Studia Islandica - 01.06.1960, Page 43

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rún Eiríksdóttir.12 The latter, the daughter of Eiríkur
(ob. 1473), the son of Loftur ríki Guttormsson (ob. 1432),
is said12 to have gone to Norway when young and there
become the concubine of Gottskálk. This, however, is not
a contemporary source. In a genealogy14 from ca. 1600
Guðrún is said to be the mother of two of Bishop Gott-
skálk’s children, Oddur and Guðrún. This is the only near
contemporary source for this statement and has caused
historians difficulty. Indeed it is impossible that these
children were born at such an early date i.e. before 1488
when Gottskálk had certainly come to Iceland. Some
have therefore come to the conclusion contrary to all the
evidence that Guðrún did not become the concubine of
Gottskálk until after 1490—1492.15 Dr. Arnórsson, how-
ever, rejects this view and holds that Guðrún was not
the mother of Oddur and Guðrún,16 and that seems most
plausible.
The mother of Bishop Gottskálk’s three children will
then have been his other concubine, Valgerður Jónsdótt-
ir.17 Rev. Jón Halldórsson (1665—1736) indeed states
this as a fact18 and so does his son, Bishop Finnur Jóns-
son (1704—1789) .19 As Einar Amórsson points out, how-
ever, even if Valgerður was the mother of Kristín, Oddur
and Guðrún, this tells us nothing as to the date of their
births.
It is certain, as we have seen, that Kristín was born
no later than 1493 and more likely about 1490. Gottskálk
seems to have come to Iceland in 1486.21 As the nephew
of Bishop Ólafur Rögnvaldsson he would not have had
to make his way but must be presumed to have secured
preferment at once, and it is to be expected that his name
would appear on documents shortly after his arrival in
Iceland. Very probably he formed his connection with
Valgerður within a year or so of his coming to the coun-
try, i.e. before 1488. Kristín could, thus, have been born
in any year from 1488 to 1492. Gottskálk went abroad in