Gripla - 2023, Blaðsíða 264

262 GRIPLA
Árni Magnússon’s motivation for wanting this copy of
*Bræðratungubók is clear: AM 178 fol. is a meticulous scholarly copy of
the original. Jón Erlendsson retains the orthography of his medieval exem-
plar, including abbreviations, and blank spaces are left for the first initials
of each chapter—a feature of the layout possibly mirroring the original. It
is in extremely good condition, with no clues as to its ownership, such as
names in the margins.
If Sigurjón Páll Ísaksson (1994) is correct in assuming that
*Bræðratungubók came from Munkaþverá, Jón must have copied it be-
tween 1663 and 1668. After Brynjólfur Sveinsson’s death in 1675, AM
178 fol. would have passed either to Helga Magnúsdóttir or to Sigríður
Halldórsdóttir. Since Helga had sent *Bræðratungubók to Þormóður in
Norway, there is reason to believe that AM 178 fol. would have been of
personal interest to her. Furthermore, when examining the connections
between Árni Jónsson and the two women, the most obvious link is that
Árni Jónsson’s wife, Ingibjörg Magnúsdóttir, was Helga Magnúsdóttir’s
illegitimate great-niece.
In 1668, one of Helga’s nephews—Magnús Jónsson (1642–1694),
the son of Helga’s sister Jórunn Magnúsdóttir and her husband Jón
Magnússon—married the well-to-do Guðrún Þorgilsdóttir (1650–1705).
That same year, another woman—also named Guðrún, but whose patro-
nymic is unknown—gave birth to a daughter fathered by Magnús. The
infant, christened Ingibjörg (the name of Helga’s maternal grandmother),
was unlikely to have been welcomed into Magnús’s household by his new
bride. Ingibjörg’s mother was probably a servant, and responsibility for
raising the baby would have fallen largely to Magnús’s father’s family.
Helga possibly gave or bequeathed the manuscript to Ingibjörg in an-
ticipation of her marriage, or to help provide for her future. At the time of
Helga’s death, Ingibjörg would have been about twenty, and a folio manu-
script in excellent condition would have been a valuable asset as cultural
capital. If AM 178 fol. formed part of Ingibjörg’s dowry, this would also
explain why Árni Magnússon needed to trade it for another seventeenth-
century copy of Þiðreks saga, since Árni Jónsson was not legally permitted
to give away his wife’s dowry but could exchange the book for another of
equivalent value.
Given the significance attached to children’s given names in early mod-