HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Gunnlaugr Leifsson (died 1218 or 1219) was an Icelandic scholar, author and poet. He was a Benedictine monk at the Þingeyraklaustur monastery (Icelandic ''Þingeyrarklaustur'') in the north of Iceland. Many sources (including ''Þorvalds þáttur víðförla'') refer to him simply as ''Gunnlaugr munkr'' or Gunnlaugr the Monk.


Biography

Little is known about Gunnlaugr's family or life, but a miracle in ''Jóns saga helga hin elsta'' describes how Gunnlaugr the Monk's "disciple and relative" Leifr recovers from a dangerous illness after drinking holy water touched by the relics of Bishop
Jón Ögmundarson Jón is an Old Norse common name still widely used in Iceland and the Faroes. According to Icelandic custom, people named Jón are generally referred to by first and middle names and those without a middle name are referred to with both first nam ...
of Hólar. The miracle is dated to the episcopy of Guðmundur Arason of Hólar (between 1203 and 1237). Gunnlaugr composed a Latin biography of King Óláfr Tryggvason (see '' Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar''). This work is now lost but it is believed to have been an expansion of the Latin '' Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar'' written by his monastic brother, Oddr Snorrason.
Snorri Sturluson Snorri Sturluson ( ; ; 1179 – 22 September 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was elected twice as lawspeaker of the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He is commonly thought to have authored or compiled portions of the ...
made use of Gunnlaugr's work when composing his '' Heimskringla'' and sections of Gunnlaugr's work were incorporated into '' Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta''. Gunnlaugr also wrote a Latin ''vita'' of Bishop Jón Ögmundarson. This work is also lost but Old Norse sagas of Jón of Hólar are still extant. Gunnlaugr also composed the original Latin version of '' Þorvalds þáttr víðförla'' but it is only preserved in an Old Norse translation. Gunnlaugr was also involved in the collection of
Þorlákr helgi Thorlak Thorhallsson ( Icelandic: ''Þorlákur Þórhallsson''; 1133 – 23 December 1193) is the patron saint of Iceland. He was bishop of Skálholt from 1178 until his death. Thorlak's relics were translated to the cathedral of Skalholt in 119 ...
's miracles. According to several medieval sources, Gunnlaugr composed a work on
Saint Ambrose Ambrose of Milan ( la, Aurelius Ambrosius; ), venerated as Saint Ambrose, ; lmo, Sant Ambroeus . was a theologian and statesman who served as Bishop of Milan from 374 to 397. He expressed himself prominently as a public figure, fiercely promo ...
. One study hypothesizes that the extant Old Norse translation of '' Vita sancti Ambrosii'', ''Ambrósíus saga'', may be Gunnlaugr's work, although Gunnlaugr's ''nova historia sancti Ambrosii'' is generally identified as a Latin office of St Ambrose, ''Ambrósíustíðir''.Gottskálk Jensson 2012:136. Gunnlaugr is likewise credited with the poem '' Merlínússpá'', a Norse translation of ''
Prophetiae Merlini The ''Prophetiæ Merlini'' is a Latin work of Geoffrey of Monmouth circulated, perhaps as a ''libellus'' or short work, from about 1130, and by 1135. Another name is ''Libellus Merlini''. The work contains a number of prophecies attributed to ...
'' by Geoffrey of Monmouth. The imagery in Gunnlaugr's translation testifies to his extensive knowledge of skaldic poetry. The poem is preserved in '' Hauksbók'' and consists of a total of 171 '' fornyrðislag'' stanzas.


See also

* Karl Jónsson


References


Other sources

* Eysteinn Björnsson (2002). ''Index of Old Norse/Icelandic Skaldic Poetry''. Published online at: https://web.archive.org/web/20060923215712/http://www.hi.is/~eybjorn/ugm/skindex/skindex.html See in particular "Gunnlaugr Leifsson" at https://web.archive.org/web/20070311082236/http://www.hi.is/~eybjorn/ugm/skindex/gleifs.html from the editions of Finnur Jónsson and E. A. Kock. * Gottskálk Jensson (2012). "''*Revelaciones Thorlaci Episcopi'' – Enn eitt glatað latínurit eftir Gunnlaug Leifsson munk á Þingeyrum" in ''Gripla'' 23:133–175. * Guðrún Nordal (2001).
Tools of Literacy : The Role of Skaldic Verse in Icelandic Textual Culture of the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries
'. University of Toronto Press. pp. 168–169. * Katrín Axelsdóttir (2005). "Gunnlaugur Leifsson og Ambrósíus saga" in ''Skírnir'', Autumn 2005:337-349. ISSN 0256-8446 * Oddr Snorrason (translated by Theodore M. Andersson) (2003).
The Saga of Olaf Tryggvason
'. Cornell University Press. * Simpson, Jacqueline (2004).
Olaf Tryggvason versus the Powers of Darkness
in ''The Witch Figure: Folklore Essays by a Group of Scholars in England'', pp. 165–187. Routledge.


External links



{{DEFAULTSORT:Gunnlaugr Leifsson 1210s deaths 13th-century Icelandic poets Icelandic writers Icelandic Benedictines Kings' sagas Skalds Year of birth unknown Icelandic male poets