Editiones Arnamagnæanæ. Series B - 01.10.1968, Síða 107
cv
be correct, for the hand in Perg. fol. 3 and the frag-
ments in 667 V and XI reappears with the above-
mentioned palæographical and orthographical char-
acteristics in a number of documents from Reykhólar
and its neighhourhood dating from the period 1501-
42. Only a few of these will be mentioned here, as
a complete list of the documents will be given in
the edition of Perg. fol. 3. All these documents con-
cern Björn Þorleifsson, “bóndi” at Reykhólar (c. 1465
-c. 1545)4 and there are grounds for believing that he
wrote the documents himself instead of employing
a secretary as might have been expected.
The name Björn Þorleifsson is the only one which
appears in all the documents written in the char-
acteristic hand, and the name and the hand make
both their first and their last appearances in the
diplomatarium at approximately the same time.
Björn Þorleifsson spent the years 1504-06 in Nor-
way5. A letter written in Bergen in 1505, AM Fasc.
XXXVII, 29 (Diplomatarium Islandicum VII nr. 701),
begins thus:
Thath giorer egh biorn thorleffson godhvm monnum
kvnneckth medh thessv mínv opnv breffe thet egh medh-
kenvnzth ath egh haffur selltth velbvrdhigh mann hans
krvchvgh och hans ærlighre kvinnu hvsthrv svnniffv thessar
mínar jardher j jslandhe er so heitha fyrst Sthadh j adhal-
víjk ock er femthighe hvndhrvdvm.
4. Diplomatarium Islandicum VI-XIV (indices), fslenzkar Ævi-
skrár I, 1948, p. 257, PállE. Ólason: Menn og Menntir IV, 1926,
p. 803 (index), Páll E. Ólason: Saga íslendinga IV, 1944, p. 450
(index), Sýslumannaæfir II, 1889-1904, pp. 594-605.
5. AM Fasc. XXXVII, 2 (Dipl. Isl. VII nr. 649): Iceland, June
1504; AM Fasc. XXXVII, 16 (Dipl. Isl. VII nr. 686): Oslo,
January 1505; AM Fasc. XXXVIII, 2 (Dipl. Isl. VIII nr. 81):
Bergen, January 1506; AM Apogr. 904 (Dipl. Isl. VIII nr. 124):
Iceland, April 1507. The main object of B. Þ.’s journey was to
obtain pardon for the killing of Páll Jónsson (t 1496), the husband
of his patemal aimt Solveig Bjömsdóttir.