Upplandslagens kyrkobalk: Handskrifterna i Ryssland

Abstract

The medieval laws on the church for the Swedish province of Uppland were created about 1300. They are an important source on the history of Sweden and a celebrated monument in the history of the Swedish language. During the Late Middle Ages these laws were used not only in Uppland but also in other regions of the Swedish Realm. Text variations which are present in these manuscripts are interesting for language and history studies. Among the texts that deserve attention are two manuscripts which are present in Russia,
in The Russian National library (Saint Petersburg) and in The State Archives for Old Acts (Moscow). In the 19th century these manuscripts were studied by Carl Johan Schlyter, but afterwards these texts were not subject to scholarly investigation for a long time. My study of the manuscripts made it possible to reassess Schlyter’s conclusions concerning the manuscripts in question. Schlyter maintains that the Chapter on the Church in Saint Petersburg manuscript is close to the so-called “Manuscript P” preserved in the city of Kalmar. I prove, however, that this text has a greater number of common features with the so-called texts “K”, “T” and “X”, than with “P”. Regarding the Moscow manuscripts, Schlyter highlights the similarities with the so-called texts “O” and “Q”. I conclude, however, that there are also significant common traits with two other texts – “P” and “R” – the fact which has not been mentioned by previous scholarship. The appendix contains a transcription of parts of the manuscripts which illustrates the tendencies mentioned in the article.