Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1960, Blaðsíða 156

146
Jon Arason, and two generations before that the grandfather of
Eyjolfur i Dal, namely Eyjolfur Einarsson, had been a logma&ur.
We can also learn that Jon was probably quite wealthy, for it may
be seen from the Census of 1703 that Jon’s son, Gubmundur, had
many dependents—17 in the farmhouse at Muli itself and another
35 on six outlying small farms (Manntal å Islandi Åri5 1703,
pp. 487-8). Furthermore, the land survey of Årni Magnusson and
Påll Vidalin records GuSmundur’s part ownership of several farms
in other places (Jar&abok Årna Magnussonar og Pals Vidalins, vol.
I, pp. 225, 228, 337).
Jon Eyjolfsson was thus a notable person by birth, and well-to-
do; one who might well have had two such expensive manuscripts
made for him. The dates also fit well enough. His son GuSmundur
was 66 at the time of the census in 1703; at GuSmundur’s birth in
1636 or 1637 Jon will have been at least 20, probably more. In
1667-70 then, when the manuscripts were written, Jon will have
been something over 50.
The man who wrote the manuscripts for Jon Eyjolfsson was Påll
Sveinsson. Virtually nothing is known about him as a person, but
his name is connected, somewhat uncertainly, with several Arna-
Magnæan manuscripts. The uncertainty of the attribution of manu-
scripts to him may be illustrated by reference to AM 2, fol. There
is a note sewn in the front of this manuscript which says Delta er
med hende Kolbeins Hannefsonar j Floa, and Årni Magnusson had
adopted this note as his own by substituting Jreffe Ragnars Saga
for Detta. But afterwards he made an alteration and deleted Kol-
beinn’s name and wrote beside it ]pat mun ei fvo vera. jpetta mun
vera hond Pals Sveins fonar. There are other manuscripts in the
Collection about which Årni Magnusson changed his mind in this
way between Påll Sveinsson and Kolbeinn Hannesson. In this in-
stance however there were to be further changes, for below the
original note Årni afterwards wrote Bryniolfur Einars fon feger Nei.
j>at er vift ad. jjeffe fama hond hefur fkrifad fyrer Sera Jsorftein
Bioms fon... and on the basis of this information Årni then wrote
a fresh note to much the same effect: Bryniolfr Einars fon feger,
ad jjeffe Ragnars Saga fe hverki fkrifud af Kolbeine Hanneffyne nie
Pale Sveins fyne. Og verd eg j)å ad corrigera ]pad, fem eg (in regif tro
qvodam) hefi fkrifad um hondena a Ragnars Sogu og Explicatione