Saga - 2011, Blaðsíða 140
preserved in the manuscript AM 45 8°, and it contains an oath of
allegiance with references to King Hákon and King Magnús:
Til þess legg eg haund — helga bok og þui skyt eg til Guðz at eg suer
hakoni konungi og Magnuse land og þegna og æfinlegan skatt med
slikri9
Two Icelandic annals from the fourteenth century mention that the
Icelanders swore allegiance to King Magnús Hákonarson and his
son Magnús in 1262: Konungs annáll (c. 1300–1328) and Lögmanns
annáll (c. 1362–1380). Both annals also record that King Magnús
received the title of king in 1257.10 Moreover, the participation of
King Magnús Hákonarson in legal and political affairs alongside his
father is attested in Járnsíða („Mannhelgi“ § 7):
Þessor einkamál váru tekin með ráði Hákonar konungs hins kórónaða
sunarsunar Sverris konungs með ásjá Magnús konungs sunar hans,
Einars erkibyskups og ljóðbyskupa, lendra manna og lærðra, lögmanna
og allra annarra hinna vitrustu manna í landinu að minnka mann -
drápin.11
The mention of King Magnús in the text of the oath, if dated to 1262,
is therefore not anachronistic in relation to the text recorded in the
manuscript AM 45 8°, as I have previously stated.12 The mention of
kings Hákon and Magnús in the main text of the agreement record-
ed in the manuscript Germ 2065 4°, however, may be anachronis-
tic.13 Unlike the text in AM 45 8°, which purports to be the agree-
ment made between the Icelanders of the Southern and Northern
Quart ers of the country and the King of Norway, the agreement in
patricia pires boulhosa140
9 AM 45 8°, folio 10v; the text of the oath is incomplete.
10 Islandske Annaler indtil 1578. Ed. Gustav Storm (Oslo: Grøndahl 1888; re printed
1977), pp. 133 and 257.
11 Járnsíða og Kristinréttur Árna Þorlákssonar. Ed. Haraldur Bernharðsson, Magnús
Lyngdal Magnússon and Már Jónsson (Reykjavík: Sögufélag 2005), p. 76.
12 Patricia Boulhosa, Icelanders and the Kings of Norway, p. 146 and Gamli sáttmáli:
Tilurð og tilgangur, p. 89. Helgi Þorláksson, „Er Gamli sáttmáli tómur tilbún-
ingur“, Þriðja íslenska söguþingið 18.–21. maí 2006. Ed. Benedikt Eyþórsson and
Hrafnkell Lárusson (Reykjavík: Sagnfræðingafélag Íslands 2007), p. 397, had
already pointed out this mistake in my work.
13 In Patricia Boulhosa, Icelanders and the Kings of Norway, pp. 149–50, and Gamli
sáttmáli: Tilurð og tilgangur, p. 94, this sentence is mangled; there I say that the
mention of Magnús Hákonarson is anachronistic.
Saga haust 2011 NOTA_Saga haust 2004 - NOTA 11/24/11 9:52 AM Page 140