Pétur Pétursson (3 October 1808 – 15 May 1891) was a prominent political leader in

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 ...

, eventually becoming the fourth

Bishop of Iceland The following is a list of Evangelical Lutheran Church of Iceland, Evangelical Lutheran bishops of Iceland. The first bishop of Iceland was Geir Vídalín who took office in 1801. As of 2024, 15 people have held the office of Bishop of Iceland. Li ...

from 1866 to 1889.

Biography

Pétursson was born in Blönduhlíð, the son of Péturs Péturssonar, a professor in Víðivellir and his second wife, Thóra Brynjólfsdóttir. He was one of the well-known Víðivellir brothers, the others were Supreme Court judge Jón Pétursson and

Brynjólfur Pétursson Brynjólfur Pétursson (15 April 1810 – 18 October 1851) was an Icelandic lawyer and government official. He was one of the ''Fjölnismenn'', a group of Icelandic intellectuals who spearheaded the revival of Icelandic national consciousness an ...

, a lawyer. Pétur and his brother Brynjólfur were educated by the Reverend Einar Thorlacius in Goðdalir and later in

Eyjafjörður Eyjafjörður (, ''Island Fjord'') is one of the longest fjords in Iceland. It is located in the central north of the country. Situated by the fjord is the country's fourth most populous municipality, Akureyri. Physical geography The fjord is ...

. Jónas Hallgrímsson was their fellow student. He earned a theology degree from the University of Copenhagen in 1834. He served as a pastor at Helgafell and Stedarstaður and a pastor in the

Snæfellsnes The Snæfellsnes () is a peninsula situated to the west of Borgarfjörður, in western Iceland. The peninsula has a volcanic origin having the Snæfellsnes volcanic belt down its centre, and the Snæfellsjökull volcano A volcano is com ...

peninsula. In 1847 he was appointed director of the seminary. He was appointed bishop of Iceland in 1866 and served his office for 23 years. He retired on April 16, 1889. He was king's elected member of parliament from 1849 to 1887 and mayor of

Reykjavík Reykjavík is the Capital city, capital and largest city in Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland on the southern shore of Faxaflói, the Faxaflói Bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is List of northernmost items, the worl ...

from 1849 to 1851 and 1855 to 1856. He served as speaker 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 ...

from 1879 to 1881. He is also the author of numerous books. His first wife was Anna Sigríður Aradóttir from Flugumýri who died in 1839 after a short marriage. His second wife was Sigríður Bogadóttir, the daughter of Boga Benediktsson and Jarðrúður Jónsdóttir.

References

Lutheran bishops of Iceland 1808 births 1891 deaths 19th-century Icelandic Lutheran bishops Speakers of the Althing {{Iceland-Lutheran-bishop-stub