Studia Islandica - 01.06.1960, Page 45

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According to him, Oddur was brought up in Norway by
his father’s brothers from the age of six and educated
there, in Germany and in Denmark. He embraced Lu-
theranism and then came to Iceland becoming Bishop
ögmundur’s retainer and secretary (sveinn og skrifari) ,2<i
If Þormóður’s account be true Oddur must have been
born before 1500. Jón Egilsson’s account does not contra-
dict this but it could also be understood to say that Oddur
was born in 1514 and only sent abroad on the death of
his father. Þormóður’s account, however, is buttressed
by what Bishop Finnur Jónsson has to say of Oddur’s
early life. He says that Oddur seems to have been born
around or after the beginning of the sixteenth century
and that Gottskálk sent him while young to Gottskálk’s
brother, Guttormur, in Bergen; Oddur was educated there
and may have studied under Magister Geble Peterson;
he embraced Lutheranism and then studied in Germany
before going to Iceland where he entered the service of
Bishop ögmundur about 1535.27 Where Bishop Finnur
received his information is not known, but if it be true
that Oddur studied under Geble Peterson, he must have
been born before 1514, because Geble Peterson is known
to have taught in Bergen during the years 1518—1524.28
Again Bogi Benediktsson (1771—1849) says29 that Odd-
ur was born in Norway before 1500 (about 1498), that
from the age of six he was brought up by Gottskálk’s
brother, Guttormur, and that he studied under Magister
Geble Peterson, but on what he bases these statements
is not known.
It does seem, then, that there is a strong likelihood
that Oddur was born not later than 1500 and probably
somewhat earlier. Both Bishop Finnur Jónsson and Bogi
Benediktsson say that Oddur was brought up by his uncle,
Guttormur, who was a lawman in Bergen from 1509 to
1539. Previous to that Guttormur spent some time in Ice-
land. His name occurs in official documents in Iceland in