Jón Magnússon (c. 1610–1696), nicknamed
þumlungur[Thumbling], was a minister in the Westfjords of Iceland who believed himself to be the victim of sorcery in 1655. He succeeded in having two of his neighbours burned at the stake in 1656. After his efforts to have a third neighbour tried for sorcery failed to lead to her conviction, he authored a detailed first-hand account of his experiences in 1658–1659 to argue his case and defend his actions. Known today as
Píslarsaga séra Jóns Magnússonar[
An Account of the Torments of the Rev. Jón Magnússon], it has become one of the best-known works of autobiographical literature from post-Reformation Iceland.
Jón’s parents were the Rev. Magnús Eiríksson (c. 1568–1652), the parson for Auðkúla in Svínadalur from 1696 to 1650,
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Citation: Parsons, Katelin. "Jón Magnússon". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 05 August 2024 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=15010, accessed 08 September 2024.]