Jón Guðmundsson and his natural history of Iceland

95 Pages·1924·3.72 MB·English

by  Halldór Hermannsson

■■н
ISLÁNDICA
AN ANNUAL RELATING TO ICELAND
AND THE
FISKE ICELANDIC COLLECTION
IN
CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
VOLUME XV
JON GUDMUNDSSON AND HIS NATURAL i
HISTORY OF ICELAND
BY
HALLDÓR HERMANNSSON
issued by cornell university library
Ithaca, New York
copenhagen : andr. fred. host & son
reykjavik: bókaverzlun sigfusar eymundssonar
1924
Price, One Dollar
ÜBRAKY OF Irin

EXTRACTS FROM THE WlLL OF THE LATE
WILLARD FISKE
"I give and bequeath to the Cornell University at Ithaca,
New York, all my books relating to Iceland and the old Scandi
navian literature and history. ..."
"I give and bequeath to the said Cornell University . . .
the sum of Five Thousand (5000) Dollars, to have and to hold
forever, in trust, nevertheless, to receive theincome thereof, and
to use and expend the said income for the purposes of the publi
cation of an annual volume relating to Iceland and the said
Icelandic Collection in the library of the said University."
In pursuance of these provisions the following volumes of
ISLANDICA have been issued:
I. Bibliography of the Icelandic Sagas, by Halld6r Her-
mannsson. 1908.
II. The Northmen in America (982-c. 1500), by Halld6r
Hermannsson. 1909.
III. BibliographyoftheSagasoftheKingsofNorwayand
related Sagas and Tales, by Halld6r Hermannsson.
1910.
IV. TheAncientLawsofNorwayandIceland, byHalld6r
Hermannsson. 1911.
V. Bibliography of the Mythical-Heroic Sagas, by Hall-
d6r Hermannsson. 1912.
VI. Icelandic Authors of to-day, with an appendix giving
a list of works dealing with Modern Icelandic
Literature, by Halld6r Hermannsson. 1913.
VII. The Story of Griselda in Iceland. Edited byHalld6r
Hermannsson. 1914.
VIII. An Icelandic Satire (Lof Lyginnar), by Porleifur
Halld6rsson. Edited by Halld6r Hermannsson.
1915.
IX. Icelandic Books of the Sixteenth Century, by Halld6r
Hermannsson. 1916.
X. Annalium in Islandia farrago and De mirabilibus
Islandiae, by Bishop Gfsli Oddsson. Edited by
Halld6r Hermannsson. 1917.
XI. The Periodical Literature of Iceland down to the
year 1874. An historical sketch by Halld6r Her
mannsson. 1918.
XII. Modern Icelandic. An essay by Halldor Hermanns-
son. 1919.
XIII. Bibliography of the Eddas, by Halldor Hermannsson.
1920.
XIV. Icelandic Books of the Seventeenth Century, by
Halld6r Hermannsson. 1922.
There have also been issued:
Catalogue of the Icelandic Collection bequeathed by Willard
Fiske. Compiled by Halld6rHermannsson. Ithaca, N. Y.,
1914. 4° pp. viii + 755.
Catalogue of Runic Literature forming a part of the Icelandic
Collection bequeathed by Willard Fiske. Compiled by
Halld6r Hermannsson. Oxford, Oxford University Press,
1917. 4° pp. viii + (2) + 106, 1 pi.

ISLÁNDICA
AN ANNUAL RELATING TO ICELAND
AND THE
FISKE ICELANDIC COLLECTION
IN
CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
VOLUME XV
JÓN GUDMUNDSSON AND HIS NATURAL
HISTORY OF ICELAND
BY
HALLDÓR HERMANNSSON
issued by cornell university library
ithaca, New York
COPENHAGEN: ANDR. FRED. HOST & SON
REYKJAVIK: BOKAVERZLUN SIGFUSAR EYMUNDSSONAR
1924
JON GUDMUNDSSON
AND HIS
NATURAL HISTORY OF ICELAND
BY
HALLDOR HERMANNSSON
CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
ITHACA, NEW YORK
1924

f.•):■;
It is noteworthy how little information there is to be found in
the old Icelandic literature about the physical conditions and
naturalhistoryofthecountry. Thereasonforthiscouldscarcely
be that the Icelanders of those early centuries were insensible
to or unobservant of nature. Many of them being sailors and
merchants it was essential for them to be very mindful of natural
objects and phenomena of all kinds, since these frequently were
almost the only things that could guide them on their voyages,
or help them to ascertain their position at sea. In this respect
the heavenly bodies were, of course, most important, but it is
to be remembered that in the North Atlantic with its frequent
fog and clouded sky, these were often hidden for a long space of
time, and under such conditions other means had to be resorted
to, and among them were doubtless the observation and identi
fication of animals and plants. One finds evidences of this in
the sagas, where forinstance it is told that sailors met birds from
land, and that from some particular land.1 Contours of land
had to be well remembered, and close observations made of the
movements of the sea, and of winds and weather. The necessity
of paying close attention to these last three is strongly empha
sized in the Norwegian Speculum regale, or Konungs skuggsja,
the only work in the Old Norse tongue where those matters are
treated at some length.2 It is likewise the only one giving a
somewhat full description of the natural phenomena of Iceland
and of the animals, real and imaginary, to be found in the sea
surrounding the country, thus presenting a good example of
what knowledge people possessed of those things, although this
has been scantily recorded in writing. In his saga of Bishop
Gu3mundur Arason, Abbot Arngrimur wrote about the middle
of the fourteenth century a brief chapter on the natural wonders
of Iceland, and he made this description form a background for
the life of the alleged saint and shiftless prelate.3 Otherwise in
'See for instance Fareyinga saga, ed. Rafn, 1832, chap. 23; Eiriks saga
rauda, ed. Storm, 1891, chap. 5.
2For bibliography, see Islandica II. pp. 44-45. The latest, critical ed. of
it, by FinnurJ6nsson, was publ. in 1920.
3Biskupa sogur II. pp. 5-6.
ii ISLANDICA
the early literature those things are made mention ofoccasionally
in passing. But this is sufficient to show what attention was
paid to them.
With the decline of trade and seamanship the knowledge
necessary for and acquired in such occupations, was doubtless
gradually forgotten, or lived in oral tradition in more or less
garbled form. Interest in natural objects was directed solely
by economic demands or necessity, attention being paid only to
those which could be used as food or in other ways help man
in his struggle for existence. In a superstitious age this interest
might, however, appear under various forms, but always with
some practical end in view. An unwarranted and unusual
curiosity about those thingswould belikelyto beinterpreted un
favorably by people as having some sinister purpose. In the
meagre Icelandic literature of the last centuries of the Middle
Ages there is nothing which indicates any particular interest in
nature, and for the most part of the sixteenth century people
were too occupied with religious questions to pay much attention
to other things.
But during the last decades of that century there are definite
signs of lively interest in the national history and of increasing
curiosity about the physical conditions of the country. Of
course this may be traced to the late Renaissance, and there are
two causes which make this movement active. One is the
influence of Tycho Brahe, the famous Danish astronomer, which
aroused interest in geography and natural science in general.
He had, at least, one prominent Icelandic pupil, Oddur Einars-
son,1 afterwards bishop of Skalholt who wrote a description of
Iceland, which unfortunately is lost, but doubtless was used by
his son and successor, Bishop Gisli Oddsson, who is the author
of the earliest extant treatise, from an Icelandic pen, dealing
withthe geography and natural phenomenaof Iceland, imperfect
as it may now seem to us.2 Bishop GuSbrandur Porlaksson
who first determined the geographical location of Iceland and
made the first fairly correct map of the country was a friend and
correspondent of the famous astronomer.3
1 Porv. Thoroddsen, Landfradissaga hi. II. pp. 67, 107-08.
2Printed inIslandicaX.
'P. Thoroddsen, op. tit. I. p. 211.—Similar was Brahe's influence in
Norway, see Bjornbo and Petersen, Anecdota chartograph. septentrionalia
1908, pp. 9-10; Y. Nielsen, Norges historie, IV. 1. 1909, pp. 265-66.