Gripla - 2019, Side 232

GRIPLA232
ent honour, expressed in the words of the Apocalypse: Dabo tibi coronam
vitae “I will give thee a crown of life.”21 Returning to a more pragmatic and
personal level, Arngrímur Jónsson then concludes his eulogy by quoting
the verse Nulla ferent talem secla futura virum “No future centuries will
produce such a man,” which he recommends should be repeated over and
over again.22
Historical facts not mentioned in Athanasia
A modern reader with an accurate knowledge of the history of Iceland in
the seventeenth century would notice that some facts concerning the lives
of Bishop Guðbrandur and his successor Þorlákur Skúlason are either only
hinted at in Athanasia or omitted entirely. Since these circumstances would
certainly have been even better known to a contemporary reader in Iceland,
the question arises why Arngrímur Jónsson took the risk of trying to con-
ceal common knowledge. Although these circumstances and events are to
a certain degree linked, they will be treated here separately to throw light
on the sentiments and motives which prompted Arngrímur to compose
the eulogy as he did. First we shall look at Þorlákur Skúlason’s succession
to the bishopric, second at his ancestry, and third at some disputes and a
series of legal actions in which Guðbrandur Þorláksson was involved.
1) Besides being a relative of Guðbrandur Þorláksson, Arngrímur
Jónsson was one of his protegés, as has already been mentioned.23 This
close relationship may be seen, for example, from the fact that having
been principal of the Latin school at Hólar from 1589 to 1595, Arngrímur
was in 1596 formally appointed assistant to the bishop by the Danish king.
This was in addition to his being a parson and dean from 1597. When
Guðbrandur Þorláksson suffered a stroke in 1624 that prevented him from
carrying out his duties, Arngrímur was appointed officialis, i.e. official
administrator of all the ecclesiastical duties of the bishop and also of the
21 Apoc. 2: 10.
22 A verse also used to commemorate the Lutheran Theologian, Philip Melanchthon. Vibeke
Roggen, “Biology and Theology in Franzius’s historia animalium sacra,” Early Modern
Zoology: The Construction of Animals in Science, Literature and the Visual Arts, edited by Karl
A.E. Enenkel and Paul J. Smith (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2007), 138–139.
23 Arngrímur’s paternal grandmother, Guðrún Jónsdóttir, was a sister of Guðbrandur’s moth-
er, Helga Jónsdóttir.