Saga - 2011, Page 141

Germ 2065 4° is between the bændr of Iceland and the Kings Hákon
and Magnús, and according to the sagas and annals, the submission
of the whole country only happened in 1264, by which time King
Hákon Hákonarson was dead. The text in Germ 2065 4° cannot be
classified as the agreement made in 1262 mentioned in the sagas or,
as has been suggested by Sveinn Bergsveinsson, the oldest copy of
this agreement.14 Bergsveinsson suggests that the clause that men-
tions the Icelanders of the Southern and Northern Quarters of the
country is simply missing, but this amounts to correcting the evi-
dence in order to make it conform to the accounts of sagas and
annals. What is of importance here is the design behind the compo-
sition and copying of this document in the sixteenth century. As I
argue in my books, the historiographical revival of the sixteenth cen-
tury saw the appearance of documents which were made to conform
to the information available in the sagas. In the process of looking at
the oldest points in the past, Gizurarsáttmáli was intended to repre-
sent the oldest agreement between Icelanders and Norway, that was
made between the bœndr of the Northern and Southern Quarters and
King Hákon Hákonarson mentioned in the saga narratives.
Helgi Skúli Kjartansson reserves a lot of his criticism of my work
for the fact that I do not discuss Jón Jóhannesson’s study, „Réttinda -
barátta Íslendinga í upphafi 14. aldar“, in detail.15 Like Helgi Þor -
láksson before him, Helgi Skúli argues that Jón Jóhannesson offers
a simplified classification of the documents which avoids the prob-
lems and anachronisms found in Diplomatarium Islandicum. This
simplified classification, however, has been discussed by other
scholars, whose arguments I review in my analysis of the individ-
ual clauses of the agreements.16 Jón Jóhannesson’s article does not
a response to „gamli sáttmáli …“ 141
14 Sveinn Bergsveinsson, „Handritið Germ. Quart. 2065“, Árbók Landsbókasafns
Íslands 26 (1969), pp. 135–155 (p. 152).
15 Jón Jóhannesson’s essay is published in the second volume of his Íslendinga
saga, 2 bindi (Reykjavík: Almenna bókafélagið 1956–58). Helgi Skúli Kjartans -
son, „Gamli sáttmáli — hvað næst?“, p. 39, implies that I have not used Jón
Jóhannesson’s essay: „Og hún er varla einu sinni til umræðu 1956 þegar Jón
Jóhannesson birti afar rækilega rannsókn á samskiptum Íslendinga og kon-
ungsvaldsins 1299–1321“. In fact, I quote Jóhannesson’s essay at least twice on
Boulhosa, Icelanders and the Kings of Norway, pp. 117 and 141, and Gamli sátt-
máli: Tilurð og tilgangur, pp. 46 and 51
16 Contrary to what Helgi Skúli implies, I have indicated that this simplified
classification had been adopted by a number of contemporary scholars
Saga haust 2011 NOTA_Saga haust 2004 - NOTA 11/24/11 9:52 AM Page 141