Arnamagnæan Manuscript Collection

The Arnamagnæan Manuscript Collection (Danish: Den Arnamagnæanske Håndskriftsamling, Icelandic: Handritasafn Árna Magnússonar) derives its name from the Icelandic scholar and antiquarian Árni Magnússon (1663–1730) — Arnas Magnæus in Latinised form — who in addition to his duties as Secretary of the Royal Archives and Professor of Danish Antiquities at the University of Copenhagen, spent much of his life building up the collection of manuscripts that now bears his name. The majority of these manuscripts were from Árni's native Iceland, but he also acquired many important Norwegian, Danish and Swedish manuscripts, as well as a number of continental provenances. In addition to the manuscripts proper, the collection contains about 14000 Icelandic, Norwegian (including Faroese, Shetland and Orcadian) and Danish charters, both originals and first-hand copies (apographa). After being housed since Árni's death at the University of Copenhagen, in the Arnamagnæan Institute, under a 1965 parliamentary ruling the collection is now divided between there and the Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies in Reykjavík, Iceland.