Svenska fornsskriftssällskapet – förlag

This volume in Samlingar utgivna av Svenska fornskriftsällskapet is a catalogue of 325 watermarks in Swedish medieval law manuscripts and in the collection of medieval paper documents (up to 1500) in Uppsala university library. The catalogue contains images of the watermarks and references to the most important previous catalogues and collections, in particular by Charles M. Briquet and Gerhard Piccard, as well as a description of the distribution of watermarks in the mediaeval law manuscripts. Introductions are given in Swedish and German. Keywords: Watermarks, paper, mediaeval, manuscript, Swedish law. Språk i boken: svenska

The present monograph deals with the A-redaction of the Old Swedish text Tungulus/Tundalus. This work is a translation and/or adaption of the Latin text Visio Tnugdali, present in a large number of manuscripts in medieval Europe. The Old Swedish A-redaction exists in four manuscripts that are of relevance for its early transmission: Cod. Holm. D 4a (c. 1448, 1449–1463), Cod. Holm. D 3 (c. 1487/1488), Cod. Linc. Saml. 1a (late 15th century or early 16th century) and Cod. Holm. K 45 (1525–1550). The investigation aims at mapping the rela-tionship between these textual witnesses through a comparison of the variation between them, with regard to the following categories: 1) absence/presence of textual elements, 2) lexical variation, 3) syntactic variation with respect to word order and 4) morphological variation with respect to different inflectional forms of the same lemma. This investigation resulted in the following relationship (Greek letters representing now lost steps): α – D 4a – β – D 3 –( γ –) Linc. 1a – K 45 Following this, an investigation is carried out into the case morphology of the textual witnesses, focusing on how the scribes have dealt with this aspect in the copying process. All the textual witnesses have originated during or after the assumed time of the loss of the four-case system. All textual witnesses contain variation between forms inflected according to the older system and forms not conforming to this. However, although there is considerable general variation between inflected and non-inflected forms, it turns out that the inflected and the non-inflected forms are found in the same positions in the different textual witnesses. It appears that all the scribes of the investigated textual witnesses have largely followed their exemplars on a morphological level, rendering the case forms found there, and thus disregarding their own linguistic norm. Keywords: Tungulus/Tundalus, textual criticism, Old Swedish, medieval scribes, case morphology Språk i boken: Svenska

The present study is a codicological and textual investigation of Codex Holmiensis A 49 (Nådendals klosterbok), a large medieval (c. 1450) manuscript, written almost entirely in old Swedish and containing thirty different texts of various kinds. A 49 is believed to have belonged to the Birgittine House at Nådendal, a double monastery with communities of both sisters and brothers. An attempt has been made to contribute to the clarification of where the different parts of the manuscript were written (Vadstena or Nådendal) and by whom they were read and used (female or male religious communities). A number of theoretical and and methodological questions are discussed: crucial for the analyses are in particular the concepts of production unit (produktionsenhet) and multitext book (multitextbok). Plans for “Nådendals klosterbok” were laid out at Vadstena Abbey, probably with the female house intended as the primary recipient. However, some production units point towards the male house. The fact that the manuscript may have been meant for use in both communities could explain its fairly late binding (after the dissolution of the male monastic community in the middle of the sixteenth century.) In a context of book-loaning between the houses it would have been logistically advantageous to have the texts in smaller units. Keywords: The Birgittine Order, Medieval miscellaneous manuscripts, Old Swedish literature, Nådendal (Naantali) Abbey. Språk i boken: svenska

Hedda Gunneng & Börje Westlund discuss two autographic tracts (A and B) by Holy Bridget of Vadstena, concerning language and style. The tracts show how Bridget worked stylistically when she clad her revelations linguistically. The marked stylistic difference between the two tracts is attributable to the differing content and import of revelations. Margit J. Smith describes the Tallinn manuscript of the City Rights of King Magnus Eriksson, also referred to as the Vadstena Codex or Tallinn Codex, possibly written for the city of Åbo. The manuscript dates from the first half of the 15th century and is bound in the format of a girdle book, with brass bosses and two clasps. The binding was repaired in Moscow in the 1970s and is in good condition. Massimiliano Bampi maintains the the inclusion of Konung Alexander into an aristocratic environment in many respects has influenced the representation of Alexander’s deeds. However Alexander represents a powerful alternative to the heroes of chivalic adventure. Fulvio Ferrari writes, concerning Dikten om kung Albrekt, that its manuscripts were written at the Vadstena monastery during the 1420’s, commissioned by a member of the Swedish oligarchy. The text appears to have been written in the entourage of Bo Jonsson. The political situation during the 1420’s was the same as in Bo Jonsson’s time, when the aristocracy opposed the crown. Per-Axel Wiktorsson discusses a list of signs from the Vadstena monastery, discovered among MSS C 31 and C 74 held at Uppsala University Library, both from the 14th century. The list in C 31 is a pre-stage to that in C 74. The author has attemped to construct an older version of the list than the one in C 31. Keywords: Holy Bridget, Vadstena monastery, autographs, language and style, City Rights, ‘bag- binding’, Konung Alexander, courtly ethics, Dikten om kung Albrekt, aristocracy, the Crown, sign lists, older version. Språk i boken: svenska

This critical edition of Liber IV of the Reuelaciones of Saint Birgitta of Sweden, like its predecessors in this series, bases its text upon the readings of selected, medieval manuscripts. The text of the Editio princeps (impr. B. Ghotan, Lübeck 1491) has been superseded, particularly in those ten Revelations of Liber IV that were also incorporated by Alfonso of Jaen into Liber VIII (Liber celestis Imperatoris ad reges); in this case, the present edition presents a text that has as yet been inaccessible to non-specialist scholars. This edition also contains an Apparatus critic us, an Apparatus f ontium, a Bibliography, an Introduction on the history of the manuscripts and the text, a Glossary, and Indices of grammar, literary sources, names and places. Keywords: St. Birgitta, St. Bridget, Revelation, Vadstena, Spirituality.

The Quattuor Oraciones were composed by St. Birgitta of Sweden and form a part of her Revelations. They have been edited with the aid of all the known MSS. The edition contains an introduction describing the history of the Latin and Old Swedish texts, the MSS and their interrelations, as well as discussions of textual problems and issues such as the use of cursus. The Latin text is edited from a suitable sample of MSS and one hitherto unedited, Old Swedish version has also been printed. As is customary, certain indexes are included in the edition. Keywords: St. Birgitta, St. Bridget, Revelation, Quattuor oraciones, prayer, Vadstena, spirituality.

The present volume contains a critical edition and an English translation of Testa nucis and Poetria, both texts written by the Swedish 14th-century theologian Magister Mathias Lincopensis. Compared to the edition published by S. Sawicki in 1936, the present work offers another text in c. 140 passages, many of which directly affect the understanding of the text. Whereas the Testa nucis, 'The Nutshell' (preserved only in a fragment), represents traditional rhetorical doctrine, the Poetria is remarkable in that Mathias seems to be the first, and for a long time the only, medieval Latin writer to try to integrate Aristotelian theory in a treatise on poetry. This and related questions are discussed in the introductory chapter, and problems of critical and exegetic nature are dealt with in another. Two indices conclude the edition.

The present volume is the second in a recently launched series intended to contain short contributions in which Old Swedish texts are published and/or commented on. The first essay, by Lennart Moberg, Emeritus Professor of Scandinavian Languages, deals with a text in 'Bridgettine Norwegian' to be found in Cod. Skokloster 5 at the Swedish National Archives. This text is clearly based on notes in St Bridget's own hand and, despite the Norwegian elements in it, offers a good insight into her own use of language. In the second essay, by the late Dr Hans H. Range, three previously unpublished Old Swedish homilies are published and commented on: one on Andrew, one on Nicholas and one on the Virgin Mary, all of them from Cod. C 181 at Uppsala University Library. In the author's view, the texts can be dated to 1475-1500 and the manuscript was probably produced at Vadstena Abbey. The third essay, by Professor Per-Axel Wiktorsson, provides examples of texts found on medieval parchment covers. Some of them are Latin texts with Old Swedish elements (personal and place-names), while the others are written purely in Old Swedish, including a fragment of the fourth book of St Bridget's revelations. Keywords: philology, Old Swedish, watermarks, homilies, legends, text fragments on parchment covers, St Bridget, Vadstena Abbey. Språk i boken: svenska

This dissertation describes the Old Swedish Saints' lives from a philological and stylistic view-point, relating vernacular hagiographic texts to social institutions. A complete survey of manuscripts containing Old Swedish Saints' lives and miracles is made. A stratified selection of the manuscripts is then subjected to both qualitative and quantitative analyses of style, in which both diachronic and synchronic aspects are taken into consideration. The study demonstrates that there are considerable differences between Saints' lives written for a lay audience and Saints' lives written for a monastic audience. The latter favour bound transmission from their foreign sources and a monastic ideological information structure, using complex syntax and displaying an elaborate punctuation. This is due to their function as a basis for meditative reflection. Saints' lives for a lay audience, by contrast, are adapted so that narrative information and simple syntax are favoured. These texts are more entertaining - although with a moral point. The highly literate Vadstena Abbey played a crucial role in the development of the monastic hagiographic style in the vernacular. The brethren employed a uniform, religious prose style, ranging from information structure to punctuation, for the hagiographic material as well as for other edifying texts. This style developed into a written Bridgettine Old Swedish standard. Keywords: Philology, stylistics, literacy, Old Swedish Saints' lives, transmission, transcription, information structure, syntax, punctuation, Vadstena Abbey Språk i boken: svenska

This critical edition of Liber III of the Reuelaciones of Saint Birgitta of Sweden is based on the readings of selected, medieval manuscripts. Furthermore, the text of the Editio princeps (impr. B. Ghotan, Lübeck 1492) has been used. The edition also contains an apparatus criticus, an apparatus fontium, a bibliography, an introduction to the history of the manuscripts and the text, a glossary and indices of grammar, literary sources, names and places, together with an excursus on the use of the Old Swedish text(s) in Book III and another one on a Latin Message, an original draft, corresponding to Book III 8 and 9. Keywords: St. Birgitta, St. Bridget, Revelation, Spirituality.

Roughly half of the pages of this dissertation constitute a critical edition of the late medieval nobleman Gregers Matsson's account books, C 29-32 in the National Record Office (Riksarkivet), Stockholm. About 80 % of the material is assumed, on grounds of linguistic evidence and content, to have been written by Gregers himself, and his entire known production written in his own hand is included in this edition, with the exception of a few lines in the previously published Upplands lagmansdombok (Upplandic Chief Magistrate's Judgment Book), lines which can now be seen as having been identified. The philological edition is accompanied by a commentary and registers of individuals, places, and words. These registers should enhance the usefulness of the edition, not least for other disciplines, perhaps history in particular. The commentary takes up interesting linguistic features of the 14 different hands, with the emphasis on the hand that is believed to be that of Gregers Matsson himself. Other subjects of introductions and commentaries include the genre of medieval accounting; scribes and their handwriting; the physical appearance of the manuscripts; measures, weights, and coinage; and words of special semantic interest. The edition is illustrated with an appendix of 15 photographs showing samples of the different hands and the covers of the volumes. Keywords: philology, transcription, analysis of handwriting, Old Swedish, epenthetic vowels, delabialization, medieval accounts, Tyresi:i, Stegeborg. Språk i boken: svenska

Roughly two thirds of this volume constitutes a critical edition of the late medieval nobleman Gregers Matsson's food and fodder book for Stegeborg 1487- 1492, C 33 in the National Record Office (Riksarkivet), Stockholm. This work, together with the previous Gregers Matsson's account books (Gregers Matssons riikenskaper, 1996), presents the bulk of his written remains. The philological edition is accompanied by a commentary and registers of individuals, places, and words. These registers should enhance the usefulness of the edition, not least for other disciplines, perhaps history in particular. The commentary takes up some linguistic features of the seven different hands, although in a more cursory manner than in the previous work. This is due to the more stereotype nature of this volume and the small extent of the contributions by all scribes except Francie, who was Danish and probably came from the now Swedish province ofScania (Skane). Other subjects of commentaries include the genre of medieval accounting; scribes and their handwriting; the physical appearance of the manuscript; measures, weights, and coinage; and words of special semantic interest. The edition is illustrated with an appendix of 8 photographs showing samples of the different hands and the cover of the volume. Keywords: philology, transcription, analysis of handwriting, Old Swedish, Old Danish, medieval accounts, Stegeborg. Språk i boken: svenska

Roughly half of the pages of this volume constitute critical editions of two late medieval account books, kept for Falke Gregersson (Lillie) and his widow Britta Hansdotter (Tott), C 34 and C 35 respectively, in the National Record Office (Riksarkivet) , Stockholm. This work can be seen as a follow-up of the author's editions ofGregers Matsson's account books (Gregers Matssons räkenskaper, 1996), and Gregers Matsson's food and fodder book for Stegeborg 1487-1492 (Gregers Matssons kostbok för Stegeborg 1487-1492, 1999), which contain the author's editions of the hitherto unpublished written remains ofGregers Matsson Lillie, the father of Folke Gregersson. (Cf the Abstract of Alvered 1996, and Alvered 1999 p. 9 2nd paragraph. The account books of Gregers' son-in-law Me Jonsson Svarte Skaning, C 25-27 in the National Record Office, still remain unpublished. Like C 35, they pertain to the estate of Åkerö in Södermanland.) The philological edition is accompanied by a commentary and registers of individuals, places, and words. These registers should enhance the usefulness of the edition, not least for other disciplines, perhaps history in particular. The commentary takes up some linguistic features of those of the 16 different hands which have written more than just a few lines. Other subjects of commentaries include the physical appearance of the manuscript; scribes and their handwriting; and words of special semantic interest (included in the word registers). Concerning the genre of medieval accounting as well as measures, weights, and coinage, reference is mainly made to the previous editions mentioned above. The edition is illustrated with an appendix of 10 photographs showing samples of the different hands and the covers of the volumes. Keywords: philology, transcription, analysis of handwriting, Old Swedish, medieval accounts, Lindö, Åkerö. Språk i boken: svenska

The present volume contains the first critical edition of the Latin text of St. Birgitta's (1303-73) Revelations, Book II. The edition is based on a collation of eleven selected MSS. which, in the editions of other Revelations books, have proved to be of high quality. In one of the introductory chapters, the relationships between these MSS. are accounted for. The archetype of the MSS., reconstructed as described in the chapter on principles of edition, is analysed in detail in a chapter on textual criticism. It appears to contain numerous errors, which are corrected in the edition. A glossary after the edition lists all such words as are either lacking in Georges' Handworterbuch or appear there with a meaning not applicable in the text of the present edition. Indices of different kinds conclude the edition.

This is the first critical edition of Book VIII of the Reuelaciones of St. Birgitta of Sweden, a book that was originally conceived by its medieval editor, Alfonso of Jaen, as a Mirror of Kings, selected from 58 of Birgitta's Revelations and entitled Liber celestis imperatoris ad reges. The edition bases its text upon the readings of selected medieval manuscripts. The text of the Editio Princeps (impr. B. Ghotan, Lübeck 1492), which is based on two manuscripts belonging to Vadstena Abbey, is here superseded by a text much closer to Alfonso's original version. This edition also contains a reprint of Alfonso's Preface entitled Epistola Solitarii ad reges (ed. Arne Jönsson 1989), an Apparatus criticus, an Introduction with Bibliography, an Apparatus fontium, a Glossary, and indices. Keywords: St. Birgitta, St. Bridget of Sweden, Revelation, Reuelaciones, Vadstena, Spirituality.

The volume contains three major and five minor indices. Cross-references are given to three different number series used in the works. Manuscript signa in the editions are updated. Special indices on manuscript descriptions and datings of manuscripts are given. Indices are also given with information on outdated and present numbers of volumes, on authors and editors, and on outdated and present manuscript signa. Språk i boken: svenska

Critical edition. Introduction with analysis of genesis of the texts, description of working-model in the bishop's chancery and presentation of the scribes. Analysis of the history of the manuscript after the Reformation. Keywords: Old Swedish, medieval latin, Hans Brask, medieval letters, medieval chancery, registry, history, the Reformation, diocese of Linköping. Språk i boken: svenska

This dissertation contains the first critical edition of Exposicio super Apocalypsim, written by the Swedish 14th century theologian Magister Mathias Lincopensis. The commentary, which covers the first fifteen chapters of St. John's Apocalypse, became well-known especially thanks to Bernardino of Siena and Nicolaus Cusanus, both of whom made copies of it. It is now preserved in 18 MSS, some of them fragmentary. Mathias interpreted the Bible text allegorice, mystice and moraliter. He criticized his own time, the heresies and the decay of the Church. The Christians will be afflicted by many tribulations and temptations, but God will succour his Church. At the end of the time the Antichrist will come portending the last Judgement, when only a few will be saved. The manuscripts are divided into two main groups, the Bernardinian and the so-called independent. This edition is founded on the last group, especially on MS U. Key-words: Magister Mathias, Bernardino, Birgitta, apocalypse. Språk i boken: svenska

Dans ce volume est présentée une édition d'une collection de sermons médiévaux. Le texte date du xve siècle; il est écrit en ancien suédois, mais il y a aussi des parties en latin, notamment des citations bibliques et patristiques. L'édition se base principalement sur le manuscrit Cod. AM 787 4°. Une introduction générale est suivie par une déscription des differents manuscrits et fragments et un exposé du développement du texte: relations entre les manuscrits et sources utilisées. Le volume contient aussi un tableau avec indications de la structure textuelle des sermons individuels et des registres de citations de la Bible et des Révélations de Sainte Brigitte. Keywords: Old Swedish, Latin, medieval sermons, medieval manuscripts, Vadstena abbey. Språk i boken: engelska

This book is an edition of Cod. Holm. A 3, a manuscript from Vadstena abbey containing the Birgittine sisters' official table readings in Old Swedish, i.e., official text to be read aloud during meal time at the sisters' convent. The manuscript is dated 1502 according to its prologue, and is written by four different hands. The main scribes are known by their names, Katharina Gudhmundi and Anna Girmundi (both were nuns in the abbey). Maybe one of the anonymous hands may be the manuscript's corrector, Elseby Gjordsdotter. The manuscript was commissioned by the abbess Anna Fickesdotter. The manuscript, composed of 156 parchment leaves written on two columnist, contains 98 different texts, complete or partial, of devotion, such as Saint Birgitta's Revelations, commentaries on the Bible, Old Swedish translations of the well-known mystics Henrik Suso and Mechthild of Hacke born, Saints lives and the like. Most of the texts are copied from older manuscripts that were owned by the sisters' convent at Vadstena abbey. The introduction to this edition provides a codicological description of the manuscript together with a presentation of its content. The edition itself follows the manuscript as close as possible. To each folio and each line of the manuscript corresponds a page and a line in the edition. In addition the medieval interpunctuation is edited and the text is not normalised. The text is completed by a critical apparatus which supplies the following information: scribal mistakes, identification of the citations of the Bible and the auctoritates, detailed codicological information, variant readings from other manuscripts containing the same texts as Cod. Holm. A 3. Keywords: Old Swedish, Vadstena abbey, table readings, devotional literature, manuscripts, codicology. Språk i boken: svenska

The object of this dissertation is the range, distribution, and usage of words imported from Middle Low German in medieval charters originating from the Swedish province of Närke. The charters are all written in Old Swedish between the years 1350 and 1520. The study reveals that some examples of certain imported words display traits of being foreign words (Germ. Fremdwörter), although they in many cases have existed in Old Swedish for quite some time in more orthographically and morphologically integrated forms. The forms in question are most frequent in charters issued in the early 16th century, primarily in the office of Örebro castle. The occurrence of imported words containing the three prefixes be-, for(e)- and vidher- can be located mainly to three areas in Närke: the town of Örebro, the convent of Riseberga, and the south-east of the province. Some manifestations of the prefix be- can be traced back to Middle Low German written forms. The amount and diversity of the imported words used in the different formulas which charters are composed of are discussed. The formulas which constitute the main body of the texts and the core of their content are found to display the largest quantity and variety of imported words. The frequency of the imported words is also studied from social, regional and chronological perspectives respectively. The charters issued by the burghers of Örebro and the miners of Noraskogen are found to be richest in imported words, followed by texts issued by members of the nobility. Regarding the regional comparison, the charters originating from the northern parts of Närke, where the town of Örebro and the Noraskogen mining district are located, and from the south-east of the province contain the largest amount of imported words. The chronological comparison shows that both the number and the frequency of the imported words increase over time. Språk i boken: svenska

The literacy and learning that can be attributed to the female convent at Vadstena Abbey have not been yet thoroughly investigated, a lacuna this book aims to remedy. Through an analysis of the social community and a close reading of the texts transmitted by Cod. Holm. A 3, a significant manuscript used in the convent for table reading, this study dis¬cusses the textual world that structured the nuns’ life at Vadstena Abbey and thus attempts for the first time to take seriously the learning of the nuns of Vadstena. The first part of the book deals with the literacy events that were significant for the female convent, then turns to the literacy competences that can be found among the nuns of Vadstena Abbey, and finally describes the form of education the sisters could receive. The convent was literate, in both a professional and a pragmatic perspective. Many nuns were able to read and write in vernacular, some also in Latin. If only occasional examples of literate women at the convent are known before 1450, it appears that the literacy competence then increased signific¬antly, a situation which suggests that the nuns may have learned to read and eventually to write in the monastery under the supervision of a mentor. The learning of the nuns was marked by the mystical movement of the second half of the 15th century. This can be shown by an analysis not only of the works the sisters read but also of the textual structure of the monastic readings at the female convent. The auctoritates quoted in these texts taught the nuns in exegetical questions and ideological issues im¬portant for the Birgittines. Knowledge of the monastic virtues was of considerable importance in this education, especially humility which was explored in nearly all texts read in the convent. The second part of the book offers a close reading of a table reading manuscript which was produced in the beginning of the 16th century. This manuscript proved to be very important for the nunnery’s intellectual context as the daily read¬ings during the meals were an opportu¬nity for the monastery to emphasize ideologies and beliefs that the nuns should support. The table readings followed an old ritual as many of the texts that should be read were copied from older manuscripts. But notwithstanding their textual tradition, the texts to be preferred were obviously didactic and intended to educate the nuns. These texts must be seen as a bridge between the beliefs of the collectivity and the nuns’ private worshipping. There is in these texts a meditative tone which concurred to place the concrete daily routines and duties into an abstract Christological frame. Språk i boken: svenska

The present volume comprises two essays containing text editions and short commentaries. The first deals with a copy of part a revelation by St Birgitta (Liber IV I 02) found in Copenhagen, the Royal Library, GkS 1154 2°. The text concerns the way a legal case should be heard and judged. Despite appearing in a Norwegian manuscript, the text is written in Old Swedish. The second essay contains an edition of three sermons found in Vienna, the Austrian National Library, Cod. Vind. 13013. They have been registered in the library's catalogue as being in Swedish, and this essay discusses whether this is in fact the case. The sermons' structure and content are also outlined. Keywords: philology, Old Swedish, Old Danish, Old Norwegian, law texts, St Birgitta, sermons, language mixture.

This is a commented edition of a series of Late medieval (1500- 1513?) accounts connected to copper mining in the parish of Åtvid, now the town of Åtvidaberg, Sweden, and its vicinities. Most of these accounts report deliveries of household wares from a central but undefined place in Åtvid to farmers, who partly seem to be engaged in copper production, and to seemingly professional copper miners as well. These accounts are kept in the National Archives of Sweden under five manuscripts sigla: C 45, 46, 47, 48 and 50, comprising altogether about 50 pages written by many different hands. The accounts can be traced back to a Johan Bese, a country nobleman, dead 1505, and his daughter Gunnild Johansdotter, married Bielke. Both are known for having been granted Åtvid as a fief by the two succsessive Sture regents. Their residence was Herrsäter in Värna parish near Åtvid. In the introductory part the connection between the accounts and the Bese family is discussed, starting with a paper document dated January 1, 1500, in which some wealthy business men and the future regent Svante Sture agree to initiate copper mining near Åtvidaberg. It is argued that this document can illuminate the accounts. In the main part of the edition all text of the accounts is transcribed and interpreted into Modern Swedish and the commodity for each person or client are commented upon, with focus on C 46 where also older transactions mentioned and crossed out in the other lists are put together and scrutinized. C 46 is shown to be a later summary of the other lists by its scribe and supposedly compiled for Gunnild Johansdotter after her return from Finland in 1513. In C 45, called “the old book” by the compilator and containing older private accounts for Johan Bese, there is a second part with the year 1510 at the top of a column, which indicates that the notes here are connected to Johan Beses heirs. In the accounts we meet people directly involved in copper mining and manufacturing through a great variety of reported transactions, where often copper measured by weight and produced at several local foundries is expected as payment for different imported wares like salt, hops and cloth but also dried fish, corn and meat, the latter consisting of many pairs of oxen, probably used for transport. Often we get collateral information about copper foundries and other localities, and we find here first mention of mines from medieval Sweden. Some notes even indicate that copper kettles and pans were manufactured for sale. In fact, these accounts are the very first written source of copper mining in Åtvidaberg some decades before the efforts of king Gustavus Wasa to exploit copper finds there again, and that in turn takes place more than two centuries before the copper industry of the 18th century. Key words: accounts, copper mining, Åtvid, foundries, medieval, 16th century. Språk i boken: svenska

Svenska fornskriftsällskapet bildades 1843 och har alltsedan dess haft till syfte att ge ut äldre svenska skrifter, företrädesvis fornsvenska, samt arbeten som bygger på eller behandlar sådana; bland dessa kan nämnas Söderwalls fornsvenska ordbok med supplement. Länge var sällskapets intresse begränsat till skrifter som helt, eller i varje fall delvis, var på svenska, men från och med 1924 har, vid sidan av den ursprungliga serien, också latinska skrifter givits ut, bl.a. Sancta Birgitta, Reuelaciones. Ännu en serie, Smärre texter och undersökningar, startades i samband med 150-årsjubileet 1993. En fjärde serie, tidigt påbörjad men sporadiskt utgiven, omfattar bibliografiska arbeten; här är det i första hand fråga om den fornsvenska litteraturen. Varje år utger sällskapet normalt minst ett nummer i någon av dessa serier.