Gripla - 20.12.2010, Side 50

GRIPLA50
to Guðríður Gísladóttir’s part of the family and was handed down to her,
possibly as part of her dowry, or, more likely, it was an heirloom on Þórður
Þorláksson’s side of the family, who was one of six children of Bishop
Þorlákur Skúlason of Hólar (1597–1656).106
Bishop Þorlákur Skúlason divided his manuscripts and printed books
equally between his children.107 It seems likely that Þórður Þorláksson
received AM 382 4to directly from his father. This path of inheritance sug-
gests that AM 382 4to came from the north of Iceland (Þorlákur Skúlason,
Bishop of Hólar) to the south (Þórður Þorláksson, Bishop of Skálholt).
According to a marginal note on fol. 22v, AM 382 4to must have been
at Reynistaður in the north of Iceland at some point during the 16th cen-
tury. Furthermore, an inventory list of the nunnery at Reynistaður from
1525 mentions a Þorláks saga helga that belonged to the cloister (DI IX, 321).
It is plausible that AM 382 4to was the manuscript mentioned in the list of
the Reynistaðarklaustur.
It is possible that Þorlákur Skúlason received the manuscript directly
from Reynistaður or from one of his scribes who had connections to
Reynistaður.108 A marginal note in AM 382 4to mentions a Björn Jónsson
(fol. 13r), which is the name of one of Þorlákur’s scribes, Björn Jónsson at
Skarðsá, who wrote the Skarðsá version of Landnámabók and the Annals.
This Björn Jónsson grew up from 1582 until 1602 – age eight to 28 – at the
home of Sigurður Jónsson, who was in charge of the former nunnery at
Reynistaður. Björn Jónsson then lived all his remaining life at Skarðsá in
Sæmundarhlíð, which belonged to Reynistaður.109 Even though the mar-
106 Gunnar Kristjánsson, Saga biskupsstólanna, 58 and 420.
107 Jakob Benediktsson, “Bókagerð Þorláks biskups Skúlasonar,” Saga og kirkja. Afmælisrit
Magnúsar Más Lárussonar. Gefið út í tilefni af sjötugsafmæli hans 2. september 1987, eds.
Gunnar Karlsson, Jón Hnefill Aðalsteinsson and Jónas Gíslason (Reykjavík: Sögufélag,
1988), 193; Már Jónsson, “Þórður biskup Þorláksson og söfnun íslenskra handrita á síðari
hluta 17. aldar,” Frumkvöðull vísinda og mennta. Þórður Þorláksson biskup í Skálholti, ed. Jón
Pálsson (Reykjavík: Háskólaútgáfan, 1998), 189-190.
108 Bishop Þorlákur Skúlason was very dedicated to book production and the copying of
manuscripts. – See e.g., Jakob Benediktsson, “Bókagerð Þorláks biskups Skúlasonar,”
193–197; Stefán Karlsson, Stafkrókar (Reykjavík: Stofnun Árna Magnússonar á Íslandi,
2000), 384–403. – The names of five scribes who have worked for Þorlákur Skúlason are
known, all from the north of Iceland (Skagafjörður and Eyjafjörður region): Björn Jónsson
á Skarðsá, Þorleifur Jónsson á Grafarkoti, Jón Pálsson, Brynjólfur Jónsson and Halldór
Guðmundsson. Ibid., 385 et seq.
109 Ibid., 385–386