Greinar (Vísindafélag Íslendinga) - 01.01.1943, Page 154

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The most important man at Hólar and chief aid of the
sick bishop was his relative, the proud and versatile Arn-
grímur Jónsson the Learned. Even at this distinguished
personage young Hallgrímur Pétursson is reported to
have aimed his sharp arrows. The story also goes that he
offended the ladies of the household. But besides, like so
many other great poets, he was probably not any too
fond of grinding at lessons, and hated toiling through
Latin grammar.
At this time there lived in Copenhagen the above-
mentioned Brynjólfur Sveinsson, who later became one
of the greatest bishops of Iceland. He was allied by
marriage to Hallgrímur Pétursson and it seems most like-
ly he was asked to get in touch with Hallgrímur Péturs-
son and help him. He found him where he was staying
with a blacksmith, took him away and put him in one of
the best grammar schools in Copenhagen, where he re-
mained for four years, making rapid progress. Now Hall-
grímur Pétursson had for the second time got an oppor-
tunity of attaining to great fame. Under Sveinsson’s
protection it was open to him to choose whatever career
he might desire. But then there was a hitch a second time.
In 1627 pirates from Algiers had raided the south coast
of Iceland, capturing and taking away with them a num-
ber of people from the Westman Isles. Ten years later
some of these people were ransomed and released from
captivity and taken to Copenhagen. Then a good teacher
was needed, because it was thought their Christian faith
had become tainted and their catechism rusty. Moreover
they could not be expected to understand Danish. The
choice fell on Hallgrímur Pétursson.
Then Hallgrímur Pétursson happened to fall in love
with one of the women of the party. Her name was Guð-
ríður Símonardóttir, his senior by many years, a married
woman, whose husband was in Iceland. Nevertheless she
became his mistress. Hallgrímur Pétursson took her to
Iceland in the spring 1637, and a little later she bore him
a son. But luckily for them Guðríður Símonardóttir’s hus-