Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2015, Page 16

Joris Coolen And Natascha Mehler
the íirst bishop of Hólar (1106-1121). Jóns
saga Hólabyskups recounts in chapter 17
(íslenzk fornrit XV, 227-28) that Jón came
to the assembly and promoted the estab-
lishment of a church and farm at or near
the assembly site, and he also designed the
layout of that church building. Ihe church
was dedicated to St Nicholas, who was,
among others, the patron saint of sailors
and merchants (Maurer 1874,256-57; Jóns-
son 1895, 2; Þorsteinsson 1987, 87; Karls-
son 2008; Zoéga et al. 2006,14). This initial
foundation appears to have been the basis
of the later establishment of the monas-
tery. Written sources mention two different
years for this event, namely 1112 and 1133.
Most historians consider the latter date
more credible (Karlsson 2008). During the
Middle Ages, the Benedictine monastery
of Þingeyrar became one of the main liter-
ary centres in Iceland, where many sagas
were written and copied (Jónsson 1887,
182-200; Þorláksson 2008). The monastery
was also one of the wealthiest in Iceland; it
owned much of the land in the region and
substantial hunting and beaching rights
(Einarsson 1980; Cattaneo in prep.). Ihe
monastery was dissolved following the Ref-
ormation in 1551. Its extensive assets fell to
the Danish king and were henceforth ad-
ministered by his stewards (Kristjánsson
1980, 229; Zoéga et al. 2006, 15). None of
the monastic buildings remain today, and
neither the location of the first church nor
that of the monastery is known.
A new turf church was built in 1619 by
Páll Guðbrandsson but this new church
did not last very long, as the lawman Lárus
Gottrup had a large stave church built in-
stead in 1695. This latter church is reported
to have been 14 m long, with a domed ceil-
ing, an octagonal bell tower, a partly paved
floor and a richly ornamented interior. In
addition to the church, Gottrup also built
and renewed some other buildings, includ-
ing an 18-m-long, Danish style timber
house. Even before Gottrup’s construction
activities, there were 46 buildings at Þing-
eyrar. Apparently, the buildings at Þing-
eyrar had badly deteriorated little more
than a century later. When Björn Ólsen
took over the estate in 1807, he had most of
the buildings taken down and built a new
farm and outhouses. In 1819, Gottrup’s
stave church was also demolished and
replaced with a much smaller and more
modest turf church (Table 1) (Harðardóttir
2006; Zoéga et al. 2006, 15-16.)
The present church at Þingeyrar was
built between 1864 and 1877, 170 m to the
north of the previous church and graveyard.
It was commissioned by Ásgeir Einarsson, a
member of parliament and landlord of Þing-
eyrar. The old cemetery continued to be in
use for several decades affer the new church
had been consecrated. The first interment
in the present graveyard, which surrounds
the present church, took place in 1914. The
old graveyard was abandoned in the late
1920s; the area was levelled and a number
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