Steinunn Sveinsdóttir (1767–1805), was one of the most well known murderers in the history of Iceland alongside Bjarni Bjarnason (1761-1805).

Case

In 1802, Steinunn Sveinsdóttir and Bjarni Bjarnason mutually murdered their respective spouses in Sjöundá in Iceland. The case became famous as the Morðin á Sjöundá (The Sjöundá Murders). They were both arrested, subjected to torture and sentenced to death. However, it was no longer legal to perform executions on Iceland at that time, so they were to be brought to

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

for their execution. Steinunn Sveinsdóttir died in prison before she could be taken to Norway, but Bjarni Bjarnason was shipped to Norway, where he was executed in 1805.

Popular culture

The case has been the subject of two plays and a novel by

Gunnar Gunnarsson Gunnar Gunnarsson (18 May 1889 – 21 November 1975) was an Icelandic author who wrote mainly in Danish. He grew up, in considerable poverty, on Valþjófsstaður in Fljótsdalur valley and on Ljótsstaðir in Vopnafjörður. During t ...

, ''Svartfugl'' (1938).

References

* http://kvennabladid.is/2013/11/08/serstaed-sakamal-mordin-a-sjounda/ * Bjarki Bjarnason, ''Bók aldarinnar: íslensk bókmenntasaga'', 1901-1950, 1995 * Mitzi M. Brunsdale,
Encyclopedia of Nordic Crime Fiction: Works and Authors of Denmark
', 2016 * Gils Guðmundsson, ''Öldin sem leið: minnisverð tíðindi'', 1955 {{DEFAULTSORT:Steinunn Sveinsdottir 1767 births 18th-century Icelandic people 19th-century Icelandic people 1805 deaths 18th-century Icelandic women 19th-century Icelandic women Icelandic murderers 19th-century murderers