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Kirkjubol was a farm
at Gardskagi, often occupied by rich farmers and noblemen.
In 1433, a
group of men, escorting Bishop Jon Gerreksson of Skalholt under the
command of Magnus Kaemaster, who had asked for the hand of Margret, the
daughter of Governor Vigfus Holm, but suffered rejection, visited
Kirkjubol. Magnus was furious and decided to set the farm afire and
burn Margret alive. She was, however, the only person to escape from
the fire and get away on horseback. She vowed to marry the man who
would carry out her revenge. It was done by Thorvaldur Loftsson from
the farm Modruvellir in the North.
In 1550, the last
catholic bishop of the northern see was executed. Kristian, the envoy
of the Danish Governor, was responsible for that decision. In the early
part of 1551 he travelled with a large group of men to the Reykjanes Peninsula on the King’s
business and spent the night at Kirkjubol. During the
night a group of men from the North attacked the farm, and
with the permission of the farmer they breached the roof to
get in, where they killed Kristian and most of his men.
Their bodies were buried north of
the home fields. Immediately afterwards the dead started haunting the
living and the Northlanders exhumed the bodies, severed the heads from
them and put them at their buttocks to prevent any further wanderings of
their souls. News of the slayings and the demeaning burying methods
reached the King’s court and Danish soldiers were sent to the farm to
apprehend the farmer, who was then beheaded at Farm Straumur. |