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 Skagaströnd (), previously Höfðakaupstaður (), is a Municipalities of Iceland, municipality and village in the Northwestern Region (Iceland), Northwestern Region of Iceland. It is situated on the western side of the Skagi peninsula, along ...

and in 1343 the Archbishop of

Nidaros Nidaros, Niðarós or Niðaróss () was the medieval name of Trondheim when it was the capital of Norway's first Christian kings. It was named for its position at the mouth (Old Norse: ''óss'') of the River Nid (the present-day Nidelva). Althou ...

granted him Breiðabólstaður í Vesturhópi, one of the best farms in the region, in what is now

Vestur-Húnavatnssýsla Iceland was historically divided into 23 counties known as ''sýslur'' (), and 23 independent towns known as ''kaupstaðir'' (). Iceland is now split up between 24 sýslumenn (magistrates) that are the highest authority over the local police ( ...

, in Northern Iceland. Einarr held this benefice until his death. Einarr was one of the leading clerics in the 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 ...

, taking various official roles. He is best known, however, for his writing: he began the

annal Annals (, from , "year") are a concise historical record in which events are arranged chronologically, year by year, although the term is also used loosely for any historical record. Scope The nature of the distinction between annals and histo ...

Lögmannsannáll (from Old Norse: ''Governors' Annals'') is among the most well-known of the medieval Icelandic annals and is preserved in the Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies in Reykjavík as manuscript AM 420 B, (c. 1362–1390). was primarily ...

'', a chronicle which Einarr continued up to 1361, when it was taken over by someone else. He almost certainly composed '' Lárentius saga'', a biography of Einarr's friend and teacher

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 ...

, sometime after 1346; and wrote or otherwise appeared in a number of official documents. Einar was thus a prominent member of the

North Icelandic Benedictine School The North Icelandic Benedictine School (''Norðlenski Benediktskólinn'') is a fourteenth-century Icelandic literary movement, the lives, activities, and relationships of whose members are attested particularly by '' Laurentius saga biskups''. Thi ...

, and '' Laurentius saga'' is an important witness to the lives of its members. In 1381, Einar also translated the miracle-story ''Atburðr á Finnmörk'' from Latin into Icelandic. Though short, the text provides important evidence for relations between Norse and Saami people in medieval Norway. Einar was the son of Hafliði Steinsson, who had been a priest of the Norwegian king, a ''ráðsmaðr'' (steward) at

from 1292 to 1308 and finally the priest at Breiðabólstaður í Vesturhópi until his death in 1319; his mother was Hafliði's concubine Rannveig Gestsdóttir. Einar was sent to study with Lárentíus Kálfsson at the monastery of Þingeyri at the age of 10, later becoming a follower and secretary for Lárentíus. Too ill at the time to ordain Einarr, Lárentíus sent Einarr to the southern diocese of

Skálholt Skálholt (Modern Icelandic: ; ) is a historical site in the south of Iceland, at the river Hvítá, Árnessýsla, Hvítá. History Skálholt was, through eight centuries, one of the most important places in Iceland. A bishopric was established ...

for consecration there by Bishop

Jón Halldórsson Jón Halldórsson, OP (; – 2 February 1339) was a Norwegian Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of Iceland from 1322 to 1339. He previously served in the Diocese of Skálholt and was a member of the Dominican Order The Order of Pre ...

in 1332. Einarr is also one of the few fourteenth-century Icelanders known to have travelled outside Scandinavia. According to his annals, in 1347 Einarr " ("went ... away from the land orway and travelled to the papal court, and was in

Avignon Avignon (, , ; or , ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the left bank of the river Rhône, the Communes of France, commune had a ...

for nine nights, and travelled widely in France, and was in Paris for some time").''Lögmannsannáll'', in ''Islandske annaler indtil 1578'', ed. by

Gustav Storm Gustav Storm (18 June 1845 – 23 February 1903) was a Norwegians, Norwegian historian, a professor at the University of Oslo, Royal Frederick University in Oslo, Christiania from 1877. He was a driving force in the research of Scandinavian ...

(Christiania: Grøndahl, 1888), p. 274. Einarr's son was Árni, a farmer at Auðbrekka í Hörgárdal, the father of Þorleifr Árnason.

Notes

Sources

* http://timarit.is/view_page_init.jsp?pageId=3552604, 'Fornir bæir undir Hekluhrauni', ''Sunnudagsblað Tímans'', 5. April 1964. * http://timarit.is/view_page_init.jsp?pageId=3560386, 'Pétur Nikulásson Hólabiskup', ''Sunnudagsblað Tímans'', 6. June 1971. * Elton, Oliver (trans.), ''The Life of Laurence Bishop of Hólar in Iceland'' (London: Rivington, 1890), available a
https://archive.org/details/lifeoflaurencebi00einauoft
* Árni Björnsson (ed.), ''Laurentius saga biskups'', Rit handritastofunar Íslands, 3 (Reykjavík: Handritastofnun Íslands, 1969). * Guðrún Ása Grímsdóttir (ed.), ''Biskupa sögur III - Árna saga biskups, Lárentius saga biskups, Söguþáttr Jóns Halldórssonar biskups, Biskupa ættir'', Íslenzk fornrit, 17 (Reykjavík: Hið Íslenzka fornritfélag, 1998). {{DEFAULTSORT:Haflidason, Einarr 1307 births 1393 deaths Einarr Haflidason 14th-century writers Einarr Haflidason Einarr Haflidason Einarr Haflidason