Páll Melsteð (31 March 1791 – 9 May 1861) was an Icelandic official and politician. He graduated from Bessastaðir School in 1809 and from

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

with a degree in law in 1815. From 1815 to 1849 he served as a

sýslumaður (; plural: ; , , ) is a governmental office or title used in Iceland, the Faroe Islands, and Norway. The position originated in Norway in the Middle Ages, where it was used as a noble title, and the was granted a fief called a '' sýsla'' (pl ...

in various ''sýslur''. In 1849 he became the ''

amtmann __NOTOC__ The ''Amtmann'' or ''Ammann'' (in Switzerland) was an official in German-speaking countries of Europe and in some of the Nordic countries from the time of the Middle Ages whose office was akin to that of a bailiff A bailiff is a ...

'' of the Western Amt, an office he retained until his death. He was a member of the

Althing The (; ), anglicised as Althingi or Althing, is the Parliamentary sovereignty, supreme Parliament, national parliament of Iceland. It is the oldest surviving parliament in the world. The Althing was founded in 930 at ('Thing (assembly), thing ...

by royal appointment from 1847 until his death. He was also appointed by the king to the National Assembly of 1851. He was the father of Páll Melsteð the historian.

References

''Páll Melsteð''
Website of the Althing. 2001. Pall Melsted Pall Melsted 1791 births 1861 deaths {{Iceland-politician-stub