The Sources, Dating, and Composition of Íslendingabók

Authors

  • Ben Allport Kulturhistorisk museum, Universitetet i Oslo Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.33112/gripla.35.5

Abstract

In the prologue to Íslendingabók, Ari fróði Þorgilsson informs us that he showed an early version of the text to Bishop Þorlákr Runólfsson of Skálholt (r. 1118‒1133) and Bishop Ketill Þorsteinsson of Hólar (r. 1122‒1145). He then updated his text with “því es mér varð síðan kunnara ok nú es gerr sagt á þessi en á þeiri” (that which afterwards became better known to me and is now more fully told in this [version] than in the other). The reference to the bishops has been used to date the text to 1122‒1133, although a reference to Goðmundr Þorgeirsson (r. 1123‒1134) in the text’s list of lawspeakers has also been used to date the text to 1134 or later. The differences between the two versions, whether they both circulated, or whether the oldest version existed at all have been the subject of debate. These discussions about Íslendingabók’s dating and composition have primarily focused on the text’s use by subsequent medieval Icelandic scholars. In this article, I instead consider Ari’s sources of information. What could have “become better known” to him between his first and second versions? Two key clusters of information suggest themselves: a list of obits derived from Fulcher of Chartres’s Historia Hierosolymitana and the reference to Goðmundr Þorgeirsson. On this basis, I argue that the surviving version of Íslendingabók could not have been completed before 1125 at the earliest, and that a date of 1134‒1135 is more likely.

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Published

2024-12-16

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