Björn Jónsson á Skarðsá (1574–1655) was a farmer and a member of the Icelandic Court of Legislature, characterised by Philip Lavender as 'an important figure on the Icelandic intellectual scene of his day'.Philip Lavender,
''Oedipus industrius ænigmatum islandicorum'': Björn Jónsson á Skarðsá's Riddle Commentary
, ''Gripla'', 26 (2015), 229–73. He is best known as the author of Skarðsárannáll, a work in the annalistic tradition that spans the period from 1400 to Björn's own day and draws on a combination of oral and written sources.

Life

Björn's father died when Björn was young, and for the twenty years from c. 1582 to 1602 he grew up in northern Iceland, at

Reynistaður Reynistaður, previously (“Site in Reynisnes”), is a town in Skagafjörður—a fjord in the north of Iceland. Reynistaður is the location of an old manor. Þorfinnur karlsefni (“the makings of a man”) was from Reynistaður and lived the ...

Skagafjörður Skagafjörður () is a deep fjord and its valley in northern Iceland. Location Skagafjörður, the fjord, is about 40 km long and 15 km wide, situated between Tröllaskagi to the east and the Skagi, Skagi Peninsula to the west. Ther ...

, in the care of one Sigurður Jónsson. There he must have received his education. From around 1602 he lived at Skarðsá, and in 1616 became a local '' lögréttumaður''. Björn seems to have had a poor relationship with his local bishop,

Guðbrandur Þorláksson Guðbrandur Þorláksson ( – 20 July 1627) was bishop of Hólar from 8 April 1571 until his death. He was the longest-serving bishop in Iceland and is known for printing the ''Guðbrandsbiblía'', first complete Icelandic translation of the ...

Hólar Hólar (; also Hólar í Hjaltadal ) is a small community in the Skagafjörður district of northern Iceland. Location Hólar is in the valley Hjaltadalur, some from the national capital of Reykjavík. It has a population of around 100. It is t ...

(c. 1542–1647), but got on better with his successors

Þorlákur Skúlason Þorlákur Skúlason (24 August 1597 – 4 January 1656) was bishop of Hólar from 1628 until his death in 1656. During his tenure, he oversaw publication of the second Icelandic translation of the full Bible. Early life Þorlákur was bo ...

(1597–1656) and

Brynjólfur Sveinsson Brynjólfur Sveinsson (14 September 1605 – 5 August 1675) served as the Lutheran Bishop of the see of Skálholt in Iceland. His main influence has been on modern knowledge of Old Norse literature. Brynjólfur is also known for his support ...

(1605–75), who served as patrons to Björn and during whose episcopates Björn wrote extensively on poetry (including a commentary on

Egill Skallagrímsson Egil Skallagrímsson ( ; Modern Icelandic: ; 904 995) was a Viking Age war poet, sorcerer, berserker, and farmer.Thorsson, 3 He is known mainly as the anti-hero of '' Egil's Saga''. ''Egil's Saga'' historically narrates a period from approx ...

's '' Höfuðlausn''), history (including a chronicle of his local area), law, grammar, and mythology. He took an interest in riddles, not only composing a commentary on the medieval Icelandic ''

Riddles of Gestumblindi A riddle is a statement, question, or phrase having a double or veiled meaning, put forth as a puzzle to be solved. Riddles are of two types: ''enigmas'', which are problems generally expressed in metaphorical or allegorical language that requir ...

'' but also a ''

rímur In Icelandic literature, a ''ríma'' (, literally "a rhyme", pl. ''rímur'', ) is an epic poetry, epic poem written in any of the so-called ''rímnahættir'' (, "rímur meters"). They are rhymed, they alliterative verse, alliterate and consist of ...

'' cycle telling the story of

Apollonius of Tyre Apollonius of Tyre is the hero of a short ancient novel, popular in the Middle Ages. Existing in numerous forms in many languages, all are thought to derive from an ancient Greek version now lost. Plot summary In most versions, the eponymous ...

, which includes a

riddle-contest Riddle-tales are traditional stories featuring riddle-contests. They frequently provide the context for the preservation of ancient riddles for posterity, and as such have both been studied as a narrative form in their own right, and for the riddle ...

.Jeffrey Scott Love, ''The Reception of 'Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks' from the Middle Ages to the Seventeenth Century'', Münchener Nordistische Studien, 14 (Munich: Utz, 2013); .

Life

References

Further reading