Ragnheiður Jónsdóttir

Ragnheiður Jónsdóttir (1646–1715) was a wealthy member of the powerful Svalbarðsætt family. She was married twice, to two consecutive Lutheran bishops in the Hólar, Gísli Þorláksson (she was his third wife) and Einar Þorsteinsson. She survived both her husbands and retired in 1685 to the farm of Gröf in Höfðaströnd, just south of the modern-day village of Hofsós, appointing her younger brother Oddur as her household manager (ráðsmaður).

Ragnheiður was the daughter of the Reverend Jón Arason (1606–1673) of Vatnsfjörður and his wife Hólmfríður Sigurðardóttir (1617–1692). She was one of twelve children, nine of whom reached maturity. Her eldest brother was Magnús Jónsson í Vigur. Like Magnús, Ragnheiður was a patron of the arts, and her literary tastes are reflected in a surviving manuscript containing poetry and hymns (NKS 56 d 8vo), which was compiled for her in 1676. After Gísli Þorláksson's death in 1684, she commissioned a large portrait of Gísli and herself, alongside his first two wives, Gróa Þorleifsdóttir (d. 1660) and Ingibjörg Benediktsdóttir (d. 1673), from Copenhagen.

Ragnheiður was an expert embroiderer. After moving to Hólar, she taught needlework to young women, and continued to work as an educator for women in later life at Gröf. Ragnheiður Jónsdóttir and her husband Bishop Gísli Þórláksson were the patrons of Guðmundur Guðmundsson (c.1618–after 1703) from Bjarnastaðahlíð in Vesturdalur, one of the most skilled craftsman in seventeenth-century Iceland. They commissioned him to carve the baptismal font for the Hólar cathedral in 1674. Accounts vary as to whether he also constructed the church at Gröf, but he is known to have carved the alter. The building, among the smallest houses of worship in Iceland, is located just south of Hofsós.

Ragnheiður has been portrayed on the front of the 5000 Icelandic krónur banknote since 1986. It was the first Icelandic banknote to depict a woman. For this note, the Central Bank of Iceland chose imagery related to Icelandic women and their contribution to Icelandic culture.