Brynjólfur Pétursson (15 April 1810 – 18 October 1851) was an

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

ic lawyer and government official. He was one of the '' Fjölnismenn'', a group of Icelandic intellectuals who spearheaded the revival of Icelandic national consciousness and gave rise to the Icelandic Independence Movement.

Personal life

Brynjólfur was born in Víðivellir in

Skagafjörður Skagafjörður () is a deep fjord and its valley in northern Iceland. Location Skagafjörður, the fjord, is about 40 km long and 15 km wide, situated between Tröllaskagi to the east and the Skagi, Skagi Peninsula to the west. Ther ...

and was one of the "Víðvellir brothers", the sons of profast

Pétur Pétursson Guðlaugur "Pétur" Pétursson (born 27 June 1959 in Akranes) is a retired Icelandic footballer who played as a forward. Club career Pétur made his professional debut at ÍA and also played for Feyenoord Rotterdam, RSC Anderlecht (35), Roy ...

and his second wife, Þóra Brynjólfsdóttir. His brothers were Jón Pétursson, a judge, and

, a bishop. Brynjólfur died an unmarried man in Copenhagen in 1851, leaving no children.

Education and career

Brynjólfur graduated from

Bessastaðir Bessastaðir (, ) is the official residence of the president of Iceland. It is situated in Álftanes ( Garðabær Municipality), about from the capital city, Reykjavík. History Bessastaðir was first settled in 1000. It became one of Snorri S ...

in 1828 and attained a degree in

jurisprudence Jurisprudence, also known as theory of law or philosophy of law, is the examination in a general perspective of what law is and what it ought to be. It investigates issues such as the definition of law; legal validity; legal norms and values ...

from the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen (, KU) is a public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia, after Uppsala University. ...

in 1837. He then became a Danish government official, working in the Danish ministry of finance. He became chief administrator at the Iceland office in Copenhagen following the abolition of absolutism in Denmark in 1848, and a representative for

in the Danish constitutional assembly 1848–1849. In his student years, Brynjólfur was one of the '' Fjölnismenn'' along with

Jónas Hallgrímsson Jónas Hallgrímsson (16 November 1807 – 26 May 1845) was an Icelandic poet, writer and naturalist. He was one of the founders of the Icelandic journal ''Fjölnir'', which was first published in Copenhagen in 1835. The magazine was used by J ...

, Konráð Gíslason and

Tómas Sæmundsson Tómas Sæmundsson (7 June 1807 – 17 May 1841) was an Icelandic priest, and one of the '' Fjölnismenn'', a group of Icelandic intellectuals who spearheaded the revival of Icelandic national consciousness and gave rise to the Icelandic Indepen ...

. He was on the board of the Copenhagen branch of the

Icelandic Literary Society The Icelandic Literary Society (), founded in 1816, is an organization dedicated to promoting and strengthening Icelandic language Icelandic ( ; , ) is a North Germanic languages, North Germanic language from the Indo-European languages, Indo-E ...

, and president of the society 1848–1851.

Sources

Candidati juris. Tímarit hinsi íslenzka bókmenntafélags, 3. árgangur 1882.
Petursson, Brynjolfur Petursson, Brynjolfur Icelandic writers 19th-century Icelandic people Icelandic independence activists 19th-century Danish lawyers {{iceland-writer-stub

Personal life

Education and career

See also

Sources