Summary:

Jukka Luoto, Codex Kalmar, so called – on the basis of debate

The author discusses the origin of the well-known Codex Kalmar (Stockholm, National Library of Sweden, B 172, AD 1450). The Finns Kustaa Vilkuna and Helena Edgren et al. point out the Finnish origin of the Codex. In Sweden Janken Myrdal and Olle Ferm among others think that the Codex with its famous miniatures was copied in the Stockholm district or in the provinces Uppland and Roslagen.

The main part of the Codex consists of King Magnus Eriksson’s Law of the Realm. Parts of the Codex are of indisputable Finnish origin: a Saints’ calendar in Latin composed for the Turku Diocese, and border documents and statutes for Northern Finland.

Olle Ferm and Janken Myrdal think that a copy of King Magnus Erikssons´ Law was commissioned by Bengt Jönsson Oxenstierna in Sweden (1390–1450), whereas Helena Edgren is of the opinion that the commissioner was Hans Kröpelin (1404–1440) and the work was carried out in Åbo (Finland). The commissioners are not mentioned in the Codex. There is only one name in the codex: Mathias van Klewe, who was bailiff in Ala-Satakunta (Northern Finland) 1551–1556. Mikael Agricola (Archbishop of the Turku Diocese 1510–1557) and Thure Bielke (1548–1600) made notes on the codex.

Perhaps the central figure in the history of the Codex is Hogenskild Bielke, brother of Thure Bielke and presiding judge for Northern Finland 1538–1605. According to the author, he collected the manuscripts and let bind them in leather.

One document in the Codex is of special interest: King Kristoffer of Bayern´s instrument of ratification of his Law of the Realm (1442). It is a copy dating from the 1580s and a rare one, so we must assume that the binding must have taken place in Sweden at the end of the 16th century.

There are thus Finnish as well as Swedish documents in the same binding and it is still difficult to decide to which group King Magnus Eriksson’s Law of the Realm with its famous illustrations belongs. The name Mathias van Klewe in the legal text points to the Finnish origin of that text, or at least to its having been in Finland.

The philologist O. Ahlbäck analysed the language of the legal text. In his opinion, the Swedish used in the manuscript is typical of SW Finland.

The author has not found any absolute proof of the Swedish origin of the miniature illustrations. However, the differences in the ethnographic material on the coasts of the Gulf of Bothnia are too small to determine the ethnographic motifs of the miniatures with certainty.