Víðivellir

Víðivellir
Farm
Country	Iceland
Country	Skagafjörður (municipality)
District	Blönduhlíð

Víðivellir is a farm in the Blönduhlíð district of Skagafjörður, Iceland, and an old manor house that chieftains often lived in, like some of Skagafjörður county's sýslumaðurs.^[1]

There was as church in Víðivellir early in the settlement of Iceland, but it was decommissioned in 1765.^[2] There was a little geothermal heat in two places in the estate's land. Between 1937 and 1938, a swimming pool was built there. It was used for swim lessons until shortly after 1960, when it was used just for swimming, not for lessons.^[3]

The abandoned farm Örlygsstaðir is on the land of Víðivellir.^[4] On August 21, 1238, the Battle of Örlygsstaðir took place, where nearly 3,000 people fought.^[5] A memorial to the battle was unveiled on August 21, 1988, 750 years after the battle was fought.^[6]

Skagafjörður's last execution took place in Víðivellir in 1789. A woman named Ingibjörg from Fljót who had given birth to a baby the previous summer, was executed for secretly killing and burying the baby.^[7]

From 1809 to 1842, the dean Péter Pétursson lived there with his wife Þóra Brynjólfsdóttir. Víðivellir is where they raised their sons: high court judge Jón Pétursson, bishop Pétur Pétursson, and Brynjólfur Pétursson who edited the literary journal Fjölnir and was, for a time, a director of the Icelandic bureau in Copenhagen. They were often called the "Víðivellir Brothers" (Víðivallabræður).^[8] A memorial to the brothers was erected a short way from the farm in 1998.^[9]

In a visit to Iceland in summer 1936, King Christian X stopped in Víðivellir along with his entourage and ate lunch in a tent in the Víðivellir farm's field.^[10]