Gripla - 20.12.2013, Page 260

GRIPLA260
1000-1763. steingrímur]. unfortunately, it is not clear what work the
so-called yearbook might be, but it is most likely one of the annalistic
manuscripts. It becomes clear, nontheless, that steingrímur took interest
in Gunnlaugur’s scholarly work and that Gunnlaugur’s research was of
use to him in his office as bishop and concerning his interest in Iceland’s
history.
It is of interest that a few years earlier, in 1833, Bishop steingrímur
lent the Rev. jón konráðsson from Mælifell a manuscript containing the
Presbyterologium by Hálfdan einarsson, which the Rev. jón returned the
following year after he had made a copy. this copy bears now the shelf-
mark Lbs 1297 4to and contains a letter that the bishop sent to the Rev.
jón, along with his manuscript. It is possible that the exemplar is the first
part of Lbs 180 4to (fols. 1–81) that steingrímur wrote in 1810–11. the
letter proves the ways in which members of Gunnlaugur’s scribal network
communicated and shared information.
other sources prove, too, that Gunnlaugur was an active part of
Iceland’s scribal network, not just a passive recipient of texts. the Rev.
Páll erlendsson (1778–1852) farmed and resided at Brúarland, a farm
neighbouring Gunnlaugur’s home skuggabjörg. Both he and the farm are
often mentioned in Gunnlaugur’s diary. the Rev. Páll wrote in a letter
dated 3 september 1846 to the Fornfræðafélag that Gunnlagur writes down
any verse that he can get hold of and that he at that time had already copied
approximately 300 verses in three volumes. furthermore, the Rev. Páll
wrote, Gunnlaugur lends them to others, even for extended periods of
time and far and wide.107
But Gunnlaugur jónsson was not just a scribe of literary and historical
manuscripts, he also wrote letters and other documents for his neighbours.
In his diary we can, for example, read that he wrote a letter for a neighbour
on 16 december 1830: “for eg út ad stafsholi ad skrifa bref” [I went to
stafshóll to write letters].108 other neighbours used his services, too;
on 2 April 1835, for example, “skrifadi eg i Gröf” [I wrote at Gröf].109
Gunnlaugur even worked for the sýslumaður ‘county magistrate’, according
107 An excerpt of the letter is printed in Ögmundur Helgason, “Af sjónum séra Páls
erlendssonar,” Skagfirðingabók 24 (1996): 182–84.
108 Lbs 1588 8vo, fol. 251v:14.
109 Lbs 1588 8vo, fol. 288v:4.