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 vÃðförla'') 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 vÃðförla'' 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'', ''AmbrósÃus saga'', may be Gunnlaugr's work, although Gunnlaugr's ''nova historia sancti Ambrosii'' is generally identified as a Latin office of St Ambrose, ''AmbrósÃustÃðir''.
[Gottskálk Jensson 2012:136.]
Gunnlaugr is likewise credited with the poem ''
MerlÃnússpá'', 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 latÃnurit 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.
* KatrÃn Axelsdóttir (2005). "Gunnlaugur Leifsson og AmbrósÃus saga" in ''SkÃrnir'', 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