Gripla - 20.12.2013, Page 262

GRIPLA262
after the closing of the printing press. Learned men who went to school
in Hólar or were connected to the place through their work or other ways
proved to be important scholars of and lobbyists for historical research.
Manuscripts produced in Hólar or by people connected to the place
form an important part in the dissemination of this research and learned
activities. As such, the geographical component proves to be of importance
to the scribal activities and network of Gunnlaugur.
even though Gunnlaugur might be nearly forgotten today, his entry
in Íslenzkar æviskrár, one of the most exhaustive biographical work about
Icelanders in print, suggests Gunnlaugur’s important role and good social
status during his lifetime. the majority of the entries are about clergymen
and officials, which is perhaps to be expected, as more sources are ext-
ant about them, whereas source information or official documents about
people without formal education are relatively scarce, at least until the
nineteenth century. Although people without formal education constituted
the majority of Iceland’s population, biographical entries about them are
still a minority, which makes them, including Gunnlaugur’s, remarkable.
A certain, though vague, influence of the enlightenment might also
be detected; it is perhaps no coincidence that two major historical works
that were written during the enlightenment, Árbækur Espólíns and Bis hop
finnur jónsson’s Historia ecclesiastica, share the main topics of Gunn-
laugur’s historical manuscripts: annals and church history. Although
the enlightenment influenced annalistic writing and medieval historical
studies either minimally or, indeed, not at all, interest in economic history
increased during that time.113 topics such as fishing, haymaking, egg
collecting and bird hunting are included in seventeenth- and eighteenth-
century Icelandic annals, at least those included in the series Annálar
1400–1800.114 entries for medieval times and up until the seventeenth
century contain, however, only limited information about these topics.
Skarðsannáll, Vallholtsannáll and Mælifellsannáll, to name but a few
examples, have rather short and general entries on the catch or haymak-
ing. In later annals, and in entries that were made during the life time of
the compiler, especially in detailed entries, there is more such information.
Espihólsannáll and Vatnsfjarðarannáll yngsti, for example, inform regularly
113 see Ingi sigurðsson, “sagnfræði,” 267 and 259.
114 see Hannes Þorsteinsson et al., Annálar 1400–1800.