Hymns and sagas. Literary production and scribal activity in 17th century Iceland

Hymns and sagas: Literary production and scribal activity in17th century Iceland

Icelandic vellum manuscripts from the middle ages areconsidered to be invaluable sources for the history andculture of medieval Scandinavia. The most importantcollection of early Scandinavian manuscripts (anywhere) isthe so-called Arnamagnæan collection, collected by theIcelandic scholar and antiquarian Árni Magnússon (1663–1730). It numbers almost 3,000 items, the earliest datingfrom the 12th century, and it provides invaluable sourcesfor the history and culture of medieval, renaissance andearly-modern Scandinavia and much of Europe. The collectionis now housed in two institutes, both named after ÁrniMagnússon, one in Reykjavík and the other in Copenhagen.The whole collection is recognized in the UNESCO’s Memoryof the World Register. For many reasons the medievalmanuscripts are regarded as the most important treasures ofthe collection. The production of manuscripts in the middleages was certainly important, but the fact that manuscriptculture continued to thrive in Iceland long after theemergence of print in the 16th century is also remarkableand significant.

In my paper today I intend to focus on the remarkablemanuscript culture of 17th-century Iceland. I decided tocall the paper “Hymns and sagas” because I feel that toomuch attention has been paid to the copying of medievaltexts, to the neglect of late- or post-medieval genres suchas hymns, secular poetry (rímur) and popular tales thatwere an important part of people’s everyday life and loomedlarge in manuscript production.

The seventeenth century in Iceland represents animportant bridge between the middle ages and our moderntimes. The new interest that may be termed 'the oldIcelandic manuscript Renaissance' was crucial for theirpreservation; manuscripts were collected and copied and

thus saved from destruction and (hence) oblivion. This samenew interest was also important for the culture ofScandinavia, as Old Norse literature in general and thesagas in particular came to be perceived as a verysignificant element in the Scandinavian cultural heritage.Last but not least, this manuscript renaissance had a greatimpact on the self-image and self-confidence of theIcelandic people, in terms of how they valued their ownhistory and their role in the culture of the Nordiccountries/mainland. The research history of manymanuscripts often begins in the 17th century; in many caseswe know nothing about individual items before then; untilthe sixteenth century there are often no sources about thegeographical provenance of medieval manuscripts, or abouttheir owners, or about whether or how they were used. Allthis changes in the 17th century.

To understand the 17th century situation we need torecall what happened in the century that preceded it. TheLutheran Reformation in 1550 had a profound effect onIcelandic society. Religious and secular power were nowcombined, and one result of this was that a sixth of allthe landed property in Iceland became the property of theDanish Crown. Valuable artifacts which had once belonged tochurches and monasteries in Iceland were now sent toDenmark. A new chapter in Icelandic cultural history began.New ideas and concepts arrived from mainland Europe, forwhich new words had to be found or coined. One directresult of the Reformation “was that manuscripts of anovertly Catholic nature were destroyed or ‘recycled’, i.e.cut up for use in book bindings or scraped clean andwritten on again”.1 New literary genres appeared, whileothers, such as the lives of saints or Catholic religiouspoems, disappear – or appear to disappear. It is in factthe case that “Maríukvæði” or Marian praise poems can be1 M.J. Driscoll, “The long and winding road. Manuscript Culture in Late Pre-Modern Iceland,” White Field, Black Seeds. Nordic Literacy Practices in the Long Nineteenth Century (Helsinki 2013), pp. 50–63, at p.52.

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found in post-Reformation manuscripts and the Legend ofSaint Margaret is preserved in ca. 50 manuscripts, many ofthem post-dating the Reformation. It was widely believedthat Margaret could assist women in childbirth, and womenare indeed often listed as owners of these manuscripts.These are two examples of medieval literary genres that maybe said to have been hidden under the surface, but thatsurvived in post-Reformation Iceland – in manuscriptcopies.

Church services were now required to be conducted inthe vernacular and everyone, lay and learned alike, shouldhear the word of God in their own language. Accordingly,the most important project was to translate the Bible intoIcelandic. A young follower of the new Protestant movement,Oddur Gottskálksson (c. 1515–1556), translated the NewTestament into Icelandic. It was published in Roskilde inDenmark in 1540 and is the oldest printed book preserved inIcelandic. With this publication, the status of Icelandicas a language separate from Danish within the Danish Churchwas recognized, a fact which was of great importance forthe subsequent history of the Icelandic language. From theReformation until the middle of the eighteenth centurythere was only a single printing press in Iceland, locatedat Hólar in Hjaltadalur, and this was under the control ofthe Church. Thus, during this period hardly any texts wereprinted other than those which the ecclesiasticalauthorities regarded as necessary or suitable readingmatter for the people, predominantly/primarily works of areligious nature. The Lutheran Bishop Guðbrandur Þorláksson(1541–1627) had the Bible printed in Icelandic at Hólar in1584. To familiarize the Icelandic population with the newfaith, translated religious and moral tracts were producedin large numbers, along with hymns and other kinds ofreligious poetry. According to Martin Luther, hymns playeda crucial role in religious instruction, so it should comeas no surprise that they were among the first and mostimportant literary innovations that followed in the wake ofthe Reformation. The first Icelandic hymnal, entitled Lítið

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sálmakver (A Small Book of Hymns), was published in 1555 andcontained only translated hymns, some Danish but mostlyGerman, about half of which were by Luther.

However, post-Reformation Icelandic literature consistsnot only of works that were ‘published’ in the conventionalmodern sense (that is, printed), but also works whichthough never printed survive in manuscript copies, alongwith a significant body of literature which was neitherprinted nor written down. The introduction of paper toIceland, which occurred at about the same time as theprinting press (around 1530), was in many ways of greaterconsequence for literary production and dissemination, asit replaced the more expensive vellum. Among the texts andgenres that survived in manuscripts from this period –often paper copies of medieval vellums – was the early sagaliterature, which may be said to have enjoyed a semi-official status; it was generally highly regarded, thoughno attempt was made to print these works until much later.

Nevertheless it would be an over-simplification to saythat only religious material was printed while texts thatwere for secular entertainment were copied in manuscripts.A great number of handwritten hymnbooks survive, containinghymns that were used at home as part of the practice ofdaily devotion, in many cases hymns that were neitherprinted nor sung in church. A case in point is the priestÓlafur Jónsson of Sandar (1560–1627) who was a highlyesteemed and popular poet during his lifetime, and for themost part composed poems on religious subjects, (though weshould perhaps note that his best-known poem today is onein which he celebrates the pleasures of drinking good beerduring midsummer).2 While the works of most poets of theperiod are preserved here and there in miscellanies, ÓlafurJónsson’s poems are extant as a single collection; thoughthe original has not survived, there are some 25 extantcopies. In all, about 150 manuscripts include works by him.It was not until the late 18th century that one of hishymns was first included in a printed hymn book, and most

2 „Gleður mig sá hinn góði bjór“.

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of his poems were not printed until the 20th century. Thecollection is divided into two parts by the poet himself:the first part contains poems that deal with variousaspects of Christian doctrine, while the second includesoccasional poems, elegies and poems on ‘one topic andanother about which I wished to write a poem’. From amodern point of view the poems in Ólafur Jónsson’s songbookare of particular interest precisely because they werenever printed, for here we have an opportunity to observethe historical life of the collection as its elements werecopied and recopied. Furthermore, Ólafur Jónsson and hissongbook are of great musicological interest becauseseveral of the poems and hymns are accompanied in themanuscripts by musical notation for melodies, probablycomposed by the poet himself.

In one of his poems Ólafur mentions the changes thathave taken place in the spiritual life and literarypractice of Iceland, clearly referring to the effects ofthe Reformation. Previously, people had read and enjoyedaccounts of ‘jousting and battles, slayings anddestruction’ – but now poets do everything possible toensure that their poems are ‘the pure word of God’ andcompose works based on Holy Scripture. This reflects whathas been pointed out by scholars — namely, that there seemsto have been a somewhat reduced interest in medieval sagaliterature during the 16th century; few manuscriptscontaining sagas were copied in that period.

Nevertheless it is during the 16th-century Renaissance thatscholars in Scandinavia regain their interest in OldIcelandic Literature. This interest had importantconsequences both in Iceland and abroad. The process beganwhen the Icelandic scholar Arngrímur Jónsson (1568–1648)made medieval Icelandic texts accessible to the scholarlyworld through his Latin writings. Arngrímur, known as ‘thelearned’, was one of the most remarkable scholars andwriters of his day. Encouraged by Bishop GuðbrandurÞorláksson, Arngrímur wrote a short work in Latin on

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Iceland (Brevis commentarius de Islandia) which was intended torefute the misrepresentations and calumnies which hadappeared in a description of the country published in 1561by Gories Peerse (or Gregorius Peerson), a merchant fromHamburg who had made several trips to Iceland in the mid-sixteenth century. These misrepresentations included comictales about Icelanders’ superstitions, and about theirpromiscuity – for instance, the notion that Icelandicwomen were considered virgins seven years after having achild out of wedlock – and about their strange behaviour,as with the claim that they used urine to wash themselves.While Arngrímur's writings may have failed to correct theIcelandic national image abroad, they did serve to bringArngrímur himself to the attention of Danishhistoriographers, who soon realized that important sourcesof Nordic history had been preserved in Iceland. Humanismhad sparked a great interest in antiquities, not leastNordic antiquity. Accordingly, the Danes asked Arngrímur toassemble materials for and then write a survey of thehistory of the Nordic countries, which would be a kind ofsource collection/compendium of sources for Danishhistorians who were working under the auspices of theDanish king. The King, eager to trace the origins of theroyal families of Denmark in a way similar to that recentlypursued in Sweden, sent an open letter to Icelandersinstructing them to provide Arngrímur Jónsson with thenecessary written sources for this project. Research hasshown that Arngrímur Jónsson made use of around 30 vellummanuscripts as sources for writing his Supplementum historiæNorvagicæ. The Icelandic author and scholar happilyundertook this work, at the same time using the opportunityto gather together sources for the histories of Iceland andGreenland.

Arngrímur the learned’s connection with Danishscholars resulted in a notable correspondence with foreignscholars, in which more and more Icelandic scholarsgradually became involved. One of the most importantparticipants in these exchanges was the Danish polymath Ole

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Worm (1588–1675), one of whose interests was earlyScandinavian history, in particular runology. He referredto himself as Arngrímur Jónsson’s disciple and sent him amanuscript copy of his work Literatura runica for comment. Heworked closely with both Arngrímur and other Icelandicscholars, who sent him a number of manuscripts, among thema version of the Snorra Edda and related works, now knownas the Codex Wormianus.

The systematic collection of Icelandic manuscripts began inthe seventeenth century, inspired by Renaissance humanism,which had a profound effect throughout Europe. Scholars inDenmark now focused their attention on the ancient historyof the Nordic countries and peoples, and began searchingfor relevant sources and writings. They soon discovered,firstly, that in Iceland a wealth of source material hadbeen preserved in the form of an extraordinarily valuablecollection of manuscripts, and, secondly, and moreimportantly, that Icelanders could read these texts withrelatively little difficulty.

One of the major collectors of manuscripts in 17th-century Iceland was Bishop Brynjólfur Sveinsson of Skálholt(1605–1675). He was undoubtedly the most learned Icelanderof his generation, as may be seen from his career inDenmark in the years 1632–38 (when he was konrektor of thecathedral school in Roskilde). In addition to his knowledgeof theology and classics he was very well versed in ancientNordic culture. He realized the importance of having oldIcelandic literature printed and, aided by Old Worm,attempted (unsuccessfully) to acquire a printing licensefor Skálholt (his intention was to print early Icelandictexts with Latin translations for the benefit of scholarsoverseas). Bishop Brynjólfur sent the Danish king FrederikIII many of the most important medieval Icelandicmanuscripts. Around 1660 he sent works includingFlateyjarbók, a compendium of kings’ sagas, the collection oflaws known as Grágás and the manuscript Codex Regius, whichcontains the poems of the Elder or Poetic Edda. In general

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the saga corpus was being brought to the attention ofreaders beyond the shores of Iceland, most significantlyScandinavian antiquarians. A great many of the extantvellum manuscripts ended up in libraries in Denmark andSweden during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries;there some of them were copied, translated or paraphrased.Back in Iceland, with the majority of the vellummanuscripts being exported, numerous new paper copies ofmedieval texts were produced during this period.

King Frederik III of Denmark (1648–1670) sent envoys toIceland to collect manuscripts, as did Swedishantiquarians. It was in the interest of both Denmark andSweden to show that their respective nations had the most„authentic“ pedigree by being the most closely related tothe ancient Goths. So they competed with each other as towhich country was the true heir to the Nordic heritage. Attimes this conflict could take other forms, as Denmark andSweden were repeatedly at war with each other during theseventeenth century.

Since Iceland was under Danish rule, Swedish scholarsdid not have the same opportunities to acquire manuscripts,but they eventually secured access to a significant number.The Swedish nobleman and book collector Magnus Gabriel dela Gardie managed to purchase the library of the DanishProfessor Stephanus Stephanius. The latter’s widow had beeninstructed not to dispose of his manuscripts, but wasclearly under financial pressure, and as a result themanuscript of Snorra Edda, now known as the Uppsala Edda,ended up in Sweden. Stephanius had received it as a giftfrom Bishop Brynjólfur Sveinsson in 1640.

In 1658 a vessel on its way to Copenhagen was capturedby the Swedes, aboard which was the young Icelander, JónRúgmann, who for some reason had been expelled from thecathedral school at Hólar and was now seeking torehabilitate himself in the eyes of the Danish king. Withhim on the voyage Rúgmann had manuscripts of sagas such asThe Saga of Herraud and Bosi and The Saga of Hervor, bothof which belong to the genre known as Legendary sagas. When

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arrested by the Swedes it was his good fortune that theactions of many of these sagas take place in Sweden.3 Thushe (coincidentally) became the first Icelander to work forthe Swedes. Jón was first taken to Visingsborg and then toUppsala, where he became a very important figure in Swedishpublication activity. In 1667 Collegium Antiqvitatum wasfounded, a kind of a research center in Old Norse studieswhere Jón Rúgmann worked the rest of his life.

The fact that there was a (great) demand for medievalIcelandic manuscripts abroad stimulated a renewed interestin such old texts back in Iceland. As vellum manuscriptswere shipped from Iceland interest in making new copies ofmedieval manuscripts in Iceland increased. We have examplesof scribes who systematically copied medieval texts inorder to have the whole saga corpus available to them, andwe also know of scribes who specialized in certain types oftexts, such as law books (to which topic we shall returnlater).

The two bishops, Brynjólfur Sveinsson, at Skálholt, andÞorlákur Skúlason, at Hólar, were key figures in theseintensified transcription activities during the 17th

century. The two episcopal seats can reasonably be thoughtof as manuscript centers, in the sense that many old vellummanuscripts were located and copied there. In most casesthe bishops commissioned the copies and the work was doneunder their auspices. Many of the scribes were pastors butwe also know of others who were members of the laity.Scribes in other parts of the country would also borrowexemplars from the two sees. Let us focus for now onSkálholt – which during the episcopate of BrynjólfurSveinsson (1639–1674) was a flourishing centre of classicallearning.

One of the most important scribes who worked for BishopBrynjólfur Sveinsson was the priest Jón Erlendsson in

3 Jón Rúgmann was actually the nephew of a prolific scribe in the service of Bishop Þorlákur Skúlason at Hólar.

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Villingaholt (d. 1672), who copied a large number of vellummanuscripts. At the request of Bishop Brynjólfur he madeseveral copies (AM 113 a fol., AM 113 b fol., AM 113 gfol.) of Íslendingabók (The Book of Icelanders), compiled bythe priest Ari Þorgilsson during the period 1122–32. TheBook of Icelanders is a brief history of the Icelandicnation up to around 1120 and tells of Iceland’s settlement,its prominent settlers, the first laws of the land, thefounding of the general assembly, and it also providesdetails of the Christianization of Iceland.4 The work iswritten in Icelandic, which is remarkable as Latin was ofcourse then still the international language of learning.It seems that the scribe copied the work more than oncebecause the bishop insisted on a more orthographicallythorough and authentic version. The orthography of one ofthe copies indicates that the exemplar derived from around1200, although it can not have been the author’s ownoriginal manuscript. The original manuscript (exemplar) waslost some decades later and Árni Magnússon found no traceof it when searching in the early 18th century. Withoutthese 17th-century paper copies this major source about thesettlement and the early history of Iceland would not havesurvived.

Most of the manuscripts written by Jón Erlendsson(around 60) are in the Árni Magnússon Collection, thoughothers are to be found in the National Library in Reykjavíkand in The Royal Library in Copenhagen. Jón mainly wrote orcopied sagas and historical material. Most of these arefolio copies in large (‘fraktur’) writing, probably becausehe was imitating the script and format of a medievalmanuscript. The Danish scholar Peter Springborg has pointed

4 It is also the oldest source which mentions the existence of the Papar: “Then Christian men whom the Norsemen call Popes werehere; but afterwards they went away, because they did not wish to live here together with heathen men, and they left behind Irish books, bells, and crooks. From this could be seen that they were Irishmen” (The Book of the Icelanders, edited and translatedby Halldór Hermannsson, Islandica XX (1966), p. 60).

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out that the manuscripts which Jón Erlendsson wrote createda kind of a school of writing in the south of Iceland.5

Another important scribe connected with Skálholt wasKetill Jörundsson (1603–1670), a pastor and later aprovost, who lived at Hvammur in the West of Iceland andwas one of the country's foremost copyists of medievaltexts. We do not know whether Ketill ever worked forBrynjólfur himself, but he did teach at Skálholt in the1630s on returning home from his studies at the Universityof Copenhagen. He was rector at the cathedral school beforebeing ordained at Hvammur in 1638.

Ketill copied the saga of Egill Skallagrímsson, Egilssaga Skallagrímssonar, at least twice. AM 462 4to and AM 4534to are parallel copies of the saga in Ketill’shandwriting. Ketill’s exemplar is believed to have been avellum codex of which only a fragment now survives.Although other medieval manuscripts containing the saga ofthe celebrated warrior and skald Egill Skallagrímsson havesurvived, Egill’s poems were often given short shrift. Themid-14th century manuscript Möðruvallabók and several othermanuscripts include the opening stanza of Sonatorrek,Egill’s powerful lament for the loss of his sons, butKetill’s transcriptions – and several later copies – areunique in providing all 25 stanzas of the complete poem.The text of Sonatorrek is admittedly mangled in many places,but these errors assuredly originate in Ketill’s exemplar.

Ketill Jörundsson was a man of many talents. By allaccounts, he was a good singer whose children excelled intheir knowledge of music. It should also be mentioned thathe was Árni Magnússon’s grandfather, and Árni himselfactually grew up with his maternal grandparents, theReverend Ketill Jörundsson and Guðlaug Pálsdóttir. ÁrniMagnússon’s collection includes 26 manuscripts written byhis grandfather Ketill, most of which preserve sagas andother medieval texts. [In Árni Magnússon’s collection there5 Peter Springborg, “Antiqvæ historiæ lepores – om renæssancen iden islandske håndskriftproduktion i 1600-tallet,” Gardar: årsbok för Samfundet Sverige-Island i Lund-Malmö (1977), pp. 53–89, at 70–71.

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is even a tiny manuscript (12mo) that he received from hisaunt, Ketill’s daughter. The manuscript lists practicaluses for oil, mustard, honey and a range of healing plants:onion, juniper, mayweed, dock, turnip, Arctic thyme, yarrowand angelica root. In addition, a particularly dainty handhas copied out an extract entitled “On the creation of thechild in its mother’s womb”. Árni himself wrote on themanuscript that it was of no importance – but we may nowregard it as containing invaluable testimony to daily lifeat Árni Magnússon’s childhood home].

Jón Erlendsson and Ketill Jörundsson were bothofficials in the service of the church, with connections toBishop Brynjólfur Sveinsson and Skálholt. The same is truefor the priest and poet Hallgrímur Pétursson (1614–1674).6

Hallgrímur is now best known for his Hymns of the Passion, 50hymns in a variety of metres and melodies contemplating thecrucifixion and death of Christ; they have been sung duringLent in Iceland for centuries. As early as the eighteenthcentury Hallgrímur Pétursson was being called the nationalpoet of Iceland, and in the opinion of many he remainsIceland's greatest religious poet. The Hymns of the Passionwere printed at Hólar in 1666, while the poet was stillalive, which was quite unusual at this time. The Hymns wereprinted repeatedly, more than 90 times—no Icelandic bookhas been printed more often. Though printed, the PassionHymns were also preserved orally, since people sang them intheir homes and thus gradually learned the texts by heart.

Indeed, the amazingly large number of hand-writtencopies of individual works preserved in manuscripts may beregarded as a further indication of the popularity ofHallgrímur Pétursson’s poetry, both religious and secular..There are certainly more extant transcriptions ofHallgrímur’s poetry than of any other Icelandic poet. Thereare at least 600 manuscripts containing poetry attributedto him; by way of international comparison we might notethat scholars have identified just 250 manuscripts6 Three churches in Iceland are named for Hallgrímur, including the largest in Reykjavík, which has become one of the symbols ofthe city.

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containing poems by the English 17th-century poet JohnDonne (1572–1631). In the middle of the eighteenth century(about eighty years after his death) the first editions ofHallgrímur’s poetry were published, and yet manuscriptcopies of his poems continued to be produced. Thesemanuscript copies and the printed editions overlap, and thetwo traditions influenced each other. Thus, for example,the text was sometimes copied by a scribe from amanuscript, without taking into account the printedversion; the printed text was not necessarily regarded asmore authentic.

Hallgrímur’s attitude towards Icelandic literarytradition was obviously different from that of ÓlafurJónsson on Sandar, who, for example, deliberately avoidedwriting rímur (with just one exception); the Churchauthorities regarded this genre as questionable or evenmorally dangerous. Rímur consisted of a story, usuallybased on extant narrative material, which was thentransformed into verse. The historical material was varied,and by no means exclusively Icelandic. It was common to useLegendary sagas, Chivalric sagas, the Sagas of Icelandersand biblical stories, but most popular of all were thenarratives in chapbooks (Volksbücher, ‘folk books’), whichalso enjoyed great popularity on the European continent.This translated form of light literary entertainment,preserved only in manuscripts, attracted little scholarlyattention until recently, when attention has been drawn tothe sheer volume of such material. Foreign literature thusmade its way into Icelandic culture in a variety of ways;officially approved works, translated and printed, enjoyedno monopoly of access. Hallgrímur composed rímur (ballads)that were popular and entertaining, based on prose texts,both translated and Icelandic; one of his rímur is based onthe medieval Icelandic family saga of Króka-Refur.

Bishop Brynjólfur Sveinsson influenced HallgrímurPétursson’s career in more than one way, for it seems thatHallgrímur was also influenced by the bishop’s interest inOld Norse-Icelandic literature. Bishop Brynjólfur was asked

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to assist the Danish king’s historian, Þormóður Torfason –an Icelander, who had an unusual and illustrious career inthe service of the Danish king, eventually as the royalhistoriographer of Norway, where he lived for many decades(he called himself Tormod Torfæus). The project involvedthe preparation of explanatory glosses for the Ólafs sagaTryggvasonar verses to be found in the Flateyjarbókmanuscript. Brynjólfur handed this assignment over toHallgrímur Pétursson. At this time Flateyjarbók was in thecustody of the Royal Library in Copenhagen, afterBrynjólfur had sent it there in 1656 at the request of theking, along with other vellums. Þormóður had devoted twoyears in Copenhagen to translating the work but did nottrust himself to deal with the verses at this point;instead he merely transcribed them and wished to have themexplained to him before he undertook any translation work.In a letter written at Skálholt in 1663, Brynjólfur informsÞormóður that Hallgrímur has taken on this work. He dulyprepared glosses for the verses and these survive in anautograph manuscript now preserved in the British Libraryin London (BL Add 11.193 ).

Torfæus (Þormóður Torfason) was working ontranslations of both Snorri’s Edda and of Eddic poetry andwas therefore eager to assemble all available commentarieson the subject. There is an extant letter from Hallgrímurto Þormóður Torfason, written at Kalastaðir on 9 July 1671,in which Hallgrímur discusses material from the poem Völuspá

(The Sibyl’s Prophecy). Hallgrímur Pétursson‘s attempt tointerpret and explain Old Norse/Icelandic poetry is a goodexample of the new interest in the cultural heritage ofScandinavia finding expression not only abroad but alsoamong the Icelanders themselves, and this doubtless had agreat impact on their self-image/self-esteem. Hallgrímur'scommentaries and glosses may not be of much help nowadaysin understanding this poetry but they throw clear light onHallgrímur Pétursson‘s own understanding of literature and(indeed) world view.

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Though only one autograph of The Passion Hymns is extantwe have reliable sources confirming that Hallgrímur copiedthe hymns at least five times and sent these copies topeople who he probably hoped would circulate them further(though not necessarily by means of the printing press).The first copy was sent to a fellow pastor and neighborwhose opinion was canvassed. However, he sent the otherfour copies to women, daughters and wives of influentialofficials, who also were his friends and benefactors. Oneof these women was Ragnheiður, Bishop BrynjólfurSveinsson’s beloved daughter. This is just one example ofwomen’s participation in the circulation of manuscriptsduring this period.

Many manuscripts from the 17th and 18th centuries arehymnbooks containing works by poets such as Ólafur Jónssonat Sandar, Hallgrímur Pétursson and other contemporarywriters. The scribes of these hymnbooks were both priestsand laymen. The “patrons” were in some cases young women,usually from the upper class, who wanted to collect poetryassociated with their relatives, such as commemorativepoems on their grandparents, and religious/devotional songsfor use in various situations in their daily lives. Clearlythere were women who could read and some of them could evenwrite, but there is no evidence of women serving asscribes. On the other hand, they often owned manuscripts,due to the fact that whereas land (usually the main farm)would often be passed down to male descendants, women wouldreceive a dowry, most commonly in the form of preciousgoods. In this way women, especially those from some ofIceland's most influential families, played a significantrole in the distribution of texts by forming links betweenfamilies or by inheriting and passing down manuscripts.7

One contemporary of Hallgrímur, also a priest andhymnwriter, was Bjarni Gissurarson (1621–1712). A7 Cf. Susanne Miriam Arthur, “The importance of marital and maternal ties in the distribution of Icelandic manuscripts from the middle ages to the seventeenth century,” Gripla XXIII (2012),pp. 201–233.

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collection of his poetry, both religious and secular, ispreserved in his own hand in manuscript Thott 473 4to (nowin Copenhagen). Among his poems we find two that provide uswith interesting information about scribes and scribalactivities. Bjarni had attended the cathedral school ofSkálholt and had then worked for a period as a scribe forBishop Brynjólfur Sveinsson.

The former poem can be described as instructions on howto write, in which the poet addresses his young son and insuccessive stanzas explains each and every letter. Theother poem is more about the profession itself, notably thepossibilities and benefits of being a scribe. Obviously theauthor had some pedagogical understanding and knowledge. Hedescribes the “one night old moon” shining on a cloudlesssky and advises the boy to keep that in mind when he triesto write the letter C; he should think of a key ring whenwriting O; the letter Q shakes its belly in front of himand so on. In the other poem, also addressed to a smallboy, he describes the art of writing, how difficult it isand how many different script types there are, some ofwhich (the traditional Icelandic ones) were becomingobsolete by the day alongside a new foreign style called“fljótaskrift” (cursive script). There is a lengthydiscussion about the difference between clear and easilydecipherable writing and the squiggles and scrawls thatwere now all the rage, especially abroad. The poet thennotes that a manuscript written in a good hand will alwaysbe in fashion, with people prepared to pay handsomely for afine copy. The payment can consist of horses, cows, beer,ale, homespun cloth, sheep, pots, garments, flour, chestsof drawers and the like. But advancement awaits abroad aswell as at home. When the young man has practiced his skillwell enough it is time to travel abroad —notably toDenmark. When he first arrives there he will be mostinterested in spending the money he has earned; buyingclothes, a duvet cover, wine and brandy. But while there hecould also use the opportunity to advance his writingskills by becoming an apprentice to a skilled scribe (and

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they are many such individuals overseas). Such an educationwould be expensive but profitable. Having mastered suchwriting skills wealth, respect and good fortune would thenawait him. Then it would be time to return home, secure agood position, find a bride and get married. The art ofwriting is thus presented as at least one of the moreimportant prerequisites for a successful future.

As noted earlier the systematic collection and copyingof manuscripts was practiced at the episcopal sees ofSkálholt and Hólar. We can also talk about centers ofmanuscript production in the Westfjords and in Útskálar inthe South of Iceland. These are of course provincialinstances of limited means, but nevertheless some of themost important achievements occurred there.

An investigation made by the aforementioned Danishscholar Peter Springborg revealed interesting informationabout Bjarni Jónsson, a scribe who lived in the Westfjords(Snæfjallaströnd).8 One of the manuscripts he wrote is acollection of poetry by the aforementioned Reverend ÓlafurJónsson at Sandar in Dýrafjörður (in the Westfjords); it isin fact the oldest extant copy of his poetry collection,NKS 139 b 4to.9 The first part of the manuscript waswritten in December 1655, the second in 1656 and the thirdin March 1658; just the first part was written by ourscribe. He seems to have been a contemporary of the scribeJón Gissursson (ca. 1590–1648 from Núpur in Dýrafjörður inthe Westfjords) „whose copies are among the most valuablein the first part of the 17th century, not only in theWestfjords-area, but in Iceland overall“.10 Jón was 15years older than his half-brother, Brynjólfur Sveinsson. Itis possible that his antiquarian interest and scribal

8 Peter Springborg, “Nyt og gammelt fra Snæfjallaströnd”, Afmælisrit Jóns Helgasonar 30. júní 1969, pp. 288–327. 9 The Royal Library in Copenhagen bought it on an auction in London 1888.10 ‘den mand hvis afskrifter rangerer mellem dem betydeligste i første del af 1600-tallet, ikke blot inden for det vestfjordske område, men på Island i det hele taget’ (Springborg 1977:78).

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activity can be traced further back but he was definitelystimulated by cooperating with Brynjólfur. It seems thatthe same Bjarni was also encouraged and commissioned bybishop Brynjólfur, who probably provided him with vellummanuscripts for copying. Though just eight manuscriptswritten by Bjarni have survived, he claims to have copiedthe Jónsbók lawbook 18 times, which seems to confirm hisexpertise in copying that particular text. Three of theseJónsbók manuscripts are still extant, each written onvellum and two of them having once included catholicliturgical texts. The original text has been effaced but afew gilt initials remain. Bjarni had his own symbol, aninterleaved square, which represents a kind of trademark.Scholars thought that this Bjarni Jónsson had lived in the16th century (Jón Helgason, Handritaspjall: 26) as the year1582 appears to be identifiable in one of the manuscriptshe wrote. However, a closer examination reveals that thisdate has deliberately been changed; the manuscript isthereby dated a century older than it really is, probablyin the hope that it could be sold to a higher price. Thereare in fact three manuscripts extant (all written by BjarniJónsson) in which the date has been changed: TrinityCollege Dublin L. 3.23, a copy of the lawbook Jónsbók,which has been made 400 years older than it is, with 1634apparently altered to read 1284; NKS 1931 4to (signed byBjarni Jónsson), in which 1631 has been changed into 1531;and NKS 340 8vo, in which it is difficult to be surewhether the date is 1552 or 1652 but ultraviolet lightreveals clearly that the original form was 1652. The twomanuscripts, 1931 and 340 are both palimpsests, the vellumderiving from one and the same Latin manuscript; the firstfolium of 1931 is a double palimpsest. There was aconsiderable demand for vellum manuscripts at this time andeven brand new copies could be sold as antiquities, thoughnot to Icelanders, who would probably not have fallen forsuch a trick. Springborg is convinced that the scribehimself had nothing do to with the forgery and that he wasnot copying for foreigners. The initials and illuminations

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have English characteristics and it is possible that theoriginal manuscript was made in England.

We may note from his extant manuscripts that thesubject matter of the manuscripts copied by Bjarni isreligious poetry (by an eminent poet from the Westfjordsarea), law (various law collections such as Grágás,Járnsíða and Jónsbók), but also popular and entertainingmaterial such as rímur, legendary sagas, translated talesand Icelandic family sagas. The three copies of the Jónsbóklawbook are written on vellum, which was sometimes used inthe 17th century but the other law texts are papermanuscripts. It is interesting that the manuscripts writtenby Bjarni Jónsson (and his colleague Þórður Jónsson, whoalso worked for the same commissioners) were all copied inthe winter; there were obviously other things to do duringthe summer.

Those individuals who commissioned these volumes livedaround Ísafjörður, as, for example, a wealthy family inÖgur, the provost Jón Arason and his son Magnús Jónsson(1637–1702) in Vigur, the latter a very influentialpromoter of manuscript production in the Westfjords. Magnúsbelonged to an upper-class family, closely connected to thechurch, that exercised a great deal of cultural influence.He attended the school at Skálholt briefly, but leftwithout completing his education. Magnús collectedmanuscripts of all types and copied some of them himselfbut most of the manuscripts were written for him by otherscribes. Magnús also played a major role in the collection,translation and dissemination of chapbooks (Volksbücher-material) in Iceland. As a patron he was interested in allkinds of literature, both old and new, religious andsecular (and, indeed, he himself was a composer of hymns).The role of Magnús Jónsson from Vigur as a counterweight tothe power and influence of church and printing press hasprobably been seriously underestimated in Icelandicliterary history.

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The manuscript production at Útskálar in South ofIceland also features one important individual, ÞorsteinnBjörnsson (1612–1675), who was educated at the cathedralschool of Skálholt. As Peter Springborg has pointed out,unlike the other best-known scribes of the period,Þorsteinn did not study in Copenhagen, was not incorrespondence with scholars abroad, and did not sendinteresting specimens from Icelandic nature to the Danishprofessor Ole Worm.11 However, soon after becoming a priestin Útskálar in the south of Iceland he started working on avery ambitious project, which was to prepare an anthologyof all the most important works written in the middle ageson the history of Iceland. He did most of the copyinghimself but it appears that he was assisted by at leastseven scribes. His collection includes Landnámabók (TheBook of Settlement), the Icelandic family sagas, bishops’sagas, the so-called contemporary sagas or Sturlunga saga,and legendary and chivalric sagas. As we have alreadynoted, Þorsteinn received his education at the Latin schoolin Skálholt, from where he seems to have obtained hisexemplars. It is notable that both Þorsteinn’s father,Björn Grímsson (d. 1634), and his grandfather GrímurSkúlason (d. 1582), were well-known scribes, who copiedlawbooks, such as Jónsbók. Þorsteinn Björnsson later becamea blind invalid, suffering from leprosy, but this did notprevent a servant girl from identifying him as the fatherof her child. Because of this accusation he was forced toleave Útskálar and move to a farm called Setberg. There hecomposed and dictated to his daughter a collection of Latinpoems in elegiac couplets entitled Noctes Setbergensis.12 Hisdaughter, Þóra Þorsteinsdóttir (1640–1716), “learnedmathematics and more from her father”.13 Páll Vídalín, in

11 Springborg, “Antiqvæ historiæ lepores”, p. 81.12 Peter Springborg, “Nætter på Island”, Latin og nationalsprog i Norden efter Reformationen. Konference 1.–5. august 1987, Biskops-Arnö. Renæssancestudier 5. Red. Marianne Alenius [et al.], (København:Museum Tusculanum 1991), pp. 157–171.13 Jón Espólín, Íslands árbækur í söguformi (Reykjavík 1942–1947), viii:6393-6394.

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his survey of Icelandic writers and poets, states that Þóracopied her father’s poem Noctes Setbergensis at his dictation,which suggests that she was certainly literate and mightalso have known Latin.14 The poem is now preserved only inmanuscript AM 703 4to, quite possibly in Þóra’s hand. Anearly eighteenth-century hymnbook written by her son GísliÞorkelsson has survived. At that time he was living withhis mother at Setberg. The manuscript contains hymns, or,to be more precise, material recently printed at Hólar.Gísli was also the author of Setbergsannáll (Chronicle ofSetberg). We have here an interesting pattern of continuitywithin a family of scribes and scholars.

I have talked about genres such as hymns and sagas, buthave also briefly mentioned rímur and chapbooks. There arecertainly other genres worthy of mention, notably romances.These narratives, along with fairy tales, were popularprose works in Iceland for centuries, and can be tracedback to the original chivalric and legendary sagas from thelater half of the thirteenth century. There are aroundseventy stories dating back to the Middle Ages that can becategorized as romances. After the Reformation some twohundred stories, extant in paper manuscripts, have beenpreserved. These manuscripts serve to confirm thatstorytelling of this kind flourished throughout theseventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, until thenovel finally superseded the prose romance at the beginningof the twentieth century.

In this paper I have directly and indirectly tried toaddress some of the questions that the organizers of thisconference circulated in advance and wished us to keep inmind and try to answer. The number of Icelandic manuscripts

14 “Hic ut fastidia vitæ leniret, captus oculis, filiæ, qvamlegitimam unicam habuit, dictavit latinum carmen, qvodinscripsit Noctes Setbergenses”. Páll Vídalín, Recensus poetarum etscriptorum Islandorum hujus et superioris seculi. Viðauki séra ÞorsteinsPéturssonar. I. Texti. Jón Samsonarson bjó til prentunar(Reykjavík 1985), p. 145.

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extant from 1650–1850 is approximately 17,000-18,000,preserved in libraries in Iceland and abroad. Modernscholars have until now been mainly interested in thosemanuscripts containing copies of works from familiarmedieval literary genres, such as the sagas. However, it isquite clear that the remarkable range of scribal activityfor some two hundred years after 1650 covers a wide rangeof literature, both prose and poetry, secular andreligious, old and new. Certain genres were only preservedin manuscripts, such as rímur, translated chapbooks andromances. Certain areas or individual locations such as theepiscopal sees at Skálholt and Hólar were more importantthan others. There seems often to have been patronage or,at the very least, there were individuals who werecollecting particular texts, either for themselves or toshare with their colleagues and neighbors. Being a scribeseems in some cases to have been a hereditary profession,as we can identify generations of scribes within the samefamily. The reasons for this and for the longevity ofmanuscript culture in Iceland can be traced to a genuinecommon interest in literature, the need for entertainment,and, lastly, a general desire to survive.

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