Leiðarvísir og borgarskipan

12th-century guidebook for pilgrims From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Leiðarvísir og borgarskipan[a] ("A Guide and List of Cities") is an itinerary written c. 1157 by Níkulás Bergsson (a.k.a. Nikolaos), the abbot of the monastery of Þverá in Eyjafjörður, Northern Iceland.

It is a guidebook for pilgrims about the routes from Northern Europe to Rome and Jerusalem. It contains two descriptions of lands around Norway that the Abbot seems to have acquired for his book from independent sources.[1][2]

Manuscript

The Leiðarvísir is found in a manuscript known as AM 194 8vo, copied in 1387 by two scribes. The greater part by far was copied by Óláfr Ormsson, a priest from Snæfellsnes, while only a few pages are the work of Brynjólfr Steinráðarson. Although AM 194 8vo contains an eclectic mix of texts, it was compiled with a view towards making a coherent whole.[3]

Itinerary

The following is a list of the towns in the different itineraries described in Leiðarvísir:[4]

Denmark

Germany

First variation

Second variation

Third variation

France

Switzerland

Italy

Greece

Holy Land

Notes

  1. [a]
    Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈleːiðarvisɪr ɔːɣ ˈpɔrkar̥scɪpan].
  2. [b]
    Bolgaraland, land of the Bulgars (i.e., Slavs), in the Leiðarvísir. Willibald, a northern European pilgrim of the 9th century, likewise called the Peloponnese Slavinia on account of its Slavic inhabitants.[8]
  3. [c]
    According to Níkulás, this was the Saracens called the Kingdom of Jerusalem.[8]
  4. [d]
    "John's castle", modern Sebastia, was correctly identified by Níkulás with ancient Samaria.[8]
  5. [e]
    The "plains of Abraham" were the fertile heights around Jericho. The designation is of crusader origin.[8]
  6. [f]
    The land beyond the Jordan, i.e. Arabia.[8]

References

Further reading

External links

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