté des Lettres XXVII p. 56 and is considered by Kirby to be the earliest of the three sections.Kirby, I. J. (1986) Bible Translation in Old Norse, Genève: Université de Lausanne, Publications de la Faculté des Lettres XXVII p. 73 It is different in style from Stjórn I and III in that it is translated from the

with very little additional material. Although it closely follows the text of the Vulgate, it omits significant sections, many of which concern information mentioned earlier in the text. The text of Stjórn II in AM 226 fol. is a copy of an earlier version, as can be seen from a number of scribal features.Kirby, I. J. (1986) Bible Translation in Old Norse, Genève: Université de Lausanne, Publications de la Faculté des Lettres XXVII pp. 56-7 Seip (1952) argues that the AM 226 fol text is a copy of a Norwegian text dating to the late 14th century. Kirby believes that the scribe was copying an

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

ic exemplar dating to no later than the first quarter of the 13th century.Kirby, I. J. (1986) Bible Translation in Old Norse, Genève: Université de Lausanne, Publications de la Faculté des Lettres XXVII p. 57-8

Stjórn III

Stjórn III covers the

text from

to the end of II Kings, although it uses information from the books of Chronicles to augment the text.Kirby, I. J. (1986) Bible Translation in Old Norse, Genève: Université de Lausanne, Publications de la Faculté des Lettres XXVII p. 60 Kirby thinks it likely that this text was composed by Brandr Jónsson, the translator of '' Gyðinga saga''. The text closely follows the

text with omission and summary like Stjórn II, but unlike that section makes considerable use of extra-Biblical material, though not to the same extent as Stjórn I. The relationship between Stjórn III and ''Konungs Skuggsjá'' has been noted since 1818. It has traditionally been assumed that ''Konungs Skuggsjá'' borrowed from Stjórn III. That the opposite was true has been argued by Hofmann (1973) and Bagge (1979); Kirby (1986) argues in favour of the traditional view in his study ''Bible Translation in Old Norse''.Kirby, I. J. (1986) Bible Translation in Old Norse, Genève: Université de Lausanne, Publications de la Faculté des Lettres XXVII p. 64

Notes

References

External links

Stjórn at Heimskringla.no

Facsimile of Unger’s edition at septentrionalia.net
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stjorn Icelandic literature Icelandic manuscripts Old Norse literature