Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1957, Page 76
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INTRODUCTION
Bishop GuSbrandur’s attitude towards the royal power (pp. 2—
3), and it is unlikely that AJ’s views dif fered from his. AJ’s point
of view was thus not only moulded by the basic theories of the
humanists—for whom the monarchy was a divine institution—
but also by the Icelandic standpoint of his time, as it was revealed
in the Icelandic Reformers and their successors, the bishops, and
in that section of the leading families who, especially as loyal
officials, were their allies,—precisely in faet the Icelandic coun-
terparts of those social groups in other countries which formed
the milieu for the growth of humanism.
In the third book of Crymogæa, AJ surveys Iceland’s history
from 1262, dividing his work according to the reigns of the
kings of Norway and Denmark, chiefly in annalistic form—all
the more natural for him because his chief sources were annals.
He introduces however an important novelty into Icelandic his-
tory-writing by reproducing a number of doeuments, some in
extenso, others in abstract. In this he undoubtedly took Huitfeldt
as his model, who in his history of Denmark had used the same
method—that AJ made use of his work is shown by several
direct quotations. The doeuments used by AJ were of course
accessible to him in the cathedral-archives at Hålar, and he has
become our principal source for some doeuments which have
since disappeared (see below, Ch. III, no. 64).
AJ’s arrangement of the material in Gronlandia follows the
same plan as in Crymogæa, which is not unnatural since, as we
know, the two works were prepared simultaneously. In Gron-
landia he describes first the situation and topography of the
country, its first settlement, constitution, the Conversion, churches
and bishops (chs. I—IV). Then come extracts from the sagas
relating to Greenland and finally the story of the discovery of
Vinland (chs. V—XI). These sections correspond to the first and
second hooks of Crymogæa, but are mueh briefer. On the other
hånd, AJ had, for good reasons, nothing to tell of Greenland’s
history which might correspond to Crymogæa’s third book. The
only information he found in his sources on Greenland’s later
history consisted of some sporadic annal-entries on the bishops
of the country, and these he included in his list of bishops.
Thus we see that in the construction of his hooks AJ follows