Jón Sigurðsson

Jón Sigurðsson or Jón Sigurdsson (born the June 17th 1811 with Hrafnseyri, close to Arnarfjörður in the area of the Fjord S of the West of the Iceland and deceased the December 7th 1879) was a historian and Icelandic politician of the 19th century, which was the leader of the pacifist movement for the independence of Iceland, then attached to the Royaume of Denmark.

Biography

Jón Sigurðsson was the son of Pasteur, Sigurður Jónsson. It went to Copenhagen in 1833 to study there the Grammaire and the history with the university and never returned to live in Iceland.

After its studies, Jón started to work with the Arnamagnæan Collection, where the manuscripts of the Icelandic Sagas were. He quickly became an expert of these Saga S and Icelandic history. But, it never obtained a diploma of the university, because the Icelandic policy occupied all its time.

Before leaving for Denmark, Jón became engaged to his/her cousin Ingibjörg Einarsdóttir, and it, like her father, the uncle de Jón, accepted the proposal. But Jón and Ingibjörg could not marry before 1845, when Jón returned to Iceland for the first time since 1833 to sit at the Althing (Parlement Unicaméral of Iceland), which had just been restored.

Jón had been elected in Althing in 1844 like deputy for the county of Ísafjörður. He managed to preserve this seat during all his life although he did not come to all the sessions from Althing. To tell the truth, it came to thirteen from the seventeen sessions which were taken place during its life. It also went to the Þjóðfundur ( Grand national gathering ) in 1851. There he guided the Icelanders in their resistance to the adoption of the Danish Constitution of 1849 (in Danish: Danmarks Riges Grundlov ). The Constitution was never formally adopted in Iceland, and after years of fight, the Danish government granted Iceland, in 1874, a limited constitution, guaranteeing a broad autonomy in the interior matters to him.

The means of communication with the Icelandic nation chosen by Jón Sigurðsson were the publication of an annual magazine called Ný félagsrit (Writings of the New association). This magazine was published almost each year of 1841 with 1873 and Jón was always the principal contributor and financial support.

The residence of Jón and Ingibjörg in Copenhagen became a point of rallying for all the Icelanders of the city. They did not have any child except an adoptive son, who was the nephew of Jón. This is why a contemporary pointed out that all the Icelanders were their children .

Homages

The June 17th, date of its birthday, was chosen by the Icelanders for the proclamation of the independence of the République of Iceland. That occurred to Thingvellir the June 17th 1944, the day of sound 133e birthday. And since, this date is that of the Icelandic national festival.

He is often regarded as “it President” ( Jón forseti ) by the Icelanders. The main reason with that is that it was, starting from 1851 president of the department of the Hið íslenska bókmenntafélag (Company of Icelandic literature) of Copenhagen. He was also president of Althing on several occasions, the first time in 1849.

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