Family of Ari SIGURÐSSON and Elín "bláhosa" MAGNÚSDÓTTIR

Ari SIGURÐSSON (c. 1450-aft1490)

Elín "bláhosa" MAGNÚSDÓTTIR (c. 1455-aft1519)

Jón ARASON (1484-1550)

Ari SIGURÐSSON¹

Male

Sigurður JÓNSSON (c. 1407-1492)

Not KNOWN ( - )

bjuggu í lítilvægu koti og voru fátæk

Elín "bláhosa" MAGNÚSDÓTTIR³

Female

bláhosa (blá-blue;hosa, f. hose, legging. (blue leg ?)

-

-

Jón ARASON^4,5

Male

Helga SIGURÐARDÓTTIR (c. 1485-aft1559)

the Benedictine Abbey of Iceland

hélt einnig Odda á Rangárvöllum 1519-1524 en bjó aldrei þar.

Síðastur kaþólskra biskupa á Hólum. Jón varð officialis á Hólum 1520, kjörinn biskup þar 1522 og vígður 1524 þrátt fyrir mikla andstöðu Ögmundar Pálssonar, sem m.a. bannfærði Jón vegna deilna.

Jón setti á fót fyrstu prentsmiðju á Íslandi, líklega um 1530. Hann var harðdrægur fjármálamaður og jók bæði eignir sínar og stólsins með jarðakaupum og málaferlum, deildi m.a. lengi við Teit Þorleifsson um Bjarnaneseignir í Hornafirði.

Jón var ákafur andstæðingur lútherstrúar en hafðist lítið að meðan Gissur Einarsson sat í Skálholti. Eftir vígslu Marteins Einarssonar 1548 lét Jón til skarar skríða, handtók hann 1549 og fékk klerkadóm til að dæma sér Skálholtsstifti 1550. Kristján konungur 3 lýsti Jón útlægan og friðlausan 1549. Hann var handtekinn ásamt tveimur sonum sínum, Ara og Birni, á Sauðafelli í Dölum 1550 og þeir háshöggnir í Skálholti 7. nóvember sama ár að kröfu fógeta konungs, Kristjáns skrifara.

Jóni hafa verið eignuð fimm mikil helgikvæði, Píslargrátur (1612), Davíðsdigtur (1612), Ljómur (1869), Niðurstigningarvísur, og Krossvísur; auk þess orti Jón einnig veraldlegar tækifærisvísur.

Not a translation of the Icelandic, taken from the Catholic Encyclopedia (web site http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01678c.htm). The last Catholic bishop of Iceland before the introduction of Protestantism, b. 1484; d. 7 November, 1550. He was consecrated Bishop of Hólar by his archbishop in the Metropolitan See of Nidaros (Trondhjem), in Norway, 1524. He was a typical Icelander and a man of extraordinary talents, though poorly versed in Latin, and openly neglectful of the law of celibacy. He was thoroughly devoted to the cause of the Church, but was more of a war-chief than a bishop. Christian III, King of Denmark, having ordered a change of religion in Iceland, in 1538, he encountered there the opposition of Ögmundur Pálsson, Bishop of Skálholt, as well as that of Arason. Ögmundur Pálsson, who was old and blind, was made prisoner by Kristoffer Huitfeldt, a royal leader, and taken to Denmark, where he died in 1542. His successors were Lutheran bishops. The leadership of the Catholics consequently devolved on the Bishop of Hólar, Arason Jón. He maintained the defensive until 1548, when the episcopal see of Skálholt was made vacant by the death of the apostate Gissur Einarsson. Then he assumed the offensive, in order to rule the Diocese of Skálholt in a Catholic spirit, and to have a Catholic appointed bishop there. Marteinn Einarsson had returned from Denmark, confirmed as bishop by the king, to oppose him; but Arason Jón took him prisoner. Although suspended and declared an outlaw by the king, Arason Jón felt himself encouraged by a letter from Pope Paul III to continue his efforts to extirpate heresy. His energy and his zeal knew no bounds. In an attempt to capture his greatest adversary, Dadi Gudmundsson, he was himself taken prisoner and handed over to the king's bailiff, Christian Skriver. The Lutheran bishop, Marteinn Einarsson, was at once set free, and without awaiting any formal judgment the decapitation of Arason and two of his sons, Are and Björn, who had been stanch allies of their father, was agreed upon.

Some fishermen avenged the death of their bishop by killing Christian Skriver and his adherents in the following year. The body of Arason was then transferred, in triumph, from Skálholt to Hólar. The people, as a sign of their veneration for him, elected his son Jón as his successor. But the election lacked confirmation. Protestantism, now that Catholicism had no leader, met with no open opposition. The people, however, continued to cherish the faith of their fathers for a long time and looked on Arason as a national hero and a martyr. Five Lutheran bishops of Skail, and three of Hólar, were descendants of his, and in later times, among the converts at a Catholic mission given in Iceland was a woman descended from the hero bishop.

Cause: Executed

beheaded