Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.2003, Qupperneq 187

IB 180 8vo
173
These scribbles, especially the occurrences of the name Porlåkur Jons-
son, indicate that the manuscript was still at MunaSarnes half a century
after it was written there.
Porlåkur Jonsson is likely to have been the boy of eleven who is
mentioned as being at MunaSarnes in the 1703 census,15 so bom 1691-
92. On the other hånd, he is not likely to be the writer of the scribble
‘Thorlaku[r]’ on p. 15, since this is probably older than Jon Porarins-
son’s writing. In 1703, there were two families living at MunaSarnes;
one was Gisli Porarinsson, logréttumadur, and his wife GuSrun Bjama-
dottir, who were childless, and the other Helgi SigurSsson, his wife
GuSrun Sveinsdottir and their four sons, aged 1-6, as well as Porlåkur
Jonsson, GuSrun’s eleven-year-old son, probably by a former mar-
riage.16 In Borgfirzkar æviskrar, it is assumed that Porlåkur was the son
of one Jon Jorundsson, but the grounds for the assumption are not
strong.17 In the note on p. 218 in Z, Porlåkur Jonsson is addressed as the
owner of the manuscript, and in the 1709 cadaster he appears as co-
owner, together with his mother and under her guardianship, of one
quarter of MunaSarnes.18 It is a tempting possibility that GuSrun
Sveinsdottir’s first husband was in faet Jon Porarinsson, and that the
book and the share in the farm are Porlåkur Jonsson’s patemal inherit-
ance. Some reference books State (with or without reservations) that
Jon Porarinsson lived at MunaSarnes as an adult,19 but the source of this
information is doubtful; it may simply be an inference from the
colophon in IB 180 8vo. According to BÆ, his name is nowhere to be
found in the 1703 census, which means that he had probably died be-
fore that year, and there is no record of his being married or having off-
spring.
15 Manntal 1703, op. cit., p. 74.
16 Ibid.
17 Borgfirzkar æviskrar, ed. ASalsteinn Halldorsson, Ari Gxslason, GuSmundur Illugason,
IV, Reykjavik 1975, p. 378. Referred to in the following as BÆ.
18 Jardabok IV, op. cit., p. 340. Gisli Porarinsson is the owner of half the estate; one quar-
ter is owned by a non-resident, Hogni Halldorsson “aS Straumfirbi 1 Alftanesshrepp å
Myrum” and the last quarter by GuSrun Sveinsdottir and her son Porlåkur Jonsson, “sem
aS er undir fjårhaldi moSur sinnar”. Porlåkur Jonsson must have been all of 17 years old
in 1709, and there must be some special reason for his being under continued guardian-
ship (the age of majority was 16 according to Jonsbok); possibly he suffered from some
mental or physical disability. His youngest half-brother, Jon Helgason, is farming
MunaSarnes in 1734, BÆ V, p. 449.
19 Ldgréttumannatal, op. cit., p. 530, BÆ IV, p. 378.