Skáldskaparmál - 01.01.1997, Síða 263

Umsagnir um bœkur
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subjects), that she instructed anybody who wished in grammatica. In fact, she was
able to correct books in Latin which were read to her while she embroidered the
stories of holy men, thereby proclaiming God’s glory not only með orðum
munnnáms, heldrokmeðverkum handanna (verbally but also with works by hand).
It is more than doubtful that anyone could have learned Latin well enough to
correct it orally without having been taught to read. Nonetheless, quoting this
passage, Helga tries to strengthen her point by combining the words sögðum
bóklistum and orðum munnnáms, interpreting them as munnlegur lœrdómur (oral
tradition; 17-18). Many women will recognize Ingunn’s double use of time as
she performs a cerebral and a manual activity simultaneously. But Helga’s reading
gives the text a meaning it does not liave. The first two words (sógðum bóklistum)
clearly refer to the subjects taught at the school which the author has mentioned
previously (in fact, bókligar listir is used elsewhere to identify the seven liberal
arts) and the last two (munnlegur lærdómur) denigrate the spoken word in favor
of works by hand. Thus, the two sets of words do not support each other and
combined they cannot be interpreted as munnlegur lœrdómur (oral tradition).
Since the Norse author mentions at least twice that ‘both men and women’ came
to Hólar, he is clearly concerned about the doctrine of gender equality, high on
churchmen’s agenda of Christian instruction, although normally not implem-
ented in education. In fact, it was highly unusual that this author was able to
produce Ingunn after a long list of illustrious men since female pupils were
undoubtedly as few at Hólar as at any other cathedral school.
Ingunn appears to have been a local girl from a family deeply influenced by
Christianity. Her mother, Guðrún Daðadóttir, lived at Hólar. She defended the
young Hildur when the latter was being chided for wanting to become a
hermitess, calling the young woman her sister, although this information cannot
be confirmed from other texts. With Bishop Jón’s blessing Hildur eventually
became a nun attached to the church. Furthermore, Hildur provides another
context for the milieu in which Ingunn may have been growing up. Hildur’s
grandfather and foster father was the priest, Hámundur Bjarnarson, who mana-
ged the episcopal estate at Hólar. Additionally, Ingunn herself was referred to by
Oddur munkras one of a group of informants for his saga about Ólafr Tryggvason,
among whom also was found a certain Herdís Daðadóttir, possibly another sister
of Ingunn’s mother. In other words, Ingunn may have been associated with the
cathedral school at Hólar since childhood, a fact that would explain her familiarity
with the students and her competence in both Latin reading and writing as well
as her considerable knowledge of native oral tradition.
Helga raises the Ingunn episode in a chapter in which she introduces the word
palimpsest (uppskafningur), normally the technical term for a parchment
manuscript on which the original text has been scraped off and the skin used
again. Used metaphorically, it is an important concept to feminist scholars who
look for erased or muted female voices behind the dominant male literature.