Jón
description
Jón Loptsson, grandson of Magnús berfœttr, son of Loptr Sæmundaron, Icel. chieftain (d. 1197) -- Anon Nkt 67/6, 69/2, 74/7
Sagas: MbHg, MErl (Hkr), Stu, Oddaverja þáttr.
Jón Loptsson, from the farmstead Oddi in southern Iceland, was born c. 1124. He was the son of Loptr Sæmundsson and Þóra, the daughter of King Magnús berfœttr Óláfsson of Norway, and the grandson of Sæmundr fróði ‘the Learned’ Sigfússon (see Genealogy II.1 in Stu 1878, II, 487). Jón was fostered in Norway by Andréas Brúnsson and his wife, Solveig, and he returned to Iceland with his father c. 1135. He was educated at Oddi, most likely by his father and his uncle, Eyjólfr (d. 1158). At the age of forty, Jón travelled to Norway and must have been present at the coronation of Magnús Erlingsson in 1164. Jón was the foster-father of Snorri Sturluson and the most powerful chieftain in Iceland during the latter part of his life. He was renowned for his fairness and for his ability to arbitrate in court cases. Jón died on 1 November 1197. The poem Anon Nkt was composed in his honour. See Hkr (ÍF 28, 288-9, 395; Hollander 1991, 724-5, 805), Stu (1878, I, 67, 75-6, 145, 156-7, 196, II, 284, 312), Oddaverja þáttr and Halldór Hermannsson 1932b.
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