Brynjólfur Sveinsson

Brynjólfur Sveinsson ( born September 14, 1605 Holt ( Önundarfjörður ); † August 5, 1675 ) was one of 16 Lutheran bishops of Skálholt.

The Icelandic crowns 1000 banknote showing a portrait of him.

Life

Brynjólfur went, after attending the school of Skalholt to Copenhagen, where he studied classical philology and philosophy: A study choice that shaped his critical view of the witch hunts of the time. There he established contacts with the most prominent thinkers of the North as Ole Worm. After that, he worked for six years as vice-principal at the school of Roskilde.

1638 he was about to embark on a study trip to the Netherlands when he was elected surprising to see of Skalholt. His renunciation letter was not accepted by Christian IV. He was ordained in May 1639 the Church of Our Lady of Copenhagen bishop.

Of the children from his marriage to Margrét Halldórsdóttir survived only a daughter, Ragnheiður, and a son, Halldór, who died in England in 1666.

Brynjólfur Sveinsson died on August 5, 1675 without bodily heirs.

Medieval manuscripts

The name of the bishop, is closely connected with medieval manuscripts mainly because of three known texts that went through his hands.

1643 reached a manuscript collection of Old Norse mythological and heroic poetry in the possession of the clergy. He gave her the name " Sæmundar Edda ". Brynjólfur wrote this manuscript Sæmundr Sigfússon ( inn Fróði ) to by former hypotheses an "older " Edda as a precursor of Snorra Edda, and Sæmundr as the author of those latter, combined and reinterpreted. However, modern research agrees that it is the creator of the work (whether in terms of " author " or " compiler " ) may not have acted to Sæmundr. Rather, the handwriting, also known as the Codex Regius is a variety of sources based; the manuscript contains texts of very different ages and adopt its content and style, otherwise quite uneven. The Life-history of the author adopted by Brynjólfur and the probable date of origin of the manuscript ( 1270 ) also do not match, so that authorship is excluded.

A manuscript of the Old Norse Snorra Edda, the so-called Codex Upsaliensis, fell into the hands of the Icelandic clergy before he passed it in 1639 to the Danish historian Stephanius.

Finally, he found a manuscript of the Book of Icelanders ( Íslendingabók ), which was copied from one of his priests, but soon lost.

Hymns and Psalms

Brynjólfur Sveinsson, who held from 1639 to 1675 the office of bishop was, what is less well known, also a poet and wrote hymns and psalms. He promoted Hallgrímur Pétursson, the still famous hymn writer Islands and helped him to parishes.