A Piece without a Puzzle?: A Fragment of Nikuláss saga erkibiskups in Oslo, NRA 69 – Text, Translation and Commentary

Abstract

In this article, we present a new edition, normalization and translation of a fragment of an otherwise unknown Nikuláss saga erkibiskups (Saga of Bishop Nicholas) transmitted in the manuscript Norrøne Membranfragmenter NRA 69. Written in Iceland in the early fourteenth century, this fragment appears to present a »missing link« between various Nicholas narratives that circulated in the medieval West, and the idiosyncratic spin given to those stories in the North Atlantic world. Moreover, the story presented in this particular fragment, which details the interaction between a Jewish moneylender and a local trader, provides several invaluable clues about the dynamics of trade and money as well as the interaction between Self and Other in the region.