Islandia Latina – Latin Literacy in Medieval Iceland in Iceland 1100-1400

1. Islandia Latina – Latin Literacy in Medieval Iceland in Iceland 1100-1400 Gottskálk Jensson University of Iceland University of Copenhagen

2. References to speaking, reading and writing Latin in Icelandic mss. • The original works known to have been composed in Latin in Iceland and subsequently translated into Old Norse-Icelandic, most often now only surviving in their vernacular form • The ecclesiastical mss. written in Latin which have an Icelandic provenance – often fragments from 16th- and 17th-century bookbindings • Numerous translations into Old Norse-Icelandic of Latin hagiography and other learned texts • The lists of Latin book titles found in Icelandic church registries (covering the collections of parochial churches, monasteries, schools and cathedrals) • References to and citations from Latin works incorporated in vernacular texts • The many references to Latin source texts recorded in the course of excerpting for the Dictionary of Old Norse Prose in Copenhagen

3. Rasmus Kristian Rask (d. 1832) Jacob Grimm (d. 1863) Thomas Bartholin (d. 1690): Antiquitates Danicae de causis contemptæ a Danis adhuc gentilibus mortis [Danish antiquities or On the Causes of the Contempt for Death Displayed by the Danes even Before Becoming Christian] (1689), Árni Magnússon (d. 1730) Olof Rudbeck (d. 1702) Olof Verelius (d. 1682)

4. A.G. Rigg: "In all countries of western and central Europe (except Iceland), from the time of the conversion to Christianity to the end of the Middle Ages, the language of education – and thus of ‘literature’ – was Latin" (DMA VII, p. 359) G. Karlsson: “there is reason to believe that Icelanders rejected Latin even before they began to write any major saga-literature” (Goðamenning [2004] p. 439)

5. The population of Iceland in the 12th-century, and likely throughout the Middle Ages has been estimated to have been 40-60.000(Saga Íslands II [1975], 7) with 320-340 churches. The population of Norway around 1300 is estimated to have been 450.000 with approx. 1100 churches. Corresponding figures for medieval Denmark are estimated to be the following: a population of 750.000 with about 1600 churches.

6. Estimated size of the Norwegian Latin corpus: 200-250 pages. Estimated size of the Danish Latin corpus: 1450-1600 pages. Roughly estimated size of the lost Icelandic Latin corpus: 400-500 pages. (The figures refer solely to “historical”, i.e. narrative texts)

7. Sæmundr of Oddi (d. 1133) *Gesta Regum Norwagensium Gizurr of Skálholt (d. 1206) *Flos peregrinationis Oddr of Thingeyrar (fl. 1180-90) *Gesta Olavi filii Tryggva apostoli Norwagensium *Historia Ingvari late peregrinantis Gunnlaugr of Tingeyrar (d. 1219) *Historia Olavi filii Tryggva regis Norwegie *Visiones de St. Thorlaco (1198) *Vita Sancti Thorlaci (1199) *Vita Sancti Johannis 1200) *Historia Sancti Ambrosii (ca. 1210) Arngrímr of Þingeyrar (d. 1361) *Vita Godemundi boni

8. Saint Thorlac, bishop of Skáholt 1133-1193 ✜ in Norway 1153 when Cardinal Breakspear was establishing the archbishopric of Nidaros/Trondheim and organizing schools ✜ educated in Paris and Lincoln ca. 1153-1159 ✜ met many Scandinavians in Paris, perhaps Eystein Erlendss. ✜ Eystein made archbishop in 1161 by Alexander III ✜ Eystein promotes the cult of St. Olav and 1164 crowns a new king of Norway according to new rules. The king receives Norway from St. Olav, which is honored by the title rex perpetuus Norvegie ✜ Thorlac abbot of the first Augustinian house in Iceland 1168 ✜ Thorlac consecrated bishop of Skálholt in 1178 by Eystein ✜ Eystein goes into exile 1183-1185 and dies 1188 ✜ Thorlac dies 1193 and is sanctified in 1199