Bokfragmenter fra middelalderen i lys av sentral- og lokaladministrasjon 1520–1725

Sammendrag

In Norwegian and Danish public account books from the 16th century and the first part of the 17th century, parchment fragments of medieval books were often used as binding material. There have been different opinions about where the binding took place, which has a bearing on where the manuscripts that were cut up were used, locally or regionally in Norway or in Denmark. The article focuses on the theories that Norwegian and Danish accounts could be bound centrally in Copenhagen and that parchment imported from abroad was used. It argues that some of the theories put forward completely or partially lack an empirical foundation and seem unlikely. There is no basis for discrediting the fragments as a source of Norwegian and Danish book history, as some scholars have done. The study is based on an examination of the central administration, the itinerant kingdom and on the keeping of accounts in the local administration and their audit. The article sheds new light on the loss and preservation of accounts, the state of archives and the loss of archival material. The investigation gives reason for a new assessment of the representativeness of both preserved accounts and of fragments.