Gunnlaugr Leifsson (died 1218 or 1219) was an Icelandic scholar, author and poet. He was a

Benedictine monk The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict ( la, Ordo Sancti Benedicti, abbreviated as OSB), are a Christian monasticism, monastic Religious order (Catholic), religious order of the Catholic Church following the Rule of Saint Benedic ...

at the

Þingeyraklaustur Þingeyraklaustur was a monastery of the Order of Saint Benedict located in Þingeyrar on Iceland from 1133 until 1551. It was the first convent in Iceland and likely the last to be closed by the Icelandic Reformation. History The convent was fou ...

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 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 Olaf Tryggvason (960s – 9 September 1000) was King of Norway from 995 to 1000. He was the son of Tryggvi Olafsson, king of Viken (Vingulmark, and Rånrike), and, according to later sagas, the great-grandson of Harald Fairhair, first King of No ...

(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 made use of Gunnlaugr's work when composing his ''

Heimskringla ''Heimskringla'' () is the best known of the Old Norse kings' sagas. It was written in Old Norse in Iceland by the poet and historian Snorre Sturlason (1178/79–1241) 1230. The name ''Heimskringla'' was first used in the 17th century, derive ...

'' and sections of Gunnlaugr's work were incorporated into ''

Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta ''Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta'' or ''The Greatest Saga of Óláfr Tryggvason'' is generically a hybrid of different types of sagas and compiled from various sources in the fourteenth century, but is most akin to one of the kings' sagas. It ...

''. Gunnlaugr also wrote a Latin ''vita'' of Bishop Jón Ögmundarson. This work is also lost but

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlemen ...

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's miracles. According to several medieval sources, Gunnlaugr composed a work on Saint Ambrose. 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'' by

Geoffrey of Monmouth Geoffrey of Monmouth ( la, Galfridus Monemutensis, Galfridus Arturus, cy, Gruffudd ap Arthur, Sieffre o Fynwy; 1095 – 1155) was a British cleric from Monmouth, Wales and one of the major figures in the development of British historiography ...

. The imagery in Gunnlaugr's translation testifies to his extensive knowledge of

skaldic poetry A skald, or skáld (Old Norse: , later ; , meaning "poet"), is one of the often named poets who composed skaldic poetry, one of the two kinds of Old Norse poetry, the other being Eddic poetry, which is anonymous. Skaldic poems were traditional ...

. The poem is preserved in ''

Hauksbók Hauksbók (; 'Book of Haukr'), Reykjavík, Stofnun Árna Magnússonar AM 371 4to, AM 544 4to and AM 675 4to, is an Icelandic manuscript, now in three parts but originally one, dating from the 14th century. It was created by the Icelander Haukr E ...

'' and consists of a total of 171 ''

fornyrðislag In prosody, alliterative verse is a form of verse that uses alliteration as the principal ornamental device to help indicate the underlying metrical structure, as opposed to other devices such as rhyme. The most commonly studied traditions of ...

'' stanzas.

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 Finnur Jónsson (May 29, 1858 – March 30, 1934) was an Icelandic-Danish philologist and Professor of Nordic Philology at the University of Copenhagen. He made extensive contributions to the study of Old Norse literature. Finnur Jónsson was b ...

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

Biography

See also

References

Other sources

External links