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and Gísli konráðsson from skagafjörður (1787–1877), who industriously and
passionately copied manuscripts and composed poetry, sagnaþættir and other
historical texts. Magnús shows how wide Gísli’s geographical horizon was,
although he does not reflect critically on history or his home.13
In this discussion, skagafjörður has received specific attention.14
kristmundur Bjarnason illustrates that northern Iceland, and especially
skagafjörður, had one of the highest rates of literacy in Iceland. Already in
the 1740s almost all the children of the parishes Hof and Miklabær, where
Gunnlaugur jónsson grew up, were able to read.15 Around 1840, when
Gunnlaugur’s most productive period of manuscript copying and writing
annals started, approximately a third of skagafjörður’s population was able
to write,16 which is a slightly larger percentage than in the rest of the country.
skagafjörður was also a learned centre, above all for historical research and
annalistic writing.17 Among the (lay) historians mentioned by kristmundur
Bjarnason are several that are of importance to this article, such as jón
espólín, einar Bjarnason and indeed also Gunnlaugur jónsson.18
there are furthermore several ongoing projects dealing with the lives of
common people in premodern Iceland and scandinavia. the interdiscipl-
inary project “Prentsmiðja fólksins – Handrita- og bókmenning síðari
alda” (the People’s Press – Manuscript Culture in the Age of Print), of
which this study is a part, aims at identifying the connections between
various media, texts and the lower strata of society. the international and
13 see Magnús Hauksson, “die Laienhistoriker in Island”.
14 My colleague tereza Lansing is currently conducting research on the scribal activities of
Þorsteinn Þorsteinsson (1792–1863) from Heiði, including his scribal network. A publica-
tion of her results will follow.
15 see kristmundur Bjarnason, “Alþýðufræðsla í skagafirði fram um síðustu aldamót: nokkrar
athuganir,” in Gefið og þegið: Afmælisrit til heiðurs Brodda Jóhannessyni sjötugum, ed. Þuríður
j. kristjánsdóttir (Reykjavík: Iðunn, 1987), 222.
16 see kristmundur Bjarnason, “Alþýðufræðsla í skagafirði,” 227. More people, however, were
able to scrawl or scribble: the vicar of Miklabær declared rather generally that many were
able to write, whereas the vicar of Hof stated that there are many of his parishoners who
“nokkuð geta hjálpað sér í því” (can manage somehow), see Pálmi Hannesson and jakob
Benediktsson, eds., Sýslu- og sóknalýsingar Hins íslenzka bókmenntafélags 1839–1873, vol. 2,
Skagafjarðarsýsla, safn til landfræðisögu íslands (Akureyri: norðri, 1954), 101 and 140; here
cited after kristmundur Bjarnason, “Alþýðufræðsla í skagafirði,” 226.
17 see, for example, Ingi sigurðsson, “Þróun íslenzkrar sagnfræði,” 14.
18 see kristmundur Bjarnason, “Alþýðufræðsla í skagafirði,” 227. yet, despite the large
number of (lay) historians from the north, there seem to be no explanations or attempts at
explanations as to why skagafjörður was the home of so many prolific historians.