Gissur Ísleifsson

Who was Gissur Ísleifsson?

Gissur Ísleifsson was an Icelandic clergyman, who, in 1082, became the second Catholic bishop of Iceland in the aftermath of the adoption of Christianity by the island's inhabitants 82 years earlier in the year 1000.

Following in the footsteps of his father, Ísleifur Gissurarson, Iceland's first bishop, who established the initial episcopal see at the family homestead in Skálholt and served from 1056 until his death in 1080, Gissur Ísleifsson continued his mission at Skálholt for the next 36 years, with his own death coming in the year of his 76th birthday.