Magnús Jónsson in Vigur

Þórunn Sigurðardóttir (University of Iceland)
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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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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 09 December 2024.]

15024 Magnús Jónsson in Vigur 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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