Gripla - 20.12.2010, Page 26

GRIPLA26
writing of Hungrvaka, since the author of that saga treats it as an impor-
tant novelty to have compiled an account of the bishops of Skálholt in Old
Norse-Icelandic (ʻá norrœnu’). The vernacular medium of Hungrvaka can
only have been considered a novelty if there was at that time no vernacular
version of a Vita st Thorlaci, which, as we know from LatI, contained an
account (probably short) of the earlier bishops of Skálholt, and in the ver-
nacular version still mentions Þorlákr Runólfsson, Magnús Einarsson and
Klængr Þorsteinsson.25 Hungrvaka was written by someone based in
Skálholt, who wished that what “ek heyrða … segja inn fróða mann Gizurr
Hallsson” [I heard… the wise man Gizzur Hallsson say] about Skálholt and
its bishops would not fall into oblivion, as is stated in the prologue. The
author of Hungrvaka (‘Stimulation of appetite’) associates his vernaculariza-
tion of the history of Skálholt not with the learned clergy, who “may ridi-
cule this little book” (henda gaman at þessum bœklingi), but with the edu-
cation of “his children” and “other young people” (unga menn; mínum
börnum; öðrum ungmennum).26 This is an attitude towards the vernacular
which we shall meet again in the carmen Latinum of AM 382 4to.27 The
reference to Gizurr Hallsson, who according to Páls saga byskups died on
July 27, 1206, is reminiscent of the words from the original saga, which as
we saw above were cited verbatim by the B-redactor, in chapter 36. It
seems therefore that we do not only have to rely on the late tradition of
Hungrvaka, which presents this work as an introduction to the vernacular
Þorláks saga helga, but that internal evidence as well, shows that the first
vernacular version of Þorláks saga helga originated somewhat later than
1206, the death date of Gizurr Hallsson, and sometime before or around
the date of the first preserved fragment of this saga, the so-called
Jar teinabók I, in AM 645 4to, dated to 1220.
Arguments to the effect that the A-version of Þorláks saga helga may
have been written by a friend of bishop Páll Jónsson,28 the son of
25 Gottskálk Jensson, “Nokkrar athugasemdir,” 102–104. Even though the account of earlier
bishops of Skálholt in LatI was likely much shorter than the history of the bishops in
Hungrvaka, it is worth mentioning in this context that Árni Magnússon assumed that
Hungrvaka may have been a kind of introduction to Þorláks saga helga. Sverrir Tómasson,
Formálar íslenskra sagnaritara, 385–386.
26 Gottskálk Jensson, “Nokkrar athugasemdir,” 102–104; Sverrir Tómasson, Formálar ís-
lenskra sagnaritara, 24, 101; Ásdís Egilsdóttir, Biskupa sögur II, 3–5.
27 See section 6.
28 Guðbrandur Vigfússon, Biskupa sögur I, XLIII.