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foreigner might well have been misled by the author’s deliberate blurring of
facts. But if Þorlákur was not a son of Kristín and Ari, whose son was he?
To answer this question we must go back to the year 1570. In the
summer the King chose Guðbrandur Þorláksson to become Bishop of
the Hólar Diocese and summoned him to Copenhagen, where the bishop
elect spent the winter before he was ordained on 8th April 1571. At the end
of May he returned to Iceland to take over the administration of Hólar,
but that was probably not the only business awaiting him. Private his-
torical annals inform us that in 1571 a daughter, Steinunn Guðbrandsdóttir
(1571–1649) was born to Guðbrandur Þorláksson. In view of a stringent
law on adultery enacted only seven years before, this illegitimate child
might have been expected to create serious problems in his career.25 This
does not seem to have happened. It is not known why Guðbrandur did not
marry the mother, the daughter of a clergyman; but as already mentioned,
a year later, in 1572, he married Halldóra Árnadóttir, who by bringing him
both property and connections proved herself in every respect worthy of
her new dignity.26 Guðbrandur does not seem to have turned his back on
his illegitimate daughter; there are even indications that she was brought
up at Hólar, and it was there in 1590 that she married a well-to-do farmer,
Skúli Einarsson (–1612), with whom she had at least eleven children.27
Þorlákur Skúlason was one of these. When he was eight years old, he was
sent to Hólar to be brought up by his gandfather and aunt, both of whom
lavished on him all the care and expense needed to make him a gentleman.
This was certainly not done in any secrecy; that would have been quite
impossible in a community like Iceland, especially as many of Þorlákur’s
brothers and sisters became respected members of the upper strata of
Icelandic society. Therefore, it may cause some surprise to see the efforts
Arngrímur made in Athanasia to conceal well-known facts. More than one
explanation may be offered. When Steinunn was born, the general attitude
25 Annálar, 1400–1800, 5 vols. (Reykjavík: Hið íslenska bókmenntafélag, 1922–1961), 2.77;
3.255.
26 The name of Steinunn’s mother is given as Guðrún Gísladóttir or Valgerður. Annálar,
3.255; Biskupa sögur, edited by Jón Sigurðsson, Þorvaldur Björnsson and Eiríkur Jónsson
(Copenhagen: Hið íslenska bókmenntafélag, 1878), 2.703.
27 Steinunn seems to have been at Hólar when Halldóra, Guðbrandur’s wife, died in 1585.
Biskupa sögur, 2.691. The eleven children of Steinunn and her husband all married and left
an unusually large number of descendents.
TO TELL THE TRUTH – BUT NOT THE WHOLE TRUTH