Árbók Hins íslenzka fornleifafélags - 01.01.1974, Page 121

ÖNDVEGISSÚLUR í EYJAFIRÐI
127
26 E. Sacher: Die aus Gi'assoden und Holz gebauten Höfe und Kirchen in
Island. Wiirzburg 1938.
27 Bps. B III, 9.
28 Bps. B III, 13.
29 Bps. B III, 9.
30 Annálar 1400—1800 I, 4, bls. 473.
31 Bps. B III, 13.
32 Þjskjs. Skjalasafn umboðanna, Munkaþverárklaustur II, 1.
33 Laurentius saga biskups. Rit Handritastofnunar III, 1969, bls. 107.
34 Annálar 1400—1800, I, bls. 26.
35 Bps. B III, 7.
36 Einar Bragi Sigurðsson: Eskja I, Eskifirði 1971, bls. 150. Sjá ennfremur
Kolbeinn Þorleifsson: Hólmakirkja og Reyðarfjarðarkaupmenn, Árbók forn-
leifafélagsins 1972, bls. 125—126.
37 Kirkjustóll Hólma í Reyðarfirði. Kirknasafn II, 8, A 1—2.
38 Ibid.
39 Bps. B III, 7.
40 Bps. A, II, 20.
41 Páll Vídalín: Skýringar yfir fornyrði lögbókar þeirrar, er Jónsbók heitir.
Rvík 1845, bls. 53.
42 Magnús Már Lárusson: Maríukirkja og Valþjófsstaðahurðin. Saga XXIV,
1954—55.
43 Lbs. 1080 4to.
SUMMARY
„High-seat pillars“ on Icelandic farms.
In the writings of 18th and 19th century authors there are references to
carved posts or pillars, placed in pairs at the entrance of two farms in the Eyja-
fjörður valley in the North of Iceland. These posts were called „high-seat
pillars" (öndvegissúlur) by local people. They had no functional justification and
probably served merely as a kind of decoration. They cannot possibly have
anything to do with the high-seat pillars known from the sagas and supposed
to have played a prominent role in the Viking Age hall.
The present author points out that in Eyjafjörður there were a few mediaeval
churches which were not torn down until about 1700. He thinks that one of the
two pairs of the so-called „high-seats pillar“, the one with grotesque masks on
top (fig. 10) actually were roof-supporting posts from one of these churches.
Similarly, he is of the opinion that the second pair, the one with corkscrew-
formed stems, in fact is a couple of baroque altar-pillars (cf. figs. 11—12), also
from some torn-down church.
When an old church was torn down and a new one built in its place, the old
timbers used to be sold at an auction. The farmers were eager to buy such timber