Þingeyraklaustur was a monastery of the

Order of Saint Benedict The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

located in Þingeyrar on Iceland from 1133 until 1551. It was the first monastery in Iceland and probably the last to be closed by the

Icelandic Reformation The Icelandic Reformation () took place in the middle of the 16th century. Iceland was at this time a territory ruled by Denmark-Norway, and Lutheran religious reform was imposed on the Icelanders by King Christian III of Denmark. Resistance t ...

History

The monastery was founded by bishop Jón Ögmundsson in 1106, but it was not inaugurated until 1133 when its first abbot, Vilmundur Þórólfsson, was officially installed in office. Jón Ögmundsson assured the monastery an income from all farms between Hrútafjörður and Vatnsdalsá. Þingeyraklaustur was one of the largest and richest monasteries in Iceland and a famous center of literature, culture and education, famed for its library. Arngrímr Brandsson, Karl Jónsson, Gunnlaugr Leifsson and Oddr Snorrason were all religious brothers at Þingeyraklaustur and active as writers, and the writer Styrmer Kåresson is believed to have been educated there as well. A large number of

Sagas of Icelanders The sagas of Icelanders (, ), also known as family sagas, are a subgenre, or text group, of Icelandic Saga, sagas. They are prose narratives primarily based on historical events that mostly took place in Iceland in the ninth, tenth, and earl ...

were either produced or copied at the monastery, and the famous '' Bandamanna saga'', '' Grettis saga'', '' Hallfreðar saga'', '' Heiðarvíga saga'', '' Kormáks saga'', and '' Vatnsdæla saga'' are all likely to have been produced there. In 1402 the monastery was dissolved after

bubonic plague Bubonic plague is one of three types of Plague (disease), plague caused by the Bacteria, bacterium ''Yersinia pestis''. One to seven days after exposure to the bacteria, flu-like symptoms develop. These symptoms include fever, headaches, and ...

claimed the lives of all but one brother. It was reestablished in 1424 by Ásbjörn Vigfússon, who served as abbot. The monastery may have survived longer than other monastic institutes in Iceland. It was officially closed in 1551 during the

when the last abbot, Helgi Höskuldsson, was formally declared deposed, the monastery was banned from accepting novices, and its assets declared confiscated. The former monks were however allowed to remain for life if they wished, and it is therefore not known when it actually dissolved.

References

*Janus Jónsson
"Um klaustrin á Islandi. Þingeyraklaustur"
i ''Tímarit hins íslenzka bókmentafélags'', 8, 1887. {{DEFAULTSORT:Þingeyraklaustur Christian monasteries established in the 1130s 1133 establishments in Europe 12th-century establishments in Iceland Monasteries dissolved under the Icelandic Reformation Benedictine monasteries in Iceland Austur-Húnavatnssýsla