SAGA-BOOK - Viking Society Web Publications

M argreiar Saga and its History in I eeland 277
be little doubt but that this power believed to be inherent
in the book that contained the life of St Margaret was the
reason why it was copied as often as it was in Iceland, but
it is not equally obvious what especial virtue people
attributed to it. Was it looked on as some kind of
panacea, or was it intended to serve against some specific
ailment? Since the M argreiar saga is as common as it is,
one would expect it to be mentioned somewhere in other
Icelandic sources, rich as these are in stories of superstition
and the like. But strange as it may seem, there is almost
complete silence about the M argretar saga in printed
sources, and I am not familiar with any oral information
about it. The saga seems to have lived on from one
generation to the next among the ordinary folk of Iceland
with almost no comment. Only in one source have I
come across a mention of the use of the M argretar saga.
This is in the so-called Hugrds, or In versutias serpentis
reeti et tortuosi. patJ er: Litil hugrds yfir svik og velrcetJi
djojulsins, sem stundum gengur rettur stundum hlykkj6ttur
atJ spilla mannkynsins sdluhjdlp. Saman skrijatJ anna
r627 aj GutJmttndi Einarssyni. The author, Gu5mundur
Einarsson, was rural dean of Snsefellsnessysla and he
wrote his Hugrds against the Fjandajcela and spells of Jon
Gu5mundsson lrer5i (r574-r658), who, according to
Gu5mundur, was at that time teaching witchcraft to the
people on Snrefellsnes. In his counterblast the Rev.
Gurmnmdur says that he is basing his work on two copies
of the black magic book of Jon lrer5i. This particular
book by Jon has not been preserved but it is possible to
get some idea of its contents from the references to it by
the Rev. Gu5mundur. There is a section which he calls
"Blood-staunching book", and another is named "Delivery
book", and about the latter he says this:
" .. the delivery book with all its figures, rules, medicines
and excipitur, especially to bind this to the thigh of a woman in
childbirth: Anna perperit Mariam, Maria Christum, Elizabeth
Johannem, Cilicium, Remigium, Eorum dat salutario et
redemptio, quando parias filium tuum heec ftemina. and read