Gissur Einarsson

Icelandic bishop
The basics

Quick Facts

IntroIcelandic bishop
PlacesIceland
wasPriest Religious scholar Theologian
Work fieldReligion
Gender
Male
Religion:Lutheranism
Birth1512
Death24 March 1548 (aged 36 years)
The details

Biography

Gissur Einarsson (c. 1512 – 24 March 1548) was a bishop in Skálholt from 1540 to his death, and the first Lutheran bishop in Iceland.

Gissur was the son of Einar Sigvaldason on Hraun í Landbroti and of Gunnhildur Jónsdóttir. He was the nephew of Halldóra Sigvaldadóttir. He attended Skálholt's school where he was instructed by bishop Ögmundur Pálsson and went to study further at Hamburg, where he discovered Protestantism. He was made a priest shortly after he came back to Iceland, and Ögmundur chose him as his successor in 1539. The king ratified this decision the following year, yet he was not formally made into bishop until 1542, in Copenhagen.

On October 7, 1543, Gissur married Katrín Hannessdóttir, sister of Eggert Hannesson.

Preceded by
Ögmundur Pálsson
Bishop of Skálholt
1540–1548
Succeeded by
Marteinn Einarsson



The contents of this page are sourced from Wikipedia article on 10 Apr 2020. The contents are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.