Úr Tyrkjaveldi og bréfabókum

Abstract

The unpublished letter-books of Gísli Oddsson, Bishop of Skálholt (d. 1638) contain many letters about cases involving people in the Westman Islands whose spouses were seized by the Algerian pirates who raided the coastal regions of Iceland in 1627. The main matter arising in these letters is whether or not it was permissible for such individuals to re-marry. The article presents evidence about the fate of Anna Jasparsdóttir who had a husband and children in Algiers, whilst her former spouse, Jón Oddsson, remained in the Westman Islands and was looking for a new wife. The article also prints a section from AM 124 8vo which was written at some point during the period 1635-1669, and which gives quite a positive account of the customs and practices of the Turks; other Icelandic manuscripts contain rather more negative accounts. The article draws attention to the prejudice of clerical authorities and scholars against believers in the Islamic faith, and cites an instance from 1663, in the letter-books of Bishop Brynjólfur Sveinsson from Skálholt, which seems to show that the hard-pressed common folk did not always follow blindly the attitudes of their superiors.