Ný saga - 01.01.1988, Page 122

ADstracts
Anniversary (Afmæli).
Guöjón Friðriksson: Women at a Men’s
Meeting. A Centenary of a Woman’s Voting in
Reykjavík. (Konur á karlafundi).
In 1882 the right to vote in municipal elections was granted to
women in lceland, a right not exercised until 1888. This article is
written to commemorate this event. It traces the history of women’s
participation in elections and the awakening of a political and
social awareness of women and the supporters of women’s rights
from 1888-1908.
Genealogy (Ættvísi).
Halldór Bjarnason: From Rags to Riches.
(Frá fátækf til fjár).
The study examines social mobility in lceland from 1800—1940
with the aid of genealogy. The author takes two farmers born in the
1770’s, one a landowner, the other a peasant, and traces the social
status of their descendants down to the early 20th century. The aim
of the study is to show how the old lcelandic national pastime of
family tracing can be of assistance to historians if used system-
atically.
Auöur G. Magnúsdóttir
Love and Power: Mistresses in Commonwealth
lceland (Ástir og völd. Frillulífi á íslandi á
Þjóðveldisöld).
The article examines the reasons why lcelandic chieftains kept
mistresses in the commonwealth period (930—1262). The author
distinguishes four reasons for this: 1. The less well off might have
preferred mistresses to wives for economic reasons. They would
nevertheless have been obliged to provide for their children as the
law called for the maintenance of illegitimate children by a father or
his family. 2. Some may have kept mistresses because they could
not find a bride they considered their social equal. 3. In some
cases “true love” may have played a part, where the parties for
some reason, financial or social were not able to marry. 4. The last
reason suggested in the article forms the central argument of this
paper: chieftains kept mistresses in order to secure and gain the
political support of their fathers, brothers or custodians. This could,
the author argues, have been of advantage to both parties, the
chieftain trying to establish himself as a ruler of certain areas or
lands and the large farmer trying to gain power and control in
smaller areas. The author sees mistresses as strategic pawns in
the power struggle which culminated in the Age of the Sturlungs
(1220-1262).
Books (Af bókum).
Jón Viðar Sigurðsson: “To See the Forest for
the Trees.” (“Að sjá skóginn fyrir trjánum”).
Jón Viðar Sigurðsson here looks at Aschehougs Verdens His-
torie, a world history in 15 volumes, published in Norway from
1982—86. The work is now being translated into lcelandic and the
publication will be finished in 1990. Sigurðsson interviewed Knut
Helle, one of the editors of the Norwegian edition, and Helgi Skúli
Kjartansson, co-editor of the lcelandic edition and asked them
respectively why the Norwegians undertook to write a world history
and why an lcelandic publishing company decided to have it
translated into lcelandic. He then compares the two editions and
evaluates the use of such a work for nations on the periphery of
world history and contemplates whether they should not have
concentrated on writing a nordic-centred history.
Difference of Opinion (Skiptar skoðanir).
Gísli Gunnarsson: the Restoration
Government: Ideas and Reality. Stefán
Ólafsson: the Restoration Government’s Fate
or Qualities. Hannes Hólmsteinn Gissurarson:
The Restoration Government Was good — but
Could it Have Been better?
The articles under this heading are an evaluation of and ex-
change of opinion about the so-called Restoration government
(Viðreisnarstjórnin), a coalition of the Independence and Social
Democratic parties in power from 1959—1971, longer than any
other government since 1944. Three scholars, each an authority in
his field, evaluate the achievements of this government.
Gísli Ágúst Gunnlaugsson
Love and Marriage in Former Times. (Ást og
hjónaband á fyrri öldum).
The author begins by reviewing recent historical literature on
love and the reasons for marriage in Europe in the 18th and 19th
centuries. He then turns to lceland and tries to establish what
caused people to get marriage here in the same centuries and if
and how this changed during this period. This is not a complete
study of the problem, rather an introduction to the study and is
based mainly on (auto)biographies. The author's conclusions are
that in pre-industrial society marriage was, more often than not,
based on economic needs. He also states that it was assumed to
be an asset if love could flourish in the marriage, but this was not a
prerequisite. As the period under inspection comes to a close the
role of “romantic love” became more important as a basis for
marriage. The author is currently engaged in an examination of
possible changes in the role of the family as the reasons for
entering into marriage changed. The results of this study will be
published later this year,
Helgi Þorláksson
Graycloaks in the Golden Age and Women’s
Work. (Gráfeldir á gullöld og voðaverk kvenna).
The author examines and refutes the traditional view that lce-
landers ceased foreign trade and travel in the 12th century with the
passing of foreign trade into Norwegian hands. He maintains that
lcelanders did in fact still travel in the 13th and later centuries and
instead of exporting imitation skins (vararfeldir) they brought with
them woven cloth (wadmal, vaðmál) which was comparatively
cheap and therefore in demand in the fast growing European
urban centres of the High Middle Ages. The author stresses that
earlier works on lcelandic medieval history have overplayed the
importance of lcelandic skins on foreign markets and therefore
fallen into the trap of assuming that a pricefall in vararfeldir led to
decreased export which in turn lead to less travelling among
lcelanders. The author suggests that domestic factors caused the
price fluctuations which therefore had nothing to do with foreign
trade. Finally the author points out that the traditional view of the
causes and effect of the loss of foreign trade into Norwegian hands
is a byproduct of the Independence movement of the 19th century,
and in need of revision. Such a revision, he argues, would bring
into perspective the importance for the golden age heroes of the
women who produced their "foreign currency” — wadmal.
Interview.
“ . . . the History of Everyday Life, that is What
We are looking for.” (“...hið daglega líf,
hvunndagssagan, sem við leitum fyrst og
fremst eftir”).
Here Árni Björnsson, of the department of folk-life at the lce-
landic National Museum discusses the history, the aims and work
of the department. Established in 1960 the department in its earlier
years concentrated on the collection of information about the old
farming community which prevailed in lceland until the 1940's.
More recently the department has turned its attention towards
urbanisation and descriptions of urban life from the late 19th centu-