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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: SHA-SIV |
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SIGUR5SSON, JON (1811-1879) , Icelandic statesman and man of letters, was born in the west of Iceland in 1811. He came of an old family, and received an excellent education. In 183o he was secretary to the bishop of Iceland, the learned Steingrimr Jonsson. In 1833 he went to the university of Copenhagen and devoted himself to the study of Icelandic history and literature. His name soon became prominent in the learned world, and it may safely be said that most of his historical works and his editions of Icelandic classics have never been surpassed for acute criticism and minute painstaking. Of these we may mention Logsogumannatal og Logmanna a Islandi (" Speakers of the 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 laws
rule
Parliament of the island, which had degeneratedto a mere shadow, had been abolished in 1800; all the revenue of Iceland went into the Danish treasury, and only very small sums were spent for the good of the island; but worst of all was the notorious monopoly which gave away the whole trade of Iceland to a single Danish trading company. This monopoly had been abolished in 1787, and the trade had been declared free to all Danish subjects, but practically the old arrangement was continued under disguised forms. Jon Sigurasson began a hard struggle against the Danish 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 body
home rule
body
governor -general then dissolved the assembly, but JOn Sigurosson and all the members with him protested to the king against these unlawful proceedings. The struggle continued with great
parliament (Riksdag) passed a law defining the political position of Iceland in the Danish monarchy, which, though never recognized as valid by the Icelanders, became de facto the base of the political relations of Iceland and Denmark. At last, in 1874, when King Christian IX. visited Iceland at the festival commemorating the millenary of the colonization of Iceland from Norway, he gave to the country a Constitution, with full home rule in all internal matters. An immense victory was gained, entirely due to JOn SigurOsson, whose high personal qualities had rallied all the nation round him. He was a man of fine appearance , with an eloquence and diplomatic gifts such as no others of his countrymen possessed, and his unselfish love of his country made itself felt in almost every branch of Icelandic life. Recognizing the value of an intellectual centre, he made Reykjavik not only the political, but the spiritual capital of Iceland by removing all the chief
chief
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