Gripla - 2019, Qupperneq 215

215
SIgurÐ ur PéturSSon
TO TELL THE TRUTH
– But not the Whole Truth
Preface
on the 20th of July 1627 Guðbrandur Þorláksson (1542–1627), the Bishop
of Hólar diocese in North Iceland, died after 56 years in office. There can
be little doubt that many of his fellow-countrymen regarded his death as
marking the end of an epoch. Not only had he been the spiritual leader
of a diocese which covered approximately one third of Iceland for more
than half a century, but he had also played a dominant role in the affairs
of the whole country through his incessant work for the promotion of
the Lutheran church and humanism, leaving, for example, a significant
impression on education and book-printing. As one of the two bishops
of Iceland, he ranked among the most powerful political figures in the
country, one whose general influence was not to be underestimated in
the discussions and resolutions of the Alþing, the ancient legislative and
judicial body of the Icelanders. Finally, more than half of the population
of Iceland had no recollection of any other man holding the staff of the
Bishop of Hólar, so his passing must have left perhaps not a sensation of
real grief but an awareness of taking solemn leave of the past among many
people. As might be expected in such a situation, the desire to honour the
deceased more elaborately than custom demanded seems to have arisen
shortly after the bishop’s death, although it was not fulfilled until a few
years later, when the eulogy Athanasia, written in Latin, was published in
Hamburg in 1630.1
1 The full title of the work is ATHANASIA Sive Nominis ac famæ IMMORTALITAS-
REVERENDI AC INCOMPArabilis Viri DN. GUDBRANDI THORLACII, Superinten-
dentis Borealis Islandiæ digniss(imi) vigilantiss(imi) Oratione Parentali, de ejusdem, VITA,
VITÆQUE clausula, per ARNGRIMUM JONAM Islandum asserta. In memoria æterna erit
Justus. HAMBURGI, Ex scriptis Litteris per Johannem Mosen. Anno M.DC. XXX. An exact
re-print of the text is found in Arngrímur Jónsson, Arngrimi Jonae Opera Latine Conscripta,
edited by Jakob Benediktsson. Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana, 11 (Copenhagen: Munksgaard,
1952), III, 131–166.
* Warm thanks to Hjalti Snær Ægisson and Margrét Eggertsdóttir for assistance with the
final preparation of this article.
Gripla XXX (2019): 215–243