Gripla - 20.12.2014, Qupperneq 92

GRIPLA92
both scribes were working for a patron in Skagafjörður or the north of
Iceland, it seems unlikely that Þorsteinn would have copied his brother’s
name into the margin if Björn had had no connection to the manuscript.15
this marginal note, the material similarity of the two codices and Björn
Þorleifsson’s known involvement with Reykjahólabók rather fuel the theory
that the two manuscripts were produced in the same scriptorium, and that
Björn was the patron and perhaps (co-)redactor of AM 152 fol.
Björn Þorleifsson belonged to the illustrious skarðverjar family. He
was the son of Þorleifur Björnsson (ca. 1430–1486), and grandson of Björn
‘ríki’ Þorleifsson (1408–1467) and his wife Ólöf Loptsdóttir (ca. 1410–
1479) of skarð on skarðsströnd.16 the Skarðverjar were the wealthiest and
most powerful Icelanders in the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries,
owning most of the lands and islands in Breiðafjörður, including lucra-
tive fishing and eiderdown gathering grounds, and they possessed further
extensive lands around West and North Iceland. they also held positions
of formal power: both Björn ríki and his son Þorleifur were hirðstjórar
(governors), the highest royal office at the time.17 Many of the fifteenth-
century’s finest manuscripts, containing a diverse collection of texts both
secular and devotional, were produced by the Skarðverjar, so Björn’s family
had a long-standing tradition of contributing to Iceland’s literary culture;
if he had a hand in AM 152 fol.’s making, he would presumably have been
able to select sagas from a large corpus of narratives that circulated in this
area in the late medieval period.18
15 there are otherwise no marginalia in Þorsteinn’s hand.
16 Björn Þorsteinsson, guðrún Ása grímsdóttir and Sigurður Líndal, Enska öldin, in Saga
Íslands, vol. 5, ed. Sigurður Líndal (reykjavík: Hið íslenzka bókmenntafélag/Sögufélag,
1990), 106.
17 Páll eggert ólason, Menn og menntir siðaskiptaaldarinnar á Íslandi, vol. 2 (reykjavík:
Bókaverzlun guðm. gamalíelssonar, 1919), 56–117; Arnór Sigurjónsson, Vestfirðingasaga
1390–1540 (reykjavík: Leiftur, 1975), see ch. 26 onwards; guðrún Ása grímsdóttir,
Vatnsfjörður í Ísafirði, 175–207.
18 see further stefán karlsson, ‘Ritun Reykjafjarðarbókar,’ 137–140. Skíðaríma, which is
composed in West Iceland in the late medieval period and probably connected to skarð,
features several characters from AM 152 fol.’s sagas (e.g. Starkaðr, Víkarr, Hrólfr and Ketill
Gautrekssynir and Göngu-Hrólfr). they appear among the many famous heroes from the
fornaldar- and riddarasögur who feast with the norse gods in Valhöll. See further Björn
karel Þórólfsson. Rímur fyrir 1600. Safn fræðafjelagsins, vol. 9 (Copenhagen: Hið íslenska
fræðafjelag, 1934), 388; Sverrir tómasson, ‘“Strákligr líz mér Skíði.” Skíðaríma – íslenskur
föstuleikur?,’ Skírnir 174 (2007): 305–320.