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SIGUR5SSON, JON (1811-1879)

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Originally appearing in Volume V25, Page 83 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SIGUR5SSON, JON (1811-1879) , Icelandic statesman and See also:man of letters, was See also:born in the See also:west of See also:Iceland in 1811. He came of an old See also:family, and received an excellent See also:education. In 183o he was secretary to the See also:bishop of Iceland, the learned Steingrimr Jonsson. In 1833 he went to the university of See also:Copenhagen and devoted himself to the study of Icelandic See also:history and literature. His name soon became prominent in the learned See also:world, and it may safely be said that most of his See also:historical See also:works and his See also:editions of Icelandic See also:classics have never been surpassed for acute See also:criticism and See also:minute painstaking. Of these we may mention Logsogumannatal og Logmanna a Islandi (" Speakers of the See also:Law and Law-men in Iceland "); his edition of Landndma and other sagas in Islendinga Sogur, i.-ii. (Copenhagen, 1843-1847); the large collection of Icelandic See also:laws edited by him and Oddgeir Stephensen; and last, not least, the Diplomatarium Islandicum, which after his See also:death was continued by others. But although he was one of the greatest scholars Iceland has produced, he was still greater as a politician. The Danish See also:rule had, during the centuries following the See also:Reformation, gradually brought Iceland to the See also:verge of economic ruin; the See also:ancient See also:Parliament of the See also:island, which had degeneratedto a See also:mere See also:shadow, had been abolished in 1800; all the See also:revenue of Iceland went into the Danish See also:treasury, and only very small sums were spent for the See also:good of the island; but worst of all was the notorious See also:monopoly which gave away the whole See also:trade of Iceland to a single Danish trading See also:company. This monopoly had been abolished in 1787, and the trade had been declared See also:free to all Danish subjects, but practically the old arrangement was continued under disguised forms. Jon Sigurasson began a hard struggle against the Danish See also:government to obtain a reform. In 1854 the trade of Iceland was declared free to all nations.

In 1840 the Althing was re-established as an advisory, not as a legislative See also:

body. But when See also:Denmark got a free constitution in 1848, which had no legal validity in Iceland, the island See also:felt justified in demanding full See also:home rule. To this the Danish government was vehemently opposed; it convoked an Icelandic See also:National See also:Assembly in 1851, and brought before that body a See also:bill granting Iceland small See also:local liberties, but practically incorporating Iceland in Denmark. This bill was indignantly rejected, and, instigated by JOn Sigurasson, another was demanded of far more liberal tendencies. The Danish See also:governor-See also:general then dissolved the assembly, but JOn Sigurosson and all the members with him protested to the See also:king against these unlawful proceedings. The struggle continued with See also:great bitterness on both sides, but gradually the Danish government was forced to See also:grant many important reforms. High See also:schools were established at Reykjavik, and efforts made to better the trade and farming of the See also:country. In 1871 the Danish parliament (Riksdag) passed a law defining the See also:political position of Iceland in the Danish See also:monarchy, which, though never recognized as valid by the Icelanders, became de facto the See also:base of the political relations of Iceland and Denmark. At last, in 1874, when King See also:Christian IX. visited Iceland at the festival commemorating the millenary of the colonization of Iceland from See also:Norway, he gave to the country a Constitution, with full home rule in all See also:internal matters. An immense victory was gained, entirely due to JOn SigurOsson, whose high See also:personal qualities had rallied all the nation See also:round him. He was a man of See also:fine See also:appearance, with an eloquence and See also:diplomatic gifts such as no others of his countrymen possessed, and his unselfish love of his country made itself felt in almost every See also:branch of Icelandic See also:life. Recognizing the value of an intellectual centre, he made Reykjavik not only the political, but the spiritual See also:capital of Iceland by removing all the See also:chief institutions of learning to that See also:city; he was the soul of many See also:literary and political See also:societies, and the chief editor of the Ny Fdlagsrit, which has done more than any other Icelandic periodical to promote the cause of See also:civilization and progress in Iceland.

After Iceland had got home rule in 1874, the grateful See also:

people showered on J6n SigurOsson all the honours it could bestow. He lived the greater See also:part of his life in Copenhagen, and died there in 1879; but his body, together with that of his wife, Ingibjorg Einarsdottir, whom he had married in 1845, and who survived him only a few days, was taken to Reykjavik and given a public funeral. On his See also:monument was placed the inscription: " The beloved son of Iceland, her See also:honour, See also:sword, and See also:shield." (S.

End of Article: SIGUR5SSON, JON (1811-1879)

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