Gripla - 20.12.2012, Page 203

201
susAnne MIRIAM ARtHuR
tHe IMPoRtAnCe of MARItAL
AnD MAteRnAL tIes
In tHe DIstRIButIon of ICeLAnDIC
MAnusCRIPts fRoM tHe MIDDLe
AGes to tHe seventeentH CentuRy
“Virduglegur Herra Biſkupenn M. Brynjolꝼur Sveins ſon ad
Skálholte, minn dygdarikur og elſkulegur Velgørda og Ætt-
bróder, gaꝼ mer þeſsa ſøgubók, enn eg geꝼ hana nu
dóttur minne Jarþrúde Hakonar dottur til eignar. ſkriꝼad ad
Brædratungu 31. Ianuarÿ. Anno 1675.
Helga Magnus dotter e h”
(js 28 fol., 3r)
[The venerable master Bishop Brynjólfur Sveinsson at Skálholt,
my faithful and dear benefactor and kinsman, gave me this
book of sagas, and now I give it to my daughter Jarþrúður
Hákonardóttir to own it. Written at Bræðratunga on January
31, in the year 1675.
Helga Magnúsdóttir with her own hand.]
Introduction
the above-written Donation of Helga Magnúsdóttir to her daugh-
ter jarþrúður in js 28 fol., a manuscript written by jón erlendsson of
villingaholt around the year 1660, exemplifies and supports the notion
that while land property (particularly the main farm) would often be passed
down to male descendants,1 women (who usually left the family household
upon marriage) would receive a dowry, most commonly in the form of pre-
1 see e.g. Gerda Merschberger, Die Rechtsstellung der Germanischen Frau. Mit 21 Abbildungen
Im Text, Mannus-Bücherei 57 (Leipzig: C. kabitzsch, 1937), 165; Margrét eggertsdóttir,
“um kveðskap kvenna og varðveislu hans.” Vefnir 2 (1999). It is, however, documented
that rich farmers and chieftains also bequeathed land property to their daughters, which
was then usually managed by the woman’s husband. nonetheless, women inherited less
property (see e.g. the case of Loftur ríki Guttormsson: Diplomatarium Islandicum. Íslenzkt
fornbréfasafn, sem hefir inni að halda bréf og gjörninga, dóma og máldaga, og aðrar skrár, er sn-
erta Ísland eða íslenzka menn 4. 1265–1449, ed. jón Þorkelsson (Copenhagen: Hið íslenzka
bókmentafélag, 1895–1897), 518–520).
Gripla XXIII (2012): 201–233.