Magnús Jónsson or Magnús prúði (c. 1530 – 1591) was an

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

ic official and poet. He was born to a well-off family and received his education in Iceland and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, probably

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

. Given his career, the curriculum must have included jurisprudence. After a period as a farmer and landbroker, he held office as ''sýslumaður'', or chief administrator in two counties in Iceland, first ''Þingeyjaþingssýsla'' and later ''Ísafjarðarsýsla'', both now defunct as administrative units. He was a famous man in his time, but what has preserved his name for posterity are his writings or, to be specific, the first part of '' Pontus rímur'', a

rímur In Icelandic literature, a ''ríma'' (, literally "a rhyme", pl. ''rímur'', ) is an epic poem written in any of the so-called ''rímnahættir'' (, "rímur meters"). They are rhymed, they alliterate and consist of two to four lines per stanza. T ...

cycle about a Spanish prince. Pontus rímur are among the better ones of the genre and are based, as many of the rímur were, on a French romance transmitted to Iceland through a German translation. Rímur are not widely read today, but Pontus rímur have secured themselves a special place in Icelandic literature by being a recurring theme in

Íslandsklukkan Iceland's Bell or Iceland Clock () may refer to: * ''Iceland's Bell'' (novel), a 1943 book by Nobel prize winner Halldór Kiljan Laxness * ''Iceland's Bell'' (painting), by Icelandic painter Jóhannes S. Kjarval * ''Iceland's Bell'' (sculpture) ...

Halldór Laxness Halldór Kiljan Laxness (; born Halldór Guðjónsson; 23 April 1902 – 8 February 1998) was an Icelandic writer and winner of the 1955 Nobel Prize in Literature. He wrote novels, poetry, newspaper articles, essays, plays, travelogues and s ...

, where the protagonist of the story invariably alleviates boredom by chanting ''Pontus rímur the Elder''. There are no such rímur, but since Pontus rímur have three authors, it is difficult to resist seeing it as a reference to the first part, composed by Magnús. His nickname, ''prúði'', can be variously interpreted as ''elegant'' or ''wise''. Of his eleven surviving children, Ari Magnússon is of particular note, being the man responsible for the last massacre in Icelandic history, the so-called

Spánverjavígin The Slaying of the Spaniards (also known as the Spanish Killings; is, Spánverjavígin ) was the last documented massacre in Icelandic history. Some Basque whalers went on a whaling expedition to Iceland and were killed after conflict in 1615 ...

of 1615.

References

*Grímur M. Helgason (ed.) (1961). ''Rit Rímnafélagins X : Pontus rímur''. Rímnafélagið: Reykjavík. {{DEFAULTSORT:Magnus Jonsson Magnus Jonsson Magnus Jonsson 1530s births 1591 deaths 16th-century Icelandic poets