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Paper short abstract

This poster examines alphabetic letters inscribed within the illustrations of the Icelandic Physiologus fragment AM 673 a II 4to (c. 1190–1210), exploring how these markers may structure the sequence of animal narratives and the organization of “nature” in a vernacular manuscript context.

Paper long abstract

This poster presents observations on alphabetic letters inscribed within the illustrations of the Icelandic Physiologus fragment AM 673 a II 4to (c. 1190–1210). Several illustrations on the recto leaves contain letters integrated into the pictorial field, forming what appears to be a sequential series (i–p) across the illustrated cycle. While marginal annotations have received some scholarly attention, letters within the illustrations remain little discussed.

The poster investigates whether these letters served an organizing function, marking sequence and coordinating text–image relationships within the illustrated cycle. Their placement within the pictorial field, rather than alongside the text, raises questions about how visual and textual systems interacted in presenting allegorical animal narratives.

These observations also relate to the fragment’s broader structural features. The manuscript opens with the Hydrus passage, which does not usually appear at the beginning of the Physiologus chapter order. Combined with the alphabetic progression (i–p), this may suggest that the extant leaves represent a later segment of a longer cycle, with an earlier portion now lost.

Rather than functioning as static containers of authoritative text, the Physiologus fragments emerge as living transmission environments in which image, text, and material organization participate in the reinterpretation and circulation of vernacular allegorical animal narratives. In turn, the inscribed letters shed light on how visual material could be coordinated, structured, and reused within the manuscript tradition.