Gripla - 01.01.1995, Page 46

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GRIPLA
EFTIRSKRIFT
Þegar þessi grein var fullgerð í próförk sumarið 1995 birtist gein eftir Þorstein
Helgason: Hverjir voru Tyrkjaránsmenn? í Sögu 1995, bls. 111-134. Þorsteinn
kemur að sumum sömu efnum og drepið er á í fyrsta hluta þessarar greinar.
Hann telur að ránsmenn hafi verið „Evrópumenn" og „líklegast einhverjir
Tyrkir“ og nefnir fjölmörg gagnleg rit sem varpað geta ljósi á hið margþætta
rannsóknarefni, Tyrkjaránið á íslandi 1627.
SUMMARY
The unpublished letter-books of Gísli Oddsson, Bishop of Skálholt (d. 1638)
contain many letters about cases involving people in the Westman Islands
whose spouses were seized by the Algerian pirates who raided the coastal reg-
ions of Iceland in 1627. The main matter arising in these letters is whether or
not it was permissible for such individuals to re-marry. The article presents evi-
dence about the fate of Anna Jasparsdóttir who had a husband and children in
Algiers, whilst her former spouse, Jón Oddsson, remained in the Westman Is-
lands and was looking for a new wife. The article also prints a section from
AM 124 8vo which was written at some point during the period 1635-1669, and
which gives quite a positive account of the customs and practices of the Turks;
other Icelandic manuscripts contain rather more negative accounts. The article
draws attention to the prejudice of clerical authorities and scholars against bel-
ievers in the Islamic faith, and cites an instance from 1663, in the letter-books
of Bishop Brynjólfur Sveinsson from Skálholt, which seems to show that the
hard-pressed common folk did not always follow blindly the attitudes of their
superiors.