The Burden of History: Kirkjubæjarklaustur and the Biography of Landscape

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The article must express in the introduction and in a more appropriate way: the method, the research questions and the hypothesis of reading the impact of the landscape on the monastery and of the monastery on the landscape. The construction of a monastic landscape stands at the crossroads of studies on the history of the monastery (also in a comparative key) and studies on space and landscape in Religious Studies, both fields too superficially touched upon by the author.
I suggest stabilising the theoretical frame of reference with a denser history of studies.
Among the various references are Knott, Kong, Luz, Burchardt, Hervieu Leger.

The sources must be made explicit in a precise manner since the reading and consistency of the data on which the analysis is based depends on them.

The case study is interesting and constitutes an original exploration that nevertheless needs to be better highlighted in order to enhance its peculiarities and the gain it constitutes in the history of recent studies on a spatial approach to monas

A proof reading is required and a moderate revision of the language

Author Response

The article must express in the introduction and in a more appropriate way: the method, the research questions and the hypothesis of reading the impact of the landscape on the monastery and of the monastery on the landscape.

Response: I have added to the introduction and made clearer the aims and research questions posed in the paper

The construction of a monastic landscape stands at the crossroads of studies on the history of the monastery (also in a comparative key) and studies on space and landscape in Religious Studies, both fields too superficially touched upon by the author. I suggest stabilising the theoretical frame of reference with a denser history of studies.
Among the various references are Knott, Kong, Luz, Burchardt, Hervieu Leger.

Response: I have strenghtened the theoretical frame of the paper and clarified what is meant with a biographical approach

The sources must be made explicit in a precise manner since the reading and consistency of the data on which the analysis is based depends on them.

Response: I have provided more background information of the literary sources used in the paper

Reviewer 2 Report

The concept of the 'biography of landscape' has a very wide range of meanings in the literature of different disciplines: starting with Samuels' pioneering essay (1979) and passing through cultural geography and cultural anthropology (Kopytoff 1986), the expression has taken on a plurality of meanings: I think it is important for the author to state which branch of studies he is referring to and in which meaning he uses this expression. The essay, in essence, proposes a reading of the toponomastic history of the site, and explicit references to the physical and perceptive consistency of the sites (of which no planimetric or photographic indication is even provided) are lacking, and the archaeological datum is only marginally evoked. A more extensive interpretation of the term 'landscape' would require a more circumstantial consideration of the spatial datum, but the authors must state whether such an interpretation is consistent with the objectives of the research (which, after all, are not explicitly stated in the introductory paragraph).

Author Response

The concept of the 'biography of landscape' has a very wide range of meanings in the literature of different disciplines: starting with Samuels' pioneering essay (1979) and passing through cultural geography and cultural anthropology (Kopytoff 1986), the expression has taken on a plurality of meanings: I think it is important for the author to state which branch of studies he is referring to and in which meaning he uses this expression.

Response: I have added to the theoretical frame of the paper and clarified what is meant with a biographical approach

The essay, in essence, proposes a reading of the toponomastic history of the site, and explicit references to the physical and perceptive consistency of the sites (of which no planimetric or photographic indication is even provided) are lacking, and the archaeological datum is only marginally evoked. A more extensive interpretation of the term 'landscape' would require a more circumstantial consideration of the spatial datum, but the authors must state whether such an interpretation is consistent with the objectives of the research (which, after all, are not explicitly stated in the introductory paragraph).

Response: I have added to the introduction to make the aims of the paper clearer. I have also added a map and a photograph.