Jon Aresson

1484-1550. Icelandic bishop and poet. The son of poor parents, he rose quickly to eminence in the church and was consecrated bishop of Holar, the northern diocese, in 1524. He administered his diocese prosperously until Christian III of Denmark began to impose Lutheranism. With Bishop ögmundr Palsson of Skalholt he protested vigorously, and he continued his resistance after his colleague was deported in 1541. He captured the Lutheran Bishop Marteinn and seized his see (1549-50), but soon after he was captured and beheaded at Skalholt with two of his sons. He was the author of several religious and satirical poems, notably one entitled “Lamentations on the Passion.” He invited a Swedish printer to set up the first printing press in Iceland about 1530; he published the Breviarium Holense in 1534.