Magnús Jónsson in Vigur

Þórunn Sigurðardóttir (University of Iceland)

Ed. by Ármann Jakobsson, University of Iceland
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.3.4: Icelandic Writing and Culture.
Vol. editors: Ármann Jakobsson (University of Iceland), Sven Hakon Rossel (Universitat Wien), Herbert Rowland (Purdue University), Jakob Stougaard-Nielsen (University College London)

Dates

Born 1637
Died 1702

Places

Active in Iceland

Activities

Primary

Antiquarian/ Collector

Resources

Jónsson in Vigur's Works

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Magnús Jónsson, often nicknamed “the stout” [hinn digri], was born at Vatnsfjörður, in the Westfjords of Iceland. He became renowned for his great interest in literature, as can be seen in Jón Ólafsson’s literary history, written in the early eighteenth century. Jón Ólafsson describes Magnús as the one “er tók fyrir sig að láta uppskrifa allar sögur og handskrifaðar bækur íslenskar, sem hann fékk uppspurt” [who undertook to have copied all stories and Icelandic manuscripts that he heard about] (Jón Ólafsson, 2018, p. 229). Indeed, most of the seventeenth-century manuscripts known from the Westfjords were produced under the auspices of Magnús Jónsson, transcribed either by himself or his scribes. Around 40 existing manuscripts have been attributed to Magnús…

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1691 words

Citation: Sigurðardóttir, Þórunn. "Magnús Jónsson in Vigur". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 13 September 2023 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=15024, accessed 21 November 2024.]