Magnús Þórhallsson was an

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

ic priest who was one of two scribes (the other being

Jón Þórðarson 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 ...

) who wrote the manuscript

Flateyjarbók ''Flateyjarbók'' (; "Book of Flatey, Breiðafjörður, Flatey") is an important medieval Iceland, Icelandic manuscript. It is also known as GkS 1005 fol. and by the Latin name ''Codex Flateyensis''. It was commissioned by Jón Hákonarson and p ...

for Jón Hákonarson. Magnús was responsible for the second part of the manuscript after Jón Þórðarson left Iceland for Norway in the spring of 1388. Magnús also added three leaves to the front of the codex and rubricated and illuminated the entire manuscript. Ólafur Halldórsson has described his work as "among the most beautiful in medieval Icelandic manuscripts." Very little of Magnús's life is known. A priest named Magnús Þórhallsson, assumed to be the same person, is the first witness named in two letters written on 2 April 1397 concerning land purchased by Þorsteinn Snorrason, abbot of

Helgafell Helgafell may refer to: * Helgafell (Hafnarfjörður), a mountain , on the Reykjanes peninsula, south-west Iceland * Helgafell, a mountain , in Mosfellsbær north-east of Reykjavík * Helgafell, a mountain at , in Rangárþing eystra, south-cen ...

. In light of this, Magnús is thought to have been a priest there at that time. It is assumed that Magnús trained at a different school or

scriptorium A scriptorium () was a writing room in medieval European monasteries for the copying and illuminating of manuscripts by scribes. The term has perhaps been over-used—only some monasteries had special rooms set aside for scribes. Often they ...

from Jón Þórðarson, as their handwriting differs markedly. Where Magnús trained, however, is unknown. In addition to his work on manuscripts from Helgafell, Magnús is associated with the Munkaþverá scriptorium and possibly also the secular scriptorium at Víðidalstunga, near

Þingeyrar Þingeyrar (Thingøre in some older texts) is a farm in Iceland's Northwestern Region. It lies adjacent to the sandy coastal plain of Þingeyrasandur (or Thingøresand), between the Skagi and Vatnsnes peninsulas and just northeast of lake Hóp. ...

. In light of his early work, Drechsler has suggested that he may have begun his career as a

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

monk at Munkaþverá. Stefán Karlsson has suggested that Magnús wrote, at least in part, the lost manuscript ''

Vatnshyrna ''Vatnshyrna'' was a major Icelandic saga codex destroyed in the Copenhagen Fire of 1728. It was copied between 1391 and 1395 by Magnús Þórhallsson for Jón Hákonarson in northern Iceland. The codex was first called ''Vatnshyrna'' by Arngrí ...

'', also commissioned by Jón Hákonarson, based on the similarities in scribal habits between Flateyjarbók and the copy of Vatnshyrna made by

Árni Magnússon Árni Magnússon (; 13 November 1663 – 7 January 1730) was an Icelandic scholar and collector of manuscripts who assembled the Arnamagnæan Manuscript Collection. Early life and education Árni was born in 1663 at Kvennabrekka in Dalasýsl ...

. Magnus's hand is also found in two lines at the bottom of folio 51v of the manuscript Hulda (AM 66 fol.) and in the single leaf that preserves ''

Grega saga ''Grega saga'' is an Old Norse chivalric saga known only from a manuscript that survives as a single leaf: AM 567 XXVI 4to. As it has no known exemplar, it is considered to be an original Old Norse composition. The saga uses motifs found in ''Ív ...

''. In addition to this, he is believed to have illuminated the manuscript AM 226 fol, which contains ''

Stjórn Stjórn () is the name given to a collection of Old Norse translations of Old Testament historical material dating from the 14th century, which together cover Jewish history from Genesis through to II Kings. Despite the collective title, Stjórn i ...

'', ''

Alexanders saga ''Alexanders saga'' is an Old Norse translation of ''Alexandreis'', an epic Latin poem about the life of Alexander the Great written by Walter of Châtillon, which was itself based on Quintus Curtius Rufus's ''Historia Alexandri Magni''. It is att ...

,'' ''

Rómverja saga ''Rómverja saga'' (The Saga of the Romans) in an Old Norse-Icelandic translation of three Latin historical texts: Sallust's '' Bellum Jugurthinum'' and '' Coniuratio Catilinae'' and Lucan's ''Pharsalia''. It gives an account of Roman history from ...

'' and ''

Gyðinga saga ''Gyðinga saga'' (Saga of the Jews) is an Old Norse account of Jewish history compiled from translations of a number of Latin texts. Beginning with an account of Alexander the Great, Alexander the Great's conquests, it proceeds to cover around 220 ...

'' and worked on AM 149 4to (''Jónsbók'').

References

{{Reflist Icelandic manuscripts 14th-century Icelandic people