Background
Guðni was born at Gamla-Hraun at Eyrarbakki into a poor family who had a total of 17 children.
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Guðni was born at Gamla-Hraun at Eyrarbakki into a poor family who had a total of 17 children.
He then attended the University of Iceland, first in theology and then in the faculty of Old Norse studies. He completed a Master"s degree in Icelandic studies in 1930 with a thesis on Landnámabók, comparing the manuscripts with each other and with other texts.
He received a middle school certificate in Flensburg in 1921 and a school certificate from Menntaskólinn í Reykjavík in 1924. In 1923 he served as president of the student society Framtíðin. His doctoral thesis, published in 1952, was in genealogy and history: Bólstaðir og búendur í Stokkseyrarhreppi.
He began a career as a teacher at a primary school in the Vestmannaeyjar in winter 1926-1927, taught evening school himself in Reykjavík in 1927-1928, taught at the Commercial College of Iceland in 1928-1929, and then taught at Reykvíking Middle School from 1928 until 1945, when he became headmaster.
In 1957 he became professor of history at the university, and held that position until 1967, when he had a stroke. He died on 4 March 1974.