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John was a son of Ogmund, a man of birth and property in the island. When a child, he accompanied his parents to Denmark, and became a guest of King Swain. One day his mother sat at dinner with the Queen. The child put forth its hands towards some delicacy on the table, and the mother rapped it over the knuckles, to teach it better manners. 'Do not act thus, dear Thorgerda,' said the Queen, for the hands 'you strike are those of a bishop.' Whether said in joke, or through prophetic instinct, the words were treasured by the mother, and remembered in after years when verified by the consecration of her son.

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On the return of the family to Iceland, John was entrusted for education to the care of Bishop Isleif. It is pleasant to hear that he always bore a tender affection and reverence towards the Bishop of Skalholt. Many years after that Isleif had been laid in his grave, John said of him, 'My foster-father was of all men the most courteous, the most energetic, and the best.' And when some detractors affirmed: 'No one talks of Isleif now,' the Bishop of Holar said, 'That do I; for I will always praise him, whenever I hear holy men mentioned.'

When John was ordained deacon he went abroad, and reached Denmark on a Good Friday. He immediately went to the church where was King Swain, and entered as the priest read the gospel. But the priest had a bad voice, and his reading was so unedifying that the impetuous young deacon, unable to control his zeal, made his way to the altar, threw a stole over his shoulder, snatched the book from the minister, and declaimed the Gospel of the Passion with such power, and in such a musical tone, that the King and all present were enchanted, and after service was concluded Swain invited him to his court. One night, whilst John was with the King, he had a dream. I dreamt that I was in a great minster of wondrous magnificence, and that I entered the choir of the church, and where stood the Bishop's throne was seated our Lord Jesus Christ, and at his footstool sat King David, striking his harp and playing exquisite music: now, Sire, lend me an 'instrument, and let me try to play it as he played.'

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Swain immediately provided him with a harp, and John recalled on it the music he had heard in his dream, and so beautiful were the melodies that the King and his company burst forth in praise to God.

From Denmark John went to Norway, where Magnus reigned at that time. He arrived at an unfavourable moment. A young Icelander, Gisli by name, had killed a herdsman of the King, who had murdered his father. Magnus, highly incensed, threw Gisli into prison and sentenced him to the gallows. Teit, son of

Bishop Isleif, was at Drontheim at the time, and he made ineffectual attempts to obtain the liberation of his countryman. Unable to bend the King's determination, he had recourse to violence, broke into the prison, struck off the prisoner's fetters, and released him. The King immediately ordered his body-guard to surround the Icelanders. Teit and his party drew their swords, and vowed they would defend Gisli to the last drop of their blood. Blows would have been struck had not Gisli, who was a lad of fifteen, started forward and surrendered himself, declaring that no one should die for him.

Gallows were erected in the plain where the Thing, or Council, was to be held, that all might see the execution. The Icelanders looked on, sullen, with clenched hands and contracted brows. John trembled with suppressed indignation. When the gibbet was up, and Gisli was being led beneath it, John cried to King Magnus, Sire! you gave me a cloak last winter; may I do with it what I choose? The King looked angrily towards him, and told him to act as he thought proper Then John went to the young man, and fastened the cloak round his neck, and fixed the hood to his shoulders. So Gisli was

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hung in the King's mantle, and the disgrace of the death was by this proceeding, in the eyes of the Norsemen, changed into a honour. The rest of the day the King was in high ill-humour. The audacity of the Icelanders had thoroughly ruffled his temper.

John, however, had not done with Gisli. He went, when all was quiet, to the gallows, on the plea that he sought his cloak. At this point Gunnlaug introduces an incident which is not recorded in the Elder Saga, and he does it, he says, on the authority of certain wise men, but he candidly admits that the story does not find favour with every one, for, he says, many people assert that Gisli was not hung at all, but that John managed at the last moment to persuade the King to spare his life. The story, such as it is, is this: John went to the gallows, walked thrice round it, the way of the sun, genuflexed thrice, and down dropped the man. Gisli was not dead, but was unable to walk. This incident admits of an explanation without having recourse to miraculous interference. John had been allowed to arrange his cloak and hood round the neck of the lad before he was suspended, and he might well have so protected the throat that it was relieved from the full pressure of the cord. The Saga writer says that there are many different versions of this event. Some say that Gisli hung from Monday till Thursday, but, he adds, written accounts favour that which asserts that Gisli's life was spared by the intercession of John Ogmundson.

John was shortly after sent by Magnus on an embassy to Ireland, to the King of Connaught, whom the Saga calls

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Myrkjartan, and Suorro Sturleson in the Heimskringla, Moriartak. The object of this mission was the betrothal of Sigurd, the Norse king's son, aged nine, to Bjadminja, the daughter of the King of Connaught, aged five. A droll circumstance is related in connexion with this expedition. John, who knew nothing of Erse, was obliged to provide himself with an interpreter, and selected a man who made protestations of his familiarity with the Irish language, but who had, in fact, acquired little more than the Irish mode of making blunders.

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The interpreter on approaching the King addressed him with the salutation Male diarik' (go ma ole duit a righ), which Gunnlaug tells us means, 'Bad luck to you, king!' And the King laughing, replied, 'Olgeira ragul' (olc re hoidhche, or dhul), or, 'It is ill travelling by night,' meaning that when a man is in ignorance he may easily make mistakes."

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John was with King Magnus when he visited Iona. The King was then harrying the coasts of Scotland, but he spared the holy island. 'It is told,' says the Heimskringla, that the King opened the door of the little Columb's Kirk there, but he 'did not go in, but instantly locked the door again, and said that no one should be so bold as to enter that church hereafter; 'which has been the case ever since.'

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Nothing further of importance is recorded of John, till he returned to Iceland with Sæmund the Learned, the collector of the Elder Edda, whose friendship he had made abroad. Shortly after his return John married, being then in priest's orders; his wife died shortly after, and he then married again.

Iceland had hitherto been governed by one Bishop, but the necessity of there being a second prelate in the island had become so apparent, that Gizur, Bishop of Skalholt, urged on the island parliament the creation of a second see; and when this was agreed to by the popular voice, John Ogmundson was nominated to be the first Bishop of the North.

Gizur immediately sent John to Denmark to be consecrated by the Bishop of Lund. An amusing story is related of his arrival. It seems that the clergy and choristers of the cathedral of Lund were in the habit of turning their heads to look down the nave whenever the door opened and any one entered the church.

1 Undoubtedly Muircheartach, King of Munster. In 1096 Ruaidhri O'Conor was King of Connaught, and Muircheartach O'Brien, King of Munster, and also King of Erin. Moreover, the O'Conors did not affect the name of Muircheartach. 2 The Icelandic writer spelt the Erse phonetically. His male,' is m'olc, a compact conversational form of go ma olc. In the King's reply the hoidhche may seem a crux; but as it is pronounced simply hee, the difficulty vanishes. The sentence would sound ole re hee a ghul, which is the Norseman's 'olgeira ragul.'

Bishop Ozzur disapproved of this exhibition of inattention and curiosity, and rebuked his choir for it, ordering them on no account in future to stare about them during the performance of Divine worship. John, the Bishop Elect of Holar, arrived late in the day at Lund, and he and his party went at once to the cathedral, where vespers were just ending. John had a beautiful tenor voice, and he sang with such exquisite sweetness that the Archbishop turned his head, and looked down the nave to see who was the performer. His clerks were down on him at once; How now, Sir Archbishop! you yourself are the first to break the rule you established.' 'You are right,' answered Ozzur; but there is this excuse to be made for me: I never be'fore heard such a rich-toned voice, and I thought it was the ' voice of an angel, and not that of a man.'

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The Archbishop invited John and his company to his house, and next morning John showed him the letters dimissory of Gizur, requesting the Archbishop to consecrate him. Ozzur

summoned his clergy, and after consultation made answer : Dearest brother, it seems to me that you are the best fitted person to occupy the position, and bear the honours of the Episcopate, and I have no doubt that the see which will have you at its head will be blessed. However, I hesitate on one 'point. You have been twice married, and, under these circumstances, I dare not venture to consecrate you without ' orders from the Apostolic chair. Now, we advise you to go 'to Rome and see the Pope yourself, and we will write to him, and if, as we believe, he will grant a dispensation, then come 'back as fast as you can, and in God's name I will consecrate you Bishop.' John accordingly visited Paschal II., who raised no objection, and at once issued the necessary bull to Ozzur to consecrate. On the return of John to Denmark, he was consecrated by the Archbishop of Lund on a Sunday, two days before the feast of SS. Philip and James, 1106 (April 29th).

We are told that Özzur gave John much good advice, which was affectionately and humbly received, and then the new Bishop sailed for Norway, where he purchased a ship's load of wood for church building, and then made for Iceland. He landed at Eyrar on the south coast, at the end of the summer, and his arrival caused general rejoicing. His friends and relatives in the south unloaded the ship, and flitted the timber as far as Vinverjadal, and the people of the north transported it thence to Holar.

A more imposing situation for a cathedral church than Holar can scarcely be found. The valley of Hjaltadal is perhaps the richest in the whole island. It is regarded as the garden of the north. The broad green meadows, out of which rises the

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