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duced the calculation tliat Olafur died on the 9th. The third author-
ity is Jon Halldorsson’s “Biskupasogur”21, which gives the date in
two different ways. Olafur is there said to have died on the second
Sunday after “J>rettånda i jolum”, which, equivalent to the English
Twelfth Night, is January 6th. The second Sunday after this date
in 1569 was January 16th. Jon also says, however, that the Gospel
for that day was the marriage at Cana of Galilee, of which Olafur
was particularly fond. “Gu5spjallabok’’, Olafur’s Lutheran ritual
of 156222, confirms that this was the Gospel on that Sunday, as it
was—and still is—in other churches, both Catholic and Reformed.
These three authorities, which all arrive at the same date, de-
scribing it in different ways, would seem to be unanswerable, but
the fourth piece of evidence should be examined in some detail
nevertheless. This is a letter, written at Bergssta&ir, Hunavatns-
sysla, and dated 16th January, 156923, which refers to Olafur, and
adds the words:
hvers sal Gud almattugur til eijlifra fagnada nadat hafe
At a first glance this seems to imply that the company at Bergs-
stabir knew that Olafur was already dead when they drew up this
letter, although all our other authorities say that this was the same
day that he died. For a moment we seem to face the alternatives of
abandoning our well-established date for Olafur’s death or of sug-
gesting that some superhuman rider had carried the news over the
sixty or seventy kilometres of rough country between Holar and
Bergsstabir in one midwinter day—surely a Virtual impossibility.
But this letter does not actually say that Olafur is already dead—
this is merely the inference that we usually draw when someone’s
soul is commended to God. It simply hopes that his soul has been
received by God, and this could well be because it was not known
whether he was still alive or not. It seems more likely that they
knew he was on his deathbed and hoped that his sufferings had
21 “Biskupasogur Jons profasts Halldorssonar” (2 Vols.), Reykjavik, 1903-15,
Vol. 1, p. 77.
22 “GuSspjallabék, 1562”, ed. Halldor Hermannsson, Copenliagen, 1933.
23 Printed from AM. Apogr. 3769 in “Diplomatarium Islandicum”, Vol.15,
pp. 188-90.