Ný saga - 01.01.1995, Page 107

Summaries
Icelandic genealogical books of the 17th cen-
tury and that of the íslendingasögur (the
Icelandic family sagas) and Landnáma (the
Book of Settlement). Pórður worked with his
scribes at copying ancient texts, and he per-
sonally copied Landnáma, a version called
Þórðarbók Landnámu. Þórður’s scribal activ-
ities are of a humanistic vein and the article
points out similarities between Arngrímur
Jónsson’s thinking in Crymogæa and the post-
script of Þórðarbók Landnáma.
POINT OF VIEW (Sjónarhóll)
Björn Bjarnason
The Value of History
(Gildi sagnfræðinnar)
In this article Björn Bjarnason, Iceland’s
Minister of Education, discusses the value of
history. He emphasises the value of historical
research for discovering the facts which settle
political debates and thus increase our under-
standing of contemporary history. He uses as
an example the political debate concerning
the defence treaty with the United States,
which he believes is no longer a controversial
issue in Icelandic politics. But is this delicate
subject discussed at all in the history books,
he asks? He also feels that Icelandic histori-
ans should take more note of the re-evalua-
tion of political history in their writings.
Moreover, he expresses concern that the
teaching of Icelandic history in schools is
regrettably on the decline. The value of history
is great as is the role of historians in shaping
the development of the country’s historical
self-image.
The minister feels that Icelandic historians
should be more active in public debate, point-
ing out that the answers to problems of con-
temporary history are more often to be found
in the writings of political scientists than his-
torians. This is a responsibility historians rnust
shoulder by making their research more
accessible and interesting to the general
public.
Sigurður Gylfi Magnússon
Moral Authority and Role Models in the
19th Century
(Siðferðilegar fyrirmyndir á 19. öld)
This article deals with “moral authority” in
19th century Icelandic peasant society. The
focus is on children and their search for guid-
ance and moral authority. Traditionally the
church dominated the moral upbringing of
children. It is argued in this article that chil-
dren put increasingly more trust in worldly
literature than in religious doctrine during
this period. They found images and models in
Icelandic literature with which they could
identify. It taught them to draw strength from
the “slings and arrows of outrageous for-
tune”. Due to this development, the church
lost its dominance. The author argues that
this occurred much earlier than previously
thought.
ANNIVERSARY (Afmæli)
Sigfús Haukur Andrésson
The Bicentenary of the Great Trade
Petition of 1795
(Almenna bænarskráin, tveggja alda afmæli)
From 1602 to 1787 the Iceland trade was con-
ducted as a monopoly by the Danish Crown,
granting licences only to certain Danish mer-
chants. In 1787 the right to trade with Iceland
was extended to all subjects of the Danish
realm, including the Icelanders themselves.
However, in practice, the merchants contin-
ued to be mostly Danes residing in Copen-
hagen. In 1792-93 the King granted these
merchants further privileges, at the same time
making it more difficult for native Icelanders
and newcomers to enter the trade. This, cou-
pled with the difficulties caused by the
Revolutionary Wars, led to a considerable
reduction in the navigation to Iceland. In des-
peration, in July 1795, the Icelanders sent a
strongly-worded petition, the so-called
Great Trade Petition (Almenna bænarskráin)
to the King.
Couched in emotional terms and influ-
enced by American and French revolutionary
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