Arngrímur Jónsson the Learned (1568 – June 27, 1648) was an Iceland

Iceland

Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...

ic scholar and an apologist

Apologetics

Apologetics is the discipline of defending a position through the systematic use of reason. Early Christian writers Apologetics (from Greek ἀπολογία, "speaking in defense") is the discipline of defending a position (often religious) through the systematic use of reason. Early Christian writers...

. His father was Jón Jónsson, who died in 1591. Arngrímur studied in Copenhagen, completing his studies in 1589 and taking up a position back in Iceland as rector of the Latin school at the episcopal seat of Hólar

Hólar

Hólar is a small community located in the Skagafjörður district and situated in northern Iceland.-Location:Hólar is located in the Hjaltadalur valley, some from the national capital at Reykjavík. Hólar has a population of around 100...

 in the same year.

In 1593 he published Brevis commentarius de Islandia

Brevis commentarius de Islandia

Brevis commentarius de Islandia is a book in Latin written and published in Denmark in 1593 by the Icelandic scholar Arngrímur Jónsson. It is a "Defense of Iceland", in which he criticized the works of numerous authors who had written about the people and the country of Iceland...

, a "Defense of Iceland" in Latin, in which he criticized the works of numerous authors who had written about the people and the country of Iceland. His main target was a poem by Gories Peerse, a merchant who had written an entertaining and somewhat slanderous poem about Icelandic geography and ethnography. Arngrímur also, however, criticized substantial works such as the Cosmographie of the German scholar Sebastian Münster

Sebastian Münster

Sebastian Münster , was a German cartographer, cosmographer, and a Hebrew scholar.- Life :Münster was born at Ingelheim near Mainz, the son of Andreas Munster. He completed his studies at the Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen in 1518. His graduate adviser was Johannes Stöffler.He was appointed to...

.

The Brevis commentarius de Islandia was reprinted in 1598 in Richard Hakluyt

Richard Hakluyt

Richard Hakluyt was an English writer. He is principally remembered for his efforts in promoting and supporting the settlement of North America by the English through his works, notably Divers Voyages Touching the Discoverie of America and The Principal Navigations, Voiages, Traffiques and...

's Principal Navigations of the English Nation. This defense of Iceland and subsequent works were important for introducing European scholars to the ancient literature of Iceland and the richness of the manuscripts present there. In the context of the mounting conflicts between Denmark and Sweden, which saw both countries trying to establish historical precedents for their empire-building, it also played a formative role in the development of European nationalism

Nationalism

Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...

, participating in the ethnographic insult and counterinsult by which European countries came to distinguish themselves in print. Through this and other writings–particularly his most important work, the Crymogæa of 1609–Arngrímur became an influential figure, inspiring leading Danish and Icelandic historians of subsequent generations, most prominently Ole Worm

Ole Worm

Ole Worm , who often went by the Latinized form of his name Olaus Wormius, was a Danish physician and antiquary.-Life:...

.

In his historical writings Arngrímur had access to texts no longer extant, most importantly a large fragment of Skjöldunga saga

Skjöldunga saga

The Skjöldunga saga was a Norse saga on the legendary Danish dynasty of the Skjöldungs, the same dynasty featured in the Old English poem Beowulf...

which was later lost completely. His works on legendary Danish

Legendary Danish kings

The legendary kings of Denmark are the predecessors of Gorm the Old, half history and half legend. The accounts of the Danish kings are confusing and contradictory, and so this presentation tries to separate the various sources from each other...

 and Swedish kings are the most important evidence for the contents of the lost saga.

He is pictured on the now obsolete Iceland

Iceland

Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...

ic 10 krónur banknote

Banknote

A banknote is a kind of negotiable instrument, a promissory note made by a bank payable to the bearer on demand, used as money, and in many jurisdictions is legal tender. In addition to coins, banknotes make up the cash or bearer forms of all modern fiat money...

. See Icelandic króna

Icelandic króna

The króna is the currency of Iceland. The króna is technically subdivided into 100 aurar , but in practice this subdivision is no longer used....

.

Works

• Brevis commentarius de Islandia
  Brevis commentarius de Islandia
  Brevis commentarius de Islandia is a book in Latin written and published in Denmark in 1593 by the Icelandic scholar Arngrímur Jónsson. It is a "Defense of Iceland", in which he criticized the works of numerous authors who had written about the people and the country of Iceland...
  
  
• Crymogæa, an apologetic
  Apologetics
  Apologetics is the discipline of defending a position through the systematic use of reason. Early Christian writers Apologetics (from Greek ἀπολογία, "speaking in defense") is the discipline of defending a position (often religious) through the systematic use of reason. Early Christian writers...
  
   writing in which Arngrímur defends Iceland
• Supplementum Historiæ Norvegicæ
• Rerum Danicarum fragmenta
• Ad Catalogum Regum Sveciæ, a quo danic: historiæ Norvegiæ, compendium incipit, annotanda
• Anatome Blefkeniana
• Eintal sálarinnar við sjálfa sig
• Epistola pro patria defensoria
• Apotribe virulentæ et atrocis calumniæ
• Athanasia (in memory of Guðbrandur Þorláksson
  Guðbrandur Þorláksson
  Guðbrandur Þorláksson was an Icelandic mathematician, cartographer and clergyman.He studied at the cathedral school in Hólar and then at the University of Copenhagen. He and was successively rector of the school at Skálholt and minister at historic Breiðabólstaður in Vesturhóp...
  
  )
• Specimen Islandiæ historicum
• Gronlandia

• Arngrimi Jonae opera latine conscripta, ed. by Jakob Benediktsson, Bibliotheca Arnamagnaeana, 9-12, 4 vols. (Copenhagen 1950-57)