Today, Þorláksmessa, the Mass of St Þorlákur, is celebrated in Iceland. Born in Hlíðarendi in 1133, Þorlákur Þórhallsson was ordained as priest in 1152 and studied in Paris and Lincoln afterwards. Upon his return to Iceland, he taught for a few years at Kirkjubær. He was one of the founders of the Augustinian monastery Þykkjvabæjarklaustur in South Iceland around 1168 and became its abbot in 1171. Five years later he was elected as bishop of Skálholt, the diocese spanning the East, South and West of Iceland, and was ordained in 1179. He died on 23 December 1193. His veneration began soon after his death, even though he was not officially canonised until 1984. The shrine with his relics was the goal of many pilgrimages until it was destroyed in the course of the Reformation. Þorlákur is considered the patron saint of Iceland. Þorláks saga helga narrates his life and miracles.
His namesake, Þorlákur Skúlason (1597-1656), became Bishop of Hólar in 1628 after the demise of his grandfather, Guðbrandur Þorláksson. He also took over the printing press at the diocese and had a multitude of books printed and re-printed. Under his auspices the Bible was printed again, called Þorláksbiblía after him. During my preliminary examinations of four copies of the Bible I found a multitude of watermarks in it. There are six or seven different watermarks, including two with countermarks. The text is densely printed, and carbon ink does not become invisible in the spectral band width that the hyperspectral camera of our cooperation partner (Fraunhofer Institute for Factory Operation and Automation IFF, Magdeburg) provided. We did not get clear images of the watermarks and could not compare them to other watermarks in databases. Thus, we were not able to establish where the paper for the Þorláksbiblía came from. And although this Bible has gained a rather bad reputation due to its many Danicisms and typos it is still an impressive book.
Programming Note: Our project Paper Trails is slowly coming to an end and this is the last of our regular blog posts. The twitter account (@PaperTrailsIS) is still active, though, and please join us at our conference Paper Stories in Reykjavík, 5-6 May 2022!
Further Reading:
Ásdís Egilsdóttir, “St Þorlákr of Iceland: The Emergence of a Cult,” The Haskins Society Journal 12 (2003): 121-131.
Einar G. Pétursson, “Bókaútgáfa á biskupsstólunum,” in: Saga biskupsstólanna. Skálholt 950 ára – 2006 – Hólar 900 ára, edited by Gunnar Kristjánsson. Hólar: Bókaútgáfa Hóla, 2006, 569-605.
Margaret Cormack, The Saints in Iceland: Their Veneration from the Conversion to 1400. Subsidia Hagiographica 78. Brussels: Société des Bollandistes, 1994.
Páll Eggert Ólason, Menn og menntir siðskiptaaldarinnar á Íslandi. Reykjavík: 1919-1926.