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Arngrímur Jónsson the Learned was an Icelandic scholar and a Christian apologist. His father was Jón Jónsson, who died in 1591. Arngrímur studied in Copenhagen, completing his studies in 1589 and taking up a position back in Iceland as rector of the Latin school at the episcopal seat of Hólar in the same year.

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Guðbrandur Þorláksson or Gudbrand Thorlakssøn was bishop of Hólar from 8 April 1571 until his death. He was the longest-serving bishop in Iceland and is known for printing the Guðbrandsbiblía, first complete Icelandic translation of the Bible.

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Guðríður Símonardóttir was an Icelandic woman who was one of 242 people abducted from the Westman Islands, Iceland in 1627 in a raid by Barbary pirates. These raids came to be known as the Turkish abductions. After being held as a slave and concubine for nearly a decade, she was one of a few captives ransomed by the Danish king. She returned to Iceland, marrying the young theology student Hallgrímur Pétursson, who became known for his poetry and hymns.

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Jón Arason was an Icelandic Roman Catholic bishop and poet, who was executed in his struggle against the imposition of the Protestant Reformation in Iceland.

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Magnús Jónsson or Magnús prúði was an Icelandic official and poet.

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Oddur Gottskálksson was the translator of the first book printed in Icelandic, the New Testament. His translation was based in part on an older translation by Jón Arason, and printed in Roskilde, Denmark. With this publication the status of Icelandic as a language separate from Danish within the Danish Church was recognized, and this was of great importance for the subsequent history of the Icelandic language.

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Ólafur Egilsson was an Icelandic Lutheran minister. In 1627, he was abducted, along with his wife and two sons, by Barbary Pirates under the Ottoman Empire during their raid on Vestmannaeyjar. The raid is known in Icelandic history as Tyrkjaránið. He returned to Vestmannaeyjar in 1628 but his wife Ásta Þorsteinsdóttir did not return until 1637 and his sons never returned. He later wrote a memoir of his abduction and return, which was published both in Iceland and in Denmark.