Regius translator

Abstract

The Icelander Jón Jónsson (Jonas Rugman) lived in Sweden 1658–1679 and made two short visits to Denmark 1661 and 1664. The present writer, in his Rugman-biography (2017), did guess that Jonas Rugman in his first visit had heard of the fantastic adventures of his countryman Þormóður Torfason (Tormod Torfæus), who had become the highly paid interpres regius, the Danish king’s translator, of Norse literature. In his Torfæus’ biography (2020), Bergsveinn Birgisson pointed out evidences that prove that in 1664 Jonas Rugman actually did appeal for the translator post that Torfæus then had had to leave in Copenhagen. But it was not until two years after Rugmans death that his successor in Sweden proudly could call himself Regius translator linguae antiquae.

Keywords

• The king’s translator
• the need for history
• Icelandic manuscripts