Fire and Paper

We are back from summer holidays and hope that you are all safe and sound in the pandemic, the social upheavals and the fires.

The current church at Kaupangur was built in 1922 by Sveinbjörn Jónsson.

Fire is a hazard that has led to much destruction in Icelandic culture, too. Perhaps you are familiar with the fire that destroyed a considerable part of Árni Magnússon‘s Icelandic manuscript and book collection in Copenhagen in 1728. Various parts of the episcopal sees in Skálholt and Hólar went up in flames over the centuries. And the small and relatively unknown church in Kaupangur in Eyjafjörður, North Iceland, burnt down some time between c. 1450 and 1478. Its rebuilding led to interesting paper trails, though.

Margrét Vigfúsdóttir (c. 1406-1486), the famous magnate and patron and owner of manuscripts, had it rebuilt and furnished. Among the items that she gave to the church are “tabulum med pappir. iij pappirsblod” (altar-piece made with paper [cardboard?]. 3 sheets of paper), according to a church inventory from 1478.[1] The three paper sheets were presumably paintings, or perhaps even broadsides with woodcut images. Not only are these some of the earliest references to paper in Iceland, they are also references to paper that was not used as text bearing object! Stay tuned for more exciting news! And stay safe!

Further reading:

Gunnar Kristjánsson, ed., Saga biskupsstólanna: Skálholt 950 ára – 2006 – Hólar 900 ára. Hólar: Bókaútgáfan Hólar, 2006.

Hans Jacob Orning, "The Truth of Tales: Fornaldarsögur as Sources of Contemporary History." In: The Legendary Legacy: Transmission and Reception of the "Fornaldarsögur Norðurlanda", edited by Matthew Driscoll, Silvia Hufnagel, Philip Lavender and Beeke Stegmann, 91-115. The Viking Collection 24. Odense: University Press of Southern Denmark, 2018.

Már Jónsson, Arnas Magnæus philologus (1663-1730). The Viking Collection 20. Odense: University Press of Southern Denmark, 2012.

[1] Jón Sigurðsson, Jón Þorkelsson, Páll Eggert Ólason and Björn Þorsteinsson, eds., Diplomatarium islandicum. Íslenzkt fornbréfasafn; sem hefir inni að halda bréf og gjörninga, dóma og máldaga og aðrar skrár, er snerta Ísland eða íslenzka menn. 16 vols. Copenhagen: Hið íslenzka bókmenntafjelag, 1857-1972, vol. 5, 302, no. XLII.