Gripla - 20.12.2016, Qupperneq 14

GRIPLA14
deprehenderentur: indicatâ tamen, sicubi de fide narrationum dubi-
tatio oborta est, nostra opinione; ut Lectori ulteriùs in rei suspectæ
veritatem inqvirendi occasio porrigeretur.21
only on rare occasions does he intervene with comments on the unlikely
nature or the incorrect reporting of a particular event. It is left up to the
reader to be the final arbiter as to whether an event is credible or not, just
as it was in the time of ari Þorgilsson.22
4. Icelandic responses
In 1685 the bishop of Skálholt, Þórður Þorláksson (1637–1697), managed
to get permission from the Danish king after the death of his brother
Gísli (1631–1684), bishop of Hólar, to have the sole printing press in the
country moved south from the northern see where it had been almost from
the beginning of printing in Iceland. Þórður was a man very interested in
science, agriculture and medicine, and he put these interests to good use
while he was in charge of the press. In the twelve years of his custodian-
ship, he published an average of five books a year compared to the average
of two titles annually during the previous 85 years the press was at Hólar.
In particular, Þórður seems to have been interested in producing small
books which could be easily carried in a pocket or knapsack.23 In a volume
21 Prolegomenon, Historia rerum Norvegicarum, 1: G1r. “Whatsoever things therefore are appro-
priate through their verisimilitude or at least having the appearance of truth, to that extent
we have faithfully transcribed the ancient monuments which have come into our hands:
nor omitted anything from them, which with respect to obscure matters of the first cen-
turies, either are confusedly narrated, or might seem to be perhaps closer to fables, unless
manifestly a falsehood or a superior account has been encountered: however, if anywhere
uncertainty with regard to verisimilitude has sprung up in the narrative, in our opinion, it
is pointed out, so that the opportunity might be held out for the reader to inquire further
into the truth with regards to the matter of suspicious nature.” See also Norges Historie, ed.
titlestad, 1: 69.
22 See the passage from Þormóður’s “Prolegomenon” quoted in Lars Boje Mortensen, “Before
Historical ‘Sources’ and Literary ‘texts’: the Presentation of Saga Literature in tormod
torfæus’ Historia rerum Norvegicarum,” Renæssanceforum: Tidsskrift for Renæssanceforskning
5 (2008), separate pagination, 1–14 at 7 http://www.renaessanceforum.dk/5_2008/lbm.
pdf (accessed July 31, 2009). Mortensen also discusses Þormóður’s use of the family saga
Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar (Volume 2, Book 3: 151–214), “Before Historical ‘Sources’,”
5–7.
23 Guðrún Ingólfsdóttir, “‘En að sá helgi stíl saurgist af sögum’: útgáfastarf Þórðar biskups