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ginalia cannot be linked with certainty to Björn Jónsson á Skarðsá, the
mentioning of this name and the name Jón Sigurðsson on folio 31v in
AM 382 4to, which is the name of Sigurður Jónsson’s son,110 adds to the
evidences that the manuscript was closely connected to the north of Ice-
land, especially Reynistaður.
The aforementioned manuscript BL Add. 11.242, which preserves a
short passage of the B-version of Þorláks saga helga, is another indicator
that connects AM 382 4to with Reynistaður, or at least the Skagafjörður-area
in the north of Iceland. BL Add. 11.242 must have been copied from
AM 382 4to or another copy of the B-redaction when it was still more
complete than today111 and was likely written between 1540 and 1590,112 by
Gottskálk Jónsson (ca. 1524-1590/91).113 In the fall of 1550, Gottskálk
Jónsson was ordained priest at Glaumbær,114 which is about ten kilometers
south of Reynistaður. Taking the inventory list of the nunnery of Reyni-
staður from 1525 and the marginal note about Reynistaður in AM 382 4to
into account, it is not unlikely that Gottskálk Jónsson copied the text of
the saga of St Þorlákr which is preserved in BL Add. 11.242 from
AM 382 4to. It would only be logical that a priest would have close connec-
tions to a (former) monastery or nunnery close by and, as Jón Þorkelsson
points out, Gottskálk Jónsson was a witness in a case of legacy at
Reynistaður in May 1547,115 giving further proof that links can be drawn
between him and Reynistaður. Even though Þorlákur Þórhallsson was
bishop in Skálholt in the south of Iceland, the worship of his saintliness
110 Wikipedia. Frjálsa alfræðiorðabók, “Svalbarðsætt,” http://is.wikipedia.org/wiki/svalbarðs-
ætt (accessed June 9, 2010).
111 Jón Helgason, Byskupa s†gur, 271, 307; Ásdís Egilsdóttir, Biskupa sögur II, 181, 205.
112 Jón Helgason, Gamall Kveðskapur (Copenhagen: Hið íslenzka fræðafélag, 1979), 7.
113 Jón Þorkelsson, “Islandske håndskrifter i England og Skotland,” Arkiv för nordisk filologi
8. Ny följd 4 (1892): 217; Jón Helgason, “Íslenzk handrit í British Museum,” Ritgerðakorn
og Ræðustúfar, ed. Jón Helgason (Reykjavík: Félag íslenzkra stúdenta í Kaupmannahöfn,
1959), 115–116; Jón Helgason, Gamall Kveðskapur, 6–7; Svanhildur Óskarsdóttir, “Gagn og
gaman séra Gottskálks Jónssonar í Glaumbæ,” Greppaminni. Rit til heiðurs Vésteini Ólasyni
sjötugum, eds. Margrét Eggertsdóttir et al. (Reykjavík: Hið íslenzka bókmenntafélag,
2009), 377–391.
114 Jón Þorkelsson, “Séra Gottskálk Jónsson í Glaumbæ og syrpa hans,” Arkiv för nordisk
filologi 12. Ny följd 8 (1896): 49.
115 Ibid., 49.
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