Árbók Hins íslenzka fornleifafélags - 01.01.1978, Page 79

NÝ HEIMILD
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Halldóra Guðbrandsdóttir ræður fyrir Hólastað með byg'gingu Hóla-
kirkju og byggingu jarða hennar Flatatungu og Bjarnastaðahlíðar.
Má varpa þeirri tilgátu fram að í þann mund hafi viður úr gömlu
dómkirkjunni verið notaður til þess að húsa jarðirnar.
Þetta er rakið hér vegna þess að það rennir frekari stoðum undir
þá rökstuddu tilgátu Kristjáns Eldjárns að dómsdagsmynd sú sem
Selma Jónsdóttir uppgötvaði á fjölunum frá Bjarnastaðahlíð og
Flatatungu hafi verið í Hóladómkirkju.33)
ON THE PRESERVATION OF MEDIEVAL HOUSE-TIMBER IN ICELAND
I
Reimnants of wooden wall-panels from two farms within the old hisliopric of
Hólar in northern Iceland are preserved in the National Museum in Reykjavík.
Thirteen fragments of a panel (Þjms. 8891 a-m) derive from the fann Bjarna-
staðahlíð in Skag-afjörður. Selma Jónsdóttir demonstrated in a doctoral thesis in
1959 that they were the pitiful remnants of a magnificent picture of a Byzan-
tine Last Judgement from the eleventh or twelfth century. Four fragments of a
panel (Þjms. 16296) are from the farm Flatatunga in Skagafjörður. Pictures
of some saints are carved on them besides some decorative devices in Ringerike
style. They can be dated to the eleventh or the twelfth century. The two farms
are situated not far from each other. A hitherto unknown source from 1875
when some more fragments still remained in Bjarnastaðahlíð, is printed liere.
The source informs us that the carvings of which fragments were kept in the
two above mentioned fanns were much alike, both in style and technique. Draw-
ings of three or four lost fragments in Bjarnastaðahlíð are contained in this
source.
II
Some general remarks are made on the use of timber for building purposes in
former times in Tceland and on its subsequent conservation. Tn Iceland trees have
never supplied significant amounts of timber for building purposes. Apart from
driftwood Icelanders had to get their larger house-timber from Norway as is
witnessed in numerous accounts in old laws and sagas. In catholic (i.e. medie-
val) times it was forbidden to put timber from churches to secular use yet the
system of proprietary churches worked against this and after the reformation
this rule was certainly broken. According to old laws (Grágás, Járnsíða, Jónshók)
landowners should supply their tenants with necessary houses and timber for
buildings while on the other hand the tenants were responsible for any damage
made to the houses. This of course made the owners of large estates such as
33) Sjá Kristján Eldjárn, Ræða við doktorspróf 16. janúar 1960, Árbók Hins
íslenzka fornleifafélags 1960, bls. 99—100.
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