The analysis of paper use is one of our main aims in our project Life of Paper. The bréfabækur of Bishop Brynjólfur Sveinsson (1605-1675), books with copies of important letters and documents that the bishop sent and received, serve as case study.
Today, there are fourteen extant bréfabækur covering the years 1652-1671 and 1673-1675. They always contain a title page and a register. The title pages refer to volumes VII-XVIII and XX-XXI, and based on this, we can safely state that the first six volumes and volume XIX, covering the early years in his office (1639-1651), and – allmost all of – 1672 are lost. Eight leaves with texts pertaining to August 1672 are now found in ÍB 34 fol. The extant bréfabækur start at a time when Brynjólfur had already been well established in his position and presumably had set up a routine regarding the administrative side of his position.
In the bréfabækur we can trace the paper supply at Skálholt, which often lasted for no longer than one or two years before it had to be replenished. The bulk of each of these books is from a main paper stock, ie. paper with the same watermark. Small additions came from smaller paper stocks, perhaps some left-over paper.
In some cases we find paper with the same watermarks in bréfabækur in other manuscripts. AM 274-276 fol, for example, comprises paper with a watermark depicting a large coat of arms divided into four. The same paper was also used for several other manuscripts, most of which – but not all – are connected to the Skálholt-bishopric. Parts of JS 149 4to, e.g., contain paper with the same watermark. This manuscript contains copies of church ordinances, law, including canon law, and documents related to these topics, and was in large parts written by Hannes Gunnlaugsson, a farmer and scribe in the Westfjords. The connection between the bishopric and JS 149 4to is unclear but our cooperation partners at the National and University Library of Iceland are analysing Hannes‘ role as scribe, and will hopefully be able to shed some light on the paper distribution soon.
In other cases we find paper that came from the paper stocks of other people. In AM 268 fol, for example, we find a bifolium (ff. 101+111) with a watermark not found anywhere else in this manuscript. The text on f. 101 is a contract between two people who have no apparent connection to the bishopric or to the bishop. It seems that the bishop served as a notary of some sort, to grant legal security by copying the contract into his bréfabók. We have no information what payment such service would have implied but at the very least the people had to bring their own paper.
Much more interesting information can be unearthed when analysing the bréfabækur in detail, including material aspects such as paper use. Stay tuned for more results!
Further reading
Halldóra Kristinsdóttir, Jón Kristinn Einarsson and Rannver H. Hannesson, „Manuscript Production in 17th-Century Iceland: The Case of Hannes Gunnlaugsson,“ in Paper Stories: Paper and Book History in Post-Medieval Europe, edited by Silvia Hufnagel, Þórunn Sigurðardóttir and Davíð Ólafsson, 255-282. Material Text Cultures 38. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2023.
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