ABSTRACT
Earlier in the book I posed the question of what value a fragmentary document such as Guðrún Ketilsdóttir's autobiography has in terms of providing insight into past times. Another question is how far such fragments in general reflect their time. With the methods of microhistory, I have attempted to clarify the picture of Guðrún's life as it is manifested in the autobiography. Using public records as well as a range of genealogical and local history publications, I have sought to fill in the gaps and create a consistent picture of Guðrún's own life and the society in which she lived and worked. While it is difficult to establish an insight into Guðrún's personality – let alone to generalise about the past – on the basis of these limited resources, this research work is worthwhile, if only because this methodological experiment has imbued a unique document with new depth and vitality.
