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intellectual movements on the public.6 sigurður Gylfi Magnússon and
davíð ólafsson pursue a microhistorical approach with a specific emphasis
on the study of personal documents. sigurður Gylfi concentrates on the
connection between education and emotions and on child development,7
while davíð investigates the case of common people in relationship to
manuscript transmission, historical research and post-medieval scribal
culture in Iceland, using the example of sighvatur Grímsson Borgfirðingur
(1840–1930).8 the kind of writing known as þjóðlegur fróðleikur ‘folk or
popular knowledge’ deals with folk tales and biographical, genealogical and
historical research by common people without much formal education.9
the sources that these lay historians used often stem from oral tradition,
but they also use church registers, annals and legal documents.10 they were
often motivated by a wish to preserve and disseminate knowledge, but
also to entertain,11 even though they had to face great difficulties in their
pursuit of knowledge, especially when coming from a poor background.12
Magnús Hauksson has analysed the works, world view and (non-)critical
reflection of several lay historians, such as Magnús Björnsson (1889–1963)
6 see, for example, Ingi sigurðsson, “sagnfræði,” in Upplýsingin á Íslandi: Tíu ritgerðir, ed.
Ingi sigurðsson (Reykjavík: Hið íslenzka bókmenntafélag, 1990), 244–68; and “Þróun
íslenzkrar sagnfræði frá miðöldum til samtímans,” Saga 38 (2000): 9–32.
7 see, for example, sigurður Gylfi Magnússon, Menntun, ást og sorg: Einsögurannsókn á
ís lensku sveitasamfélagi 19. og 20. aldar, sagnfræðirannsóknir, vol. 13 (Reykjavík: sagn-
fræðistofnun, Háskólaútgáfan, 1997).
8 see davíð ólafsson, “Wordmongers: Post-Medieval scribal Culture and the Case of
sighvatur Grímsson” (Ph.d. diss., university of st. Andrews, 2009), http://hdl.handle.
net/10023/770 (accessed september 15, 2013).
9 see Magnús Hauksson, “Þjóðlegur fróðleikur á 19. og 20. öld,” in Íslensk bókmenntasaga, ed.
Guðmundur Andri thorsson, vol. 4 (Reykjavík: Mál og menning, 2006), 307–9; and “die
Laienhistoriker in Island und die Rolle in der isländischen Laiengeschichtsschreibung,”
Island 16, no. 2 (2010): 15–16.
10 see Magnús Hauksson, “Þjóðlegur fróðleikur,” 314–16.
11 see Magnús Hauksson, “Þjóðlegur fróðleikur,” 315 and 327. the motivation shifted dur-
ing the course of the nineteenth century from education and preservation towards per-
sonal pleasure and joy. A similar development from preservation and dissemination to
self-reflection and identification processes is visible for the motivation behind copying
manuscripts, see davíð ólafsson, “Að æxla sér bækur með penna: Miðlun íslendingasagna
á 19. öld í handritum og prentuðum bókum,” in Íslenska söguþingið 30. maí–1. júní 2002:
Ráðstefnurit, ed. erla Hulda Halldórsdóttir, 2 vols (Reykjavík: sagnfræðistofnun Háskóla
íslands, sagnfræðingafélag íslands and sögufélag, 2002), 2:211.
12 see Ingi sigurðsson, Íslenzk sagnfræði frá miðri 19. öld til miðrar 20. aldar (Reykjavík:
sagnfræðistofnun Háskóla íslands, 1986), 48.
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