Náttúrufræðingurinn - 1952, Page 15

HERBERT MÚNKUR OG HEKLUFELL
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Finally Herbert mentiones a submarine eruption, which must be older than anvone
recorded in the Icelandic annals. Tlie first one of those mentioned there is the
eruption near the Eldey islands off the Reykjancs peninsula in the year 1211. Thus it
seenrs probable that the period of volcanic activity near the Eldey islands, rvhich lasted
through the first half of the 13th century, began before 1180.
The author ventures tbe hypothesis, that Herbert got his information about Ice-
landic volcanism from Archbishop Eskil in Lund, Sweden, who left Lund for Clair-
vaux in the year 1177 and stayed there until his death in 1181. Herberti Liber Mira-
culorum contains the biography of Eskil, related by himself. It is known that Eskil had
connections with Icelandic clerics. He consecrated Khengur Thorsteinsson as bishop of
Skálholt in the year 1152, but Hekla had her second eruption while he was in office.
Herbert’s main purpose in recording the Icelandic volcanic eruptions, was to convey
a proof of the existence of Hell. The prestige and general authority of the Clairvaux
monastery, backing up Herbert’s narrative, has most likely served as a solid foundation
for the herostratic fame, which Hekla enjoyed through thc Dark Ages as The Gate of
Hell or The Abode of the Condemned.
NOKKUR HEIMILDARRIT
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