Gripla - 20.12.2013, Page 256

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spring, though wet. no good use could be made of fire-wood].87 the
similarities in the wording between Lbs 1210 4to, the manuscript written
by the Rev. Gísli, and the annals written by Gunnlaugur, strongly suggest
that Gunnlaugur used the Rev. Gísli’s manuscript as one of his sources for
his own annals.88 When all this is taken into consideration – the simil-
arities of the Rev. Gísli’s and Gunnlaugur’s manuscripts and historical
works, the regular contact of the two men as documented in Gunnlaugur’s
diary – it seems that the Rev. Gísli jónsson was one of the most important
influences on Gunnlaugur’s scribal and scholarly work.
In connection with Gunnlaugur, the diaries of the Rev. jón konráðsson
(1772–1850) from Mælifell are perhaps relevant. the reverend was said to
be among the most important historians of his time in northern Iceland.89
He went to the Latin school in Hólar, where he graduated in 1794, and
became an assistant priest in Glaumbær three years later. In 1807 he was
appointed assistant provost in Hegranesþing and priest in Mælifell in 1810,
which he kept until his retirement in 1835.90 An almanac diary from the
years 1799 and 1801–42 is extant today and kept under the shelf-mark íB
729 8vo in the Landsbókasafn. the Rev. jón used a double page per month;
on the left page there is a church calendar including information about
moon phases, on the right page there is information about the weather,
farming and visitors on one line per day. He also included lists of book
loans, both borrowed and lent. It seems clear, however, that the Rev. jón’s
diaries were no direct model for Gunnlaugur’s and that they were certainly
not used as an exemplar, if Gunnlaugur copied weather entries for his early
years from somebody else, as the entries are different. on 2 january 1802,
for example, Gunnlaugur notes “hrein[t] lofft og pínu harka“ [Clear air
and a bit of frost], whereas the Rev. jón writes only “frost” [frost].91 It is
more important, however, that the Rev. jón and Gunnlaugur met several
times, as we can read in their diaries. Gunnlaugur wrote, for example,
87 js 334 4to 1, p. 36:24–25.
88 the wording is identical in all extant manuscript copies of the Vallholtsannáll in the
Landsbókasafn. the printed version adds the verb “var” after “vestra”, Hannes Þorsteinsson,
Annálar 1400–1800, 1:337.
89 see Gísli Brynjúlfsson, “jørgen Pjetr Havsteen,” Heimdallur 9 (september 1884), 132.
90 see Páll eggert ólason, Íslenzkar æviskár, 3:211.
91 Lbs 1588 8vo, fol. 10r:3–4; and íB 729 8vo, n.p.