Jón Sigurðsson

Jón Sigurðsson (June 17, 1811 – December 7, 1879) was the leader of the 19th century Icelandic independence movement.

Born at Hrafnseyri, in Arnarfjörður in the Westfjords area of Iceland, he was the son of a pastor, Sigurður Jónsson. In 1833, he moved to Denmark to study grammar and history at the University of Copenhagen. Subsequently Jón began to work at the Arnamagnæan Institute, which was then the home of the manuscripts of the Icelandic sagas. He became an expert on the sagas and on Icelandic history. He never graduated from university, as Icelandic politics grew to consume all his time.

Before Jón moved to Denmark he proposed to his cousin, Ingibjörg Einarsdóttir, and she and her father, Jón's uncle, accepted the proposal. However Jón and Ingibjörg did not marry until 1845, when Jón came to Iceland for the first time since 1833 to sit at the restored Alþing. Jón had been elected to the Althing in 1844 as an MP for Ísafjörður county. He managed to hold on to this seat throughout his life although he did not attend all sessions of the Althing. In all, he came to 13 of the 17 sessions that were held in his lifetime. He also attended the National Assembly of 1851. There he led the Icelanders in their resistance to the adoption of Denmark's 1849 constitutional reform. The constitution was never formally adopted in Iceland, and after years of struggle the Danish Government granted Iceland a limited constitution in 1874 giving autonomy in internal affairs. Until then the Althing had only been an advisory body to the Danish government and king.

Jón's way of communicating with the Icelandic nation from Denmark where he lived and was to publish an annual magazine called Ný félagsrit (New Association Writings). It was published almost every year from 1841 to 1873 with Jón always being the main contributor and financial backer.

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