Sira Simon a Agdum – to brev med same hand, eller berre same mann?

Abstract

A priest named Simon is mentioned in two late fourteenth-century letters from Aust-Agder, DN II 545, Øyestad ( 27.03.1399) and DN XIII 55 [Froland] (Sept. 1399–Sept. 1400). A possible connection between the two letters does not seem to have been discussed before now. The present article considers whether both letters refer to the same man and are by the same hand. Accordingly, general principles for the identification of hands are discussed, as well as parameters for the ascription of documents to a single hand. On the basis of both palaeographic and linguistic evidence, the author concludes that whereas both letters probably refer to the same man, they are not by the same hand.