Egill Eyjólfsson (1295–1341) was the bishop of Iceland's northern diocese of

Hólar Hólar (; also Hólar í Hjaltadal ) is a small community in the Skagafjörður district of northern Iceland. Location Hólar is in the valley Hjaltadalur, some from the national capital of Reykjavík. It has a population of around 100. It is t ...

from the death of his predecessor,

Lárentíus Kálfsson Lárentíus Kálfsson (medieval Icelandic Laurentius Kálfsson; 10 August 1267 – 16 April 1331) was bishop of the northern Icelandic diocese of Hólar 1324–31. Laurentius studied first with Þórarinn kaggi, his maternal uncle, in Vellir in ...

, in 1331, until his own death in 1341.

Biography

Egill's father was Eyjólfur, a gold-smith, and his mother Þorgerður Egilsdóttir. Egill studied at the monastery of

Þingeyri Þingeyri (, regionally also ) is a settlement in the municipality of Ísafjarðarbær, Iceland. It is located on the coast of Dýrafjörður fjord in the mountainous peninsula Westfjords (in Icelandic language, Icelandic written Vestfirðir). On ...

, being taught alongside

Einarr Hafliðason Einar Hafliðason (medieval Icelandic Einarr Hafliðason, 15 September 1307 – 22 September 1393) was an Icelandic priest and author. Biography Einar became a priest in 1334 with the benefice of Höskuldsstaðir á Skagaströnd and in 1343 the A ...

. Egill first became a deacon, was then consecrated as a priest in 1318, and around the same time became the schoolmaster at

. At that time, the bishop of Hólar was Auðunn rauði Þorbergsson, whose relationship with the monks of Þingeyri (not least Lárentíus) was very strained. According to '' Laurentius Saga'', it was through Egill's efforts that in the autumn of 1319, Auðun and Lárentíus made peace. Egill subsequently held the benefice of Grímstungur in

Vatnsdalur Vatnsdalur is a glacial trough valley in the Húnabyggð municipality of Northwestern Region (Iceland), Northwestern Region, Iceland. The ''Vatnsdæla saga'', one of the sagas of Icelanders, chronicles the lives of the valley's original Norsemen, ...

, and in 1324 received the benefice of Grenjaðarstaðir in Aðaldalur (the wealthiest in the diocese of Hólar) from Archbishop Eilif Arnesson Kortin. Around 1327, Bishop Lárentius sent Egill to the Archbishop to plead Lárentíus‘s case against the monks of Möðruvellir. After Lárentíus's death in 1331, Egill was elected bishop of Hólar. Little is known about his episcopate, though it is said that the diocese's finances were well managed under his governance. Egill was succeeded as bishop by

Ormr Ásláksson Ormr Ásláksson was Bishop of Hólar, Iceland's northern diocese, from 1343-56. Biography Ormr was a Norwegian, who prior to his election had been a canon of the cathedral of Stavanger from at least 1319, in which role he oversaw the collection o ...

Sources

*Páll Eggert Ólason: Íslenskar æviskrár I. *Þorsteinn Gunnarsson (ritstj.): Um Auðunarstofu, bls. 184. *Sigurdson, Erika Ruth, 'The Church in Fourteenth-Century Iceland: Ecclesiastical Administration, Literacy, and the Formation of an Elite Clerical Identity
(unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Leeds, 2011)Download The Church in Fourteenth-Century Iceland
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eyjolfsson, Egill 1295 births 1341 deaths 14th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Iceland 14th-century Icelandic people

Biography

See also

Sources