Miklibær is a church site and

parsonage A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of a given religion, serving as both a home and a base for the occupant's ministry. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, pa ...

Blönduhlíð Blönduhlíð is a district in Iceland in eastern Skagafjörður that lies along the Héraðsvötn river. It spans the area from the Bóluá river in the south of and the Kyrfisá river to the north. Brekknapláss is the outermost part of 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 ...

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 ...

. The oldest source for the church in Miklibær is from the year 1234 in the

Sturlunga Saga ''Sturlunga saga'' (often called simply ''Sturlunga'') is a collection of Icelandic Norse saga, sagas by various authors from the 12th and 13th centuries; it was assembled in about 1300, in Old Norse. It mostly deals with the story of the Sturlun ...

, which says from that point on, Kolbeinn ungi (“the young”) Arnórsson had the town because he killed Kálfur Guttormsson and his son Guttormur. Miklibær played a considerable role in the

Age of the Sturlungs The Age of the Sturlungs or the Sturlung Era ( ) was a 42-/44-year period of violent internal strife in mid-13th-century Iceland. It is documented in the '' Sturlunga saga''. This period is marked by the conflicts of local chieftains, '' goðar'' ...

, especially in the

Battle of Örlygsstaðir The Battle of Örlygsstaðir was a historic battle fought by members of the Sturlungar family against the Ásbirningar and the Haukdælir clans in northern Iceland. The battle was part of the civil war that was taking place in Iceland at the t ...

Sturla Sighvatsson Sturla Sighvatsson (Old Norse: ; Modern Icelandic: ; 1199 – 21 August 1238) was an Icelandic chieftain or '' goði'' of the Sturlungar family clan who played an active role in the armed conflicts in Iceland during the Age of the Sturlungs ...

stayed there with part of his squad the night before the battle, and his brothers, Kolbeinn and Þórður, fled to Miklibær and sought sanctuary in the church. Ultimately, they were forced out and captured. Their heads were cut off, as were many others'. The most famous priest to have been at Miklibær is Oddur Gíslason (1740–1786), who became a priest there in 1768. He got a housekeeper named Solveig and she fell in love with him, but it was unrequited. After he married another woman in 1777, Solveig developed a mental illness and tried to commit suicide. She eventually succeeded in taking her own life by slitting her throat on April 11, 1778. She was buried outside the church yard like others who had killed themselves. It was said that she became a ghost. Some years later, on October 1, 1786, Reverend Oddur went to mass in

Silfrastaðir Silfrastaðir is a farm and church site at the mouth of the Norðurárdalur valley in Skagafjörður, Iceland. The farm's property is vast, spanning from the Bóluá river in Blönduhlíð out to the Kotá river in Norðurárdalur. Most of the l ...

but he never returned from the trip. Many folktales formed around Oddur’s disappearance, and it was said that Solveig had dragged him and his horse into her grave. In reality, his horse was found the next morning and, in a letter written in 1789, it came to light that Reverend Oddur had been found there around springtime in Gegnir stream below the town. The plans for the present church in Milklibær, which was built in 1973 after the former church burned down, were drawn up by the master builder Jörundur Pálsson. The grave of Hjálmar Jónsson, as well as his wife Guðný, is located in Miklibær’s grave yard. Gottskálk Þorvaldsson (1741–1806), father of the sculptor

Bertel Thorvaldsen Albert Bertel Thorvaldsen (; sometimes given as Thorwaldsen; 19 November 1770 – 24 March 1844) was a Danes, Danish-Icelanders, Icelandic Sculpture, sculptor and medallist, medalist of international fame, who spent most of his life (1797–183 ...

, was the son of a priest from Miklibær.

References

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