Skírnir - 01.04.2001, Page 87

SKÍRNIR
VORU TIL LÆRÐAR KONUR ... Á ÍSLANDI ?
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Nielsen, Kay. 1981. Danmarks konger og dronninger. Kaupmannahöfn.
Pabel, Hilmar M. 1999. „Feminae unica est cura pudicitiae: Rhetoric and the
Incalculation of Chastity in Book 1 of Vives’ De institutione feminae christi-
anae.“ Humanistica Lovaniensia. Joumal of Neo-Latin Studies XLVIII:
70-102. Leuven.
Páll Eggert Ólason. 1948-1952. íslenzkar æviskrár I-V. Reykjavík.
Salmonsens Konversationsleksikon. I-XXVI. 2. útg. Ritstj. Chr. Blangstrup o.fl.
1915-1930. Kaupmannahöfn.
Three Tragedies by Renaissance Women. Ritstj. Diane Purkiss. 1998. Lundúnum.
Thura, Albert. 1732. Alberti Thura, Laur. Fil. Pastoris Leirskoviensis in Cimbria,
Gynœceum Daniæ Litteratum Feminis Danorum, Eruditione vel Scriptis Clar-
is Conspicuum; Prœmissa Prœfatione de Feminarum Variarum apud Danos in
Litteras et Litteratos Munificentia, et Adjecto ad Calcem, Una cum Appendice
Duplici Indice Personarum. Altona.
Summary
The aim of this article is to answer the question whether learned women, feminae
doctae, were to be found in Iceland in the age of Humanism. This requires a clar-
ification of what is meant by feminae doctae. Accordingly the first section deals
with the women of letters in antiquity and the Middle Ages, who preceded the
learned women of the Renaissance. They are the main subject of the second sec-
tion in which an attempt is made to describe the particular endowments of a
woman belonging to this category, although an exact definition of the learned
Renaissance woman is hardly possible. Although ideas concerning the funda-
mentals of learning changed during this period, it nevertheless seems reasonable to
believe that a sound knowledge of Latin was always regarded as a necessary pre-
requisite to membership of the class of learned women. In spite of this and other
demands, Humanism offered many examples of women who excelled in learning.
A brief survey is made of this evolution, beginning in Italy and spreading to the far
north and the Scandinavian countries, mainly, but not solely, through the court life
of monarchs and the nobility.
In consequence of the growing participation of women in educated circles, a
new literary genre, the so-called gynœceum, or women’s literary history, became
popular, reaching its zenith in the 17th century, as described in the third section of
this article. An example of the genre is the Gynxceum Daniœ Litteratum, compos-
ed by the Dane Albert Thura (1700-1740) and published in 1732. This work most
probably inspired an Icelander, Jón Ólafsson (1705-1779), to write a brief list of
Icelandic women, whom he deemed worthy of being considered well educated.
According to the author, six of these women, all born in the 17th century, knew
some Latin. This may be regarded as a most valuable piece of information, on
which the fourth section concentrates. There, another source is introduced which
mentions still another woman from the same period who had some knowledge of