Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1957, Page 35

CHAPTER I
15
After resigning his rectorship, AJ still stayed on at Holar until
the spring of 1598. Bishop GuSbrandur’s high regard for AJ is
clearly shown by the gift he made to him, 14/4 1596, of two
farms in Skagafjor8ur, the sole condition being that they should
revert to the Bishop’s heirs if AJ died without legitimate issue
(see Bréfab. Gbr.E. 503-4). In 1597 the Bishop appointed him
dean of Hunavatnsfnng, the deanery to which MelstaSur be-
longed (see 1. c. 509—10), and a couple of years later GuS-
brandur agreed to a property-exchange between himself and AJ,
whereby the latter acquired an estate nearer to MelstaSur (1. c.
514). It is clear from these arrangements that AJ was now ready
for independence and had prepared himself to take over the
duties of parson at MelstaSur in the very near future, as indeed
came about. In 1598 AJ married Solveig Gunnarsdottir, who for
her beauty had been nicknamed ‘flower among women' (kvenna-
biomi). She was daughter of Gunnar Gislason of ViSivellir (t
1605), a prominent and wealthy man, who had been for many
years steward of the see of Holar; Halldora Arnadottir, Bishop
GuSbrandur’s wife, was his brother’s daughter (see III 14610-11
and note). Solveig’s mother was the daughter of one of the sons
of Jon Arason, the last Catholic bishop (cf. note to II 20221-
20333). His marriage bound AJ even more firmly to Bishop GuS-
brandur and his family. At the same time, his wife brought him
a considerable portion, 190 hundreds (or 190 kugildi—this unit
being the equivalent of the value of one cow) (see Lbs. 1027 8vo
pp. 46-51). Solveig Gunnarsdottir died 22/6 1627 (see III 1574
and note). She and AJ had four children, three of whom reached
manhood: Helga (1599-1647; married in 1617 to Bjorn Magn-
usson, sherif f (syslumachir), who died 16351, and later to the
Rev. Rorbjorn Einarsson, cf. note to III i5526-7); J6n (later
farmer in Sælingsdalstunga, see Bogi Benediktsson, Syslumanna-
æfir I 356, 556) ; and Gunnar (t 1642).
In the year of his marriage AJ moved to MelstaSur (cf. III
553-4, where he says that he lived with Bishop GuSbrandur “in
An. fere ætatis 30.”), and there he appears to have dwelt until
1 Their son was the learned priest, Påll Bjornsson of Selårdalur; cf. Bibi. Arnam.
VII 396.