Hallgrim Pjetursson

PJETURSSON, Hallgrim (PÉTURSSON, Hallgrímur). b. Hólar, Iceland, 1614; d. 1674. His father was a bell-ringer at the cathedral. He worked in Copenhagen as a blacksmith, until Brynjolf Sveinsson, who later became Bishop of Iceland, asked him to instruct some returned captives in the Christian faith. He fell in love with one of them, Gudred, living in poverty with her in Iceland although her husband was still living. He married Gudred on the death of her husband, and was subsequently pardoned by Sveinsson, who ordained him as a Lutheran minister. He was a minister on the Reykjaves Peninsula, and later at Sourby. At Sourby he wrote a series of fifty hymns on the Passion, Fimmtíu Passíusalmar,...