Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.2007, Blaðsíða 136

io6
5 Historical and philological institutions
1680.60 This policy was encouraged on the Swedish side by the king’s
adviser Johan Gyllenstierna, but encountered a serious set-back with
his early death the same year. Nevertheless, the kingdoms managed to
agree in 1690 on a pact of neutrality in order to protect the ffeedom
of the seas with regard to trade in both countries. In the course of
the 1690S, however, the relationship became steadily worse and the
eighteenth century began with new wars.
Although the relationship between the two countries was doubtless
characterised throughout the whole period by vigilance on both sides,
the short breathing space in the i68os must surely have made com-
munication easier for a few years. Swedish philologists and historians
were completely dependent on contact with Denmark to acquire Old
Norse sources and to recruit Icelandic assistants for their work, and it
looks as if the political climate made this easier for a few years from
1679. The conditions for this scholarly activity were therefore rather
unstable, and on several occasions the State of war had a direct impact
on philologists and their work. The policy of appeasement in the 1680S
gave a sound basis for the development of good lines of communica-
tion between the two camps. This was due not least to the faet that the
Swedes like the Danes were dependent on Icelanders both to acquire
manuscripts and to read, transcribe and translate old texts. The Ice-
landers knew each other personally and could exchange services. They
could travel relatively unhindered between the countries and they, or
at least the amanuenses, worked frrst and foremost because they were
paid for it, not in order to defend or undermine the national pride of
one of the two kingdoms. Most of the Icelanders were reeruited in
Copenhagen, usually among students at the University there. It was
60 They were engaged as early as 1675, but the engagement was broken because of
the war. Ulrika Eleonora, however, considered the agreement to be binding. When
peace was agreed in 1679 the matter was taken up again and the marriage celebrated
the following year (Danmarks historie, vol. VIII: 164, 249—250).