THE FIRST ICELANDIC HISTORIANS (11TH – EARLY 12TH CENTURIES)
Keywords:
«Landnámabók» («The Book of the Settlements»), «Íslendingabók» («The Book of Icelanders»), source criticism, historiography, Sæmundr Sigfússon inn fróði (1056–1133), Ári Þorgílsson inn fróði (1067/68–1148), Kolskeggr Ásbjörnsson inn fróði (d. c. 1130)Abstract
The medieval Icelandic historiography of the late 11th – early 12th centuries gave impetus to the further development of Icelandic historical thought. Although little has been preserved from the works of historians of that period, they served as the basis for the historical works of the 13th century, which glorified Iceland and became widely known. Among the first Icelandic historians, Sæmundr Sigfússon (1056–1133), Ári Þorgílsson (1067 / 68–1148) and Kolskeggr Ásbjörnsson (d. c. 1130), who received the nicknames «The Wise» (inn fróði) from the descendants, should be recognized as the most significant historians. The founder of the Icelandic historical school is considered to be the priest Sæmundr Sigfússon. He wrote in Latin about the history of Norway and the early history of Iceland, but his works did not survive. All his works are reconstructed due to the references to them by later authors. No less famous is Ári Þorgílsson, who wrote in Old Norse around the same time or a little later. His Íslendingabók (“Book of Icelanders”) tells about the first period of Icelandic history: the settlement of Iceland and Greenland, the baptism of the country and the establishment of bishops. With a high degree of probability, Ári’s work was used to create the proto-edition of the Landnámabók (“The Book of the Settlements”), as well as the work now lost by one of their contemporary, who turned out to be undeservedly ignored by the descendants – Kolskeggr Ásbjörnsson. This statement is based not only on direct references to Ári and Kolskeggr available in the Landnámabók, but also on the textual analysis of the fragments allegedly created on the basis of their works.References
Глазырина Г.В. Первый историограф Исландии Сэмунд Мудрый // Древнейшие госу-дарства Восточной Европы, 2013 год: Зарождение историописания в обществах Древности и Средневековья / Русский фонд содействия образованию и науке. М., 2016. С. 527–551.
Гуревич Е.А. Древнескандинавская новелла: поэтика «прядей об исландцах». М.: Наука, 2004. 424 с.
Джаксон Т.Н. Многозначность стран света в средневековой Исландии // Книга картины земли: Сб. ст. в честь И.Г. Коноваловой / под ред. Т.Н. Джаксон и А.В. Подосинова. М.: Индрик, 2014. С. 76–92.
Литовских Е.В., Рейер И.А. Лингвистические особенности структуры Sturlubók // Вестник Московского государственного лингвистического университета. Сер.: Гуманитарные науки. 2020 (в печати).
Bjarni Guðnason. Fyrsta sagan. Reykjavík: Rannsóknastofnun í bókmenntafræði við Háskóla Íslands og Bókaútgáfa Menningarsjóðs, 1978. 177 bls. (Studia Islandica, 37).
Edwards P., Hermann Pálsson. Preface // The book of Settlements. Winnipeg, 1972. 159 р.
Ellehøj S. Studier over den ældste norrøne historieskrivning. København, 1965. 325 s.
Halldór Hermannsson. Ári Þorgilsson og Landnámabók // Ársrit Skógræktarfélags Íslands. Reykjavík, 1948. Bls. 58–63.
Jakob Benediktsson. Landnámabók: Some Remarks on Its Value as a Historical Source // Saga-Book of the Viking Society for Northern Research. London, 1969. Vol. 17. P. 275–292.
Jón Jóhannesson. Gerðir Landnámabókar. Reykjavík: Félagsprentsmiðjan, 1941. 231 bls.
Kristmann Guðmundsson. Landnam // Samtiden. Oslo, 1932. Vol. 18. S. 606–622.
Long A.-M. Sturlubók and Cultural Memory // The Northern World. Leiden, 2017. Vol. 78. P. 56–69.
Sveinbjörn Rafnsson. Studier i Landnámabók: Kritiska bidrag till den isländska fristatstidens historia Lund: C. W. K. Gleerup, 1974. 256 p. (Bibliotheca Historica Lundensis, 31).
Ulff-Møller J. The Origin of the Book of Settlement and Celtic Christianity in Iceland // Studi e Materiali di Storia delle Religioni. Roma, 2016. Vol. 82 (2/2016). P. 887–915.
References
Jakob Benediktsson. (1969), “Landnámabók: Some Remarks on Its Value as a Historical Source”, in Saga-Book of the Viking Society for Northern Research, Vol. 17, University College London, London, UK, pp. 275–292.
Edwards P. & H. Pálsson (1972), “Preface”, in The book of Settlements, University of Manitoba Press, Winnipeg, USA, 159 p.
Ellehøj, S. (1965), “Studier over den ældste norrøne historieskrivning”, in Bibliotheca Arnamagnaeana, Vol. 26. Munksgaard, København, Danmark, 325 s.
Glazyrina, G.V. (2016), “The first historian of Iceland, Samund the Wise”, in Drevneyshie gosudarstva Vostochnoy Evropy, 2013 god: Zarozhdenie istoriopisaniya v ob-shchestvah Drevnosti i Srednevekov'ya [Ancient States of Eastern Europe, 2013: The Origin of Historical Writing in the Societies of Antiquity and the Middle Ages], Russkiy fond sodeistviya obrazovaniyu i nauke, Мoscow, Russia, pp. 527–551.
Kristmann Guðmundsson. (1932), “Landnam”, Samtiden, Vol. XLIII, pp. 606–622.
Bjarni Guðnason. (1978), “Fyrsta sagan”, in Studia Islandica. Vol. 37, Rannsóknastofnun í bókmenntafræði við Háskóla Íslands og Bókaútgáfa Menningarsjóðs, Reykjavík, Iceland, 177 bls.
Gurevich, E.A. (2004), Drevneskandinavskaya novella: poetika «pryadei ob islandtsakh» [Old Norse Short Story: Poetics of þættir], Nauka, Мoscow, Russia, 424 p.
Halldór Hermannsson.(1948), “Ári Þorgilsson og Landnámabók”, in Ársrit Skógræktarfélags Íslands, pp. 58–63.
Jackson, T.N. (2014), “ The ambiguity of the countries of the world in medieval Iceland”, in Jackson, Т. & А. Podossinov (eds.), Kniga kartiny zemli. Sb. st. v chest’ I.G. Konovalovoy [Book of a picture of the earth. Digest of articles in honor of I.G. Konovalova], Indrik, Мoscow, Russia, pp. 76–92.
“Íslendingabók. Landnámabók” (1968), Hið íslenzka fornritafélag, Reykjavík, Iceland, 525 p.
Jón Jóhannesson. (1941), “Gerðir Landnámabókar”, Félagsprentsmiðjan, Reykjavík, Iceland, 231 bls.
“Landnámabók: Ljósprentun handrita” (1974), Hið íslenzka fornritafélag, Reykjavík, Iceland, 662 p.
Litovskikh, E.V. & I.A. Reyer (2020), “Linguistic features of the structure of Sturlubók”, Vestnik of MSLU, Se-ries: Humanities, Мoscow, Russia (in print).
Long, A.-M. (2017), “Sturlubók and Cultural Memory”, in The Northern World, Vol. 78, Brill, Leiden, Nether-lands, pp. 56–69.
Sveinbjörn Rafnsson. (1974), ”Studier i Landnámabók: Kritiska bidrag till den isländska fristatstidens historia”, in Bibliotheca Historica Lundensis, Vol. 31, C. W. K. Gleerup, Lund, Norway, 256 p.
Ulff-Møller, J. (2016), “The Origin of the Book of Settlement and Celtic Christianity in Iceland”, in Studi e Materiali di Storia delle Religioni, Vol. 82 (2/2016), pp. 887–915.
