Gripla - 2020, Qupperneq 141

GRIPLA140
source of the Timur excerpt in Oddverjaannáll we have seen the wealth
of representations of this historical figure in early modern writing, from
tyrant, to potential eastern savior of Christendom, to moral exemplum of
martial virtues and vices. We must, however, be cautious when assessing
the process whereby material was selected for inclusion in the annal. We
cannot be sure that the compilers were aware of many of these sources, and
they may simply have used the only material that was to hand, namely a
slightly modified version of Franck’s Chronica. Moreover, we cannot know
whether the author of Oddverjaannáll had a full text of Franck’s work(s)
or was already using an edited version. Perhaps the excerpts we see were
the only ones available, but there may also have been a process of selection.
If the latter, perhaps there is a reason why information about Timur and
his merciless actions is juxtaposed with another event of more local inter-
est. That local event is the killing of Gunnlaugur bóndi Magnússon from
Reykholt (in Borgarfjörður) as retribution for his killing of Jón afbragð
the previous year (1397). Gunnlaugur Magnússon was sýslumaður ‘county
magistrate’ in Borgarfjörður between 1375 and 1399, and the killing of Jón
afbragð is said to have been just one example of his overbearing behavior
and is linked with ‘annad hardligt framferdj wid bændur þa hann hafdi
kongz sysluʼ [other harsh actions taken against farmers when he held the
position of the king’s magistrate].46 It seems that Gunnlaugur, like Timur
according to some accounts, took excessive advantage of his position, and
thus abuse of power emerges as a theme uniting east and west, distant
lands and more familiar districts. The killing of Gunnlaugur may even have
been moved in the annal to 1398 to highlight this correspondence: Hannes
Þorsteinsson says in a footnote to his edited text of Bogi Benediktsson’s
sýslumannaæfir that it is more likely that Gunnlaugur was killed in 1400,
as appears in Lögmannsannáll.47
The preceding discussion of the potential sources for the description
of Timur in the Oddverjaannáll was extensive, especially considering the
fact that the entries taken from Franck’s work represent only a very small
46 Oddaannálar og Oddverjaannáll, 183. Gunnlaugur bóndi Magnússon is not mentioned in
Páll Eggert ólason, Íslenzkar æviskrár frá landnámstímum til ársloka 1940, I–VI (Reykjavík:
Hið íslenzka bókmenntafélag, 1948–1976), but he does appear in sýslumannaæfir eptir Boga
Benediktsson á staðarfelli, I–V, ed. by Jón Pétursson and Hannes Þorsteinsson (Reykjavík:
Prentsmiðjan Herbertsprent, 1881–1915), III. 385–86.
47 sýslumannaæfir, ed. Jón Pétursson and Hannes Þorsteinsson, III. 386.