Noble blood
Hauksbók, photo posted in the article “Handrit loks á sýningu” in the newspaper Reykjavík by Timarit.is licensed under CC PDM 1.0
Erlendur’s son, Law-speaker Haukr (d.1334), compiled many Icelandic sagas and wrote his own boo called Hauksbók.
Haukr’s lineage on his father’s side traces directly to King Ypper of Uppsala through his son, Nórr, the founder and ruler of Norway, and his son Garðr Agði, the king of Agder in Norway.
The noblest bloodline of all northern Europe runs in the veins of the people who once lived on the southwestern coast of Iceland. From 1300 to 1700 the law speaker Erlendur the strong Ólafsson (ca 1235-1312) and his descendants lived at Strönd and Nes, a homestead near the Selvogur lighthouse.
On unstable ground
Strandarkirkja ca. 1900 by Frederick W.W. Howell via Cornell University Library licenced under No known copyright restricions
Apparently, supernatural forces did not apply to natural causes. The men built the church on desert sand, making it difficult to hold church services in storms and bad weather. At times the storms were so bad that the church walls were completely covered in sand. There was no shelter for people to take on their way to church so they simply chose not to go.
The church needed a better location to avoid the terrible sandstorms. Three men, Bishop Ólafur Gíslason (1691-1753), the Royal Governor (stiftamtmann) Johan Christian Pingel (ca. 1713-1779) and Illugi Jónsson (1694-1753), wrote a letter requesting to move the church to the nearby Vogsós.
Consequences
The three men didn’t have to wait long. In 1752 they received the answer they were hoping for. The church would move to Vogsós within the next two years. Devastated, the Selvogur parishioners knew this would be the end of all their divine blessings. Surely, the supernatural forces would protect this great church in its chosen spot?
The parishioners knew their prayers were answered when that same year Governor Pingel’s financial debt was way over his head. As a consequence, he was stripped of his title and sent back to Denmark, never to return. Then a year later, in 1753 the other two men Bishop Ólafur and Illugi both died.
The parishioners never doubted for a second that the supernatural forces had avenged them. It was yet again confirmed to them that the church was divine and it would lose its sanctification if it were moved. For this reason, the church still stands in its original spot today.
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