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The Arnamagnæan manuscript collection

Inscribed 2009

What is it

A collection of almost 3000 early Scandinavian manuscripts dating from the 12th century onwards.

Why was it inscribed

The manuscripts and documents in the collection are invaluable sources of information on the history and culture of Scandinavia and by extension, northern Europe, from around 1150 to 1850.

Where is it

Copenhagen, Denmark and Reykjavik, Iceland

Old Norse and Icelandic literary works make up the largest part of the Arnamagnæan Manuscript Collection. Among these, particular treasures are the Icelandic sagas which relate the voyages of the Vikings – usually from Norway – who sailed west to invade, explore and settle in Britain and Ireland, the Faroes and Iceland, and from there, Greenland and North America around AD 1000; and east and south to Russia and as far as the Mediterranean and Byzantium.

Scandinavia, and Iceland in particular, were among the last major areas of Europe to convert to Christianity and the establishment of the new religion can be charted from its official beginnings around AD 1000. The manuscripts reveal a society in transition, from heathendom to Christianity, from an oral culture to literacy, and from localized oligarchy to a more centralized monarchy.

Other manuscripts originated in Norway, Denmark and Sweden. Religious and legal texts are among the most numerous, with translations of chivalric literature from the original French, alongside hagiographies, devotional books and other religious texts. In particular, most of the Danish manuscripts are legal codices; one of these, Skånske lov or the Law of Skaane, is written in runic script. There are also manuscripts from the continent, in Latin and other languages, on diverse subjects from a copy of a 6th-century commentary on the Apocalypse to a 15th-century treatise on warfare and the use of cannons.

The works of the collection are central to the study and understanding of Scandinavian language and culture. They are also invaluable as a source of information on the history of mainland Scandinavia and the North American colonies during the Viking expansion. This was a period which shaped both how the region perceives itself and how it is regarded by the rest of the world. They were a source of national inspiration in art and politics, fuelling the movements that led to independence for Norway and Iceland.

The collection was gathered over much of his life by Árni Magnússon (1663–1730), an Icelander and professor of antiquities at the University of Copenhagen (his name in its Latinized form, Arnas Magnæus, gives the collection its name).

Although Magnússon bequeathed the collection to his university, Icelandic independence from Denmark in 1944 lent weight to an already-existing campaign to have the Icelandic sections of the collection returned to Reykjavik.

As a result, the collection is now divided between the two countries under an arrangement that was itself ground-breaking in setting a precedent for the amicable return of cultural treasures. In a transfer that took 26 years and was completed in 1997, Iceland received 1666 items from the collection together with the Icelandic charters and apographa, or transcripts. Both countries remain joint custodians, working together to secure continued access to the manuscripts and their preservation.