Páll Jónsson (Bishop)

Icelandic medieval manuscript Mörðuvallabók

Páll Jónsson (* 1155 - 29 November 1211 ) was bishop of Skálholt in southern Iceland .

He was the illegitimate child of the influential Goden Jón Loftsson and grew up with his foster son Snorri Sturluson in Oddi . He later continued his studies in England and then became a farmer on the Skarð farm in the Landsveit district in south Iceland.

Work of the bishop

In 1195 he was ordained Bishop of Skálholt. He achieved fame above all as an esthete who decorated the church there and also had valuables made for himself and as gifts for influential friends.

Among these works of art was an ornately decorated stone sarcophagus , a treasure unheard of in Iceland at the time.

As a very educated person, he commissioned the preparation of manuscripts .

Finally he arranged for the canonization of his predecessors in the ministry Þorlákur Þórhallsson , Bishop of Skálholt, and Jón Helgi , Bishop of Hólar in northern Iceland.

The sarcophagus

For a long time the story of the sarcophagus was considered a legend. But when excavations were carried out in the Skálholt cemetery in August 1954, one was actually found. It was believed to be Bishop Páll's, as no one in Iceland had ever heard of anyone else who was buried in a sarcophagus.

When it was opened on August 30, 1954, the skeleton of a man (the bishop?) And the remains of a crosier were found in it .

The sarcophagus can be seen in the crypt of today's Skálholt Cathedral.

literature

• Biskupsstólanna saga. Hólar 2006.

Web links

• Hungrvaka, Saga of Bishop Páll, p. 143 ff.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from February 20, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Article on Bishop Páll Jónsson and his sarcophagus, Skálholt's homepage, accessed: July 29, 2010 
2. ↑ http://icelandreview.com/icelandreview/features/multimedia/?ew_news_onlyarea=&ew_news_onlyposition=13&cat_id=29473&ew_13_a_id=337854 Iceland Review on Skálholt, accessed: July 20, 2010

predecessor	Office	successor
Þorlákur Þórhallsson	Bishop of Skálholt 1195–1211	Magnús Gissurarson

Note: Icelanders are referred to by their first name or first and last name, but not just their surname. Further information can be found under Icelandic personal name .