Ólöf Loftsdóttir

Who is Ólöf Loftsdóttir?

Ólöf Loftsdóttir, was a politically active Icelandic woman. She was the daughter of judge Loftur ríki Guttormsson and Ingibjörg Pálsdóttir and married to judge Björn Þorleifsson hirðstjóri.

In 1455, the couple was robbed and abducted by British pirates outside Orkney and imprisoned in Scotland. They were released by a ransom paid by the Danish monarch Christian I of Denmark, who gave them the task to fight the dominant establishment of the British traders at Iceland on his behalf. The couple issued a huge feud with the British on Iceland upon their return. In 1467, her spouse fell in battle and her son was taken captive by the British. She bought back her son and continued the war by herself as the representative of the Danish monarch, capturing numerous of the British on Iceland and expelling them from the island.