■ "l /
'ifi-y.
V »
:I ■
a
Thord Thorlakfen have alfo very
much enriched the colleilion, both
when the college o f antiquities was at
Upfal, and when it was afterwards
transferred to Stockholm.
The attention of the Daniih court
was at lait excited : king Chriftian the
Fifth, the 4th of April 1 685, difpatch-
cd Thomas Bartholin to Iceland, with
an order to the bailiff Heidemann to
aflift him in colle6Iing Icelandic antiquities
: he forbad at the fame time,
in the ftriiieft manner, any manufcripts,
hiftories, or other accounts
relating to Iceland, to be fold to
foreigners, or carried out of the
country. * G
Stockholm, as well as Copenhagen,
became therefore poiTeft of a confide-'
rable number, o f antient Icelandic
writings ; but the latter court not fatisfied
with what they had already obtained,
difpatched Arnas Magndus and
Paul Widalin to Iceland in 1 7 1 2 ;
where they fought for whatever might
remain there with fuch extreme care,
that it is almoft impoffible to get fight
o f any manufcript hiftory in the whole
country; and notwithftanding the pains
I have
liave taken, I could only by purchalb
obtain an imperfeél copy o f the Sturlunga
Saga.
It is in vain; therefore, to enquire
for antient Icelandic chronicles in
Iceland ; for befides the fine colleélion
in the Swediih archives o f antiquities,
there is a very admirable eolleéiioh o f
them in the library o f the academy at
CojDenhagen, that was a gift o f Arnas
Magnaus ; befides feveral fmall col-
leéiions o f lefs importance in the hands
of private perfons,
I have already mentioned tlie Icelandic
hiftories that have been pub-
liilied: fome o f them \vere printed in
Iceland, among which thofe piinted
at Skallholt are very rare t but the
greateft part have been publiflied in
Sweden, though fometimes from very
imperfecft manufcripts; Olof Rudbeck
the elder, Verelius, the two Pering-
ikolds, Renhielm, Biorner, Salan, and
Brokman, have however acquired aE
great deal o f merit by the care and
diligence that they beftowed upon
them. None o f thefe editions how-
N ever
;i, II
i t -
lie
I
m
7 .