Ríki Jákup í søgn og søgu

Abstract

In his book »Faerøske Folkesagn og Æventyr« (1898—1901) Dr. Jakob Jakobsen has a folksstory about »Ríki Jákup á Selatrað«. This Rich Jákup is said to have been a poor man's child from the village of Velbastað, who for some years worked as a »house»karl« at Hoyvík and later married a woman from Selatrað and went to live there. When hunger prevailed in the islands, he sold halftainted food to poor people takint; their fields in return and thus amassing 60 »merkur« (a »mørk« is the basic unit of land valuation) of »óðalsjørð« (i. e private land in contrast to »kongsjørð«, which was land belonging to the Crown).

In old land registers and records of the Thing (formerly acting as a court) we find historical information — some of it from his own mouth — confirming that on the whole the legend is true, except as regards his native village and the purchase of land.
Jákup with the family name Zachariassen was born in 1616 or 1617 at Kaldbak of poor parents. From 1631 he served as a »house«karl« at Hoyvík for 10 years. In 1642 or 1643 he married a farmer's widow at Selatrað, and gradually he obtained copyhold of all »kongs« holdings in that village. We do not know for certain how much land Rich Jákup owned, but the greater part of his property was not extorted from starving people. During the years from 1667 to 1678 he bought from the merchant Severin Lauridsen Fohrmann and others 46 »merkur« of land, formerly owned in the Faroes by DanishsNorwegian noble
families.

Jákup died in 1699, 82 or 83 years old according to himself, but the parish register states his age at 108 years!