Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1957, Síða 28

8
INTRODUCTION
belonging to the church there. In this he says that his father, J6n
Jonsson, took over the farm at MelstaSur on his behalf, when
Bishop GuSbrandur’s brother, FårSur, moved from there in
1589. Forlåkur Hallgrimsson must then have held the living, but
not farmed the estate. Jon Jånsson died however in 1591 and
AJ says that in the same year he took over the living from For-
låkur, who was though still alive in 15941. Forlåkur must have
been an old man at this time, since he was ordained some time
before 1542 (see III 13 6 24—30, 1384), and it was certainly because
of his age that he gave up his parish. For the time being, how-
ever, AJ remained as rector at Holar, and MelstaSur was served
by his curate2; as we shall see, he first moved there himself in
1598-
As was said above, a legal decision had restored to Bishop
GuSbrandur those of his grandfather’s estates which were still
in the possession of the see of Hålar. In the meantime, however,
some of the property exacted from Jon Sigmundsson had been
disposed of by the cathedral and had come into private hånds.
Bishop GuSbrandur was now bent on trying to regain this pro-
perty also, but he must have felt that it was impossible for him
to raise the matter in person, since it was his duty as bishop to
look after the interests of the cathedral. He got AJ therefore to
make a claim to some of this property in 1590, and this marked
the beginning of a protracted series of complicated lawsuits, last-
ing over thirty years and ending with the Bishop’s utter defeat.
From his opponent’s side, letters were produced in which numer-
ous grave charges were brought against Jon Sigmundsson. These
letters proved to be forgeries, and Bishop GuSbrandur published
three polemical pamphlets both to demonstrate that they were
false and to attack the man he thought was responsible for them3.
1 He is spoken of as still alive in an attestation made in 1594 amongst the Mel-
staSur papers in the t>jo3skjalasafn.
* The Rev. Jon Gislason (+1621) acted as AJ’s curate for at least some part of
the time, see Jon Halldorsson, Skolameistarasogur, p. 185.
3 The pamphlets appeared in 1592, 1595 and 1608, see Islandica IX 42, 48; XIV
u6; issued again in collected form in MorSbréfabæklingar GuSbrands biskups f>or-
ldkssonar, Reykjavik 1902-6, with an introduction and the inclusion of several docu-
ments concerning the case.