Ari Þorgilsson

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Ari Þorgilsson inn fróði (Old Norse ari , eagle; fróðr , rich in knowledge, learned; German Ari the scholar ; * 1067/1068; † November 9, 1148 ) was Iceland's first historian. He was also the first to write his texts not in Latin , as was common in the Middle Ages , but in the national language .

Ari is the author of Íslendingabók and was probably also involved in the constitution of an original Landnámabók .

Life

Ari was born into a family of aristocratic origins on Helgafell in West Iceland. The Landnámabók traces its ancestry back eight generations, to Ólafr Hvíti (the white man) and to Auðr or Unnr inn djúpúðga (the wise man) , the daughter of Ketill flatnefr . Five of his ancestors were born in Iceland, two of them in pre-Christian times. On his father's side, he was the great-grandson of Guðrún Ósvífsdóttir , the heroine of the Laxdœla saga . He was descended from Hallr on his mother's side. His own father Þorgils died early, so that Ari grew up on his paternal grandfather's farm, near Gellir. He was later raised by his uncle Þorkell. At the age of seven he came to Haukadalur to Hallr Þórarinsson , an Icelandic skald and co-author of Háttalykill . There he received his spiritual training from Teitr Ísleifsson , a son of Ísleifur Gissurarson , the first bishop of Iceland . In Staður , on the south side of the peninsula of Snaefellsnes , about 60 km from Helgafell , located on the north side of the peninsula, Ari was a priest ordained . Ari was probably married and had a son and a daughter. He died at the age of 81.

meaning

The importance of Ari for Icelandic historiography lies in the fact that he was the first to develop an ethnic identity out of a historical awareness of Icelandic culture and, very progressive for his time, he wrote prose in the Icelandic language, i.e. H. the popular language and not the learned language Latin, wrote. Much of what is now known about Iceland's early history is thanks to Ari's research. In this regard, he is without a doubt a Herodotus equal father of Icelandic history. The novelty of his critical, historical method in Icelandic historiography is emphasized by Snorri Sturluson in his Heimskringla , The History of the Kings of Norway. In the foreword, Snorri also names some of Aris' sources, from whom Aris is said to have collected the data for his historical texts: Hallr Þórarinsson, Teitr Ísleifsson and Þuriðr Snorradóttir: “... therefore it is not surprising that Ari knew many old stories from our country and abroad, because he learned them from old and wise men, and he himself was also a man of eager witness and fruitful memory. "

Not only Snorri (died 1241 ), also Oddr Snorrason (late 12th century ) and Gunnlaugr Leifsson (died 1218 or 1219 ) are in the tradition of Ari's understanding of history.

Works

Various works go back to Ari, of which the more extensive have the designation - bók in the title (Icelandic book , at that time in the sense of missal, history book ; like the Bible ). This may also be taken as a sign of Ari's understanding of history , with which he wanted to differentiate his own historical works from the genre of the saga, which was still orally handed down at the time :

Last new edition and in German

  • Íslendingabók , Hið Íslenzka Fornritafélag, Reykjavík 1968.
  • Íslendingabók , 2nd revised edition. M. Niemeyer, Halle 1923.

Web links

Note: Icelanders are referred to by their first name or first and last name, but not just their surname. Further information can be found under Icelandic personal name .
personal data
SURNAME Ari Þorgilsson
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ari Þorgilsson inn fróði
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Iceland's first historian
DATE OF BIRTH 1067 or 1068
DATE OF DEATH November 9, 1148