Young men studying in Germany were the first Icelanders who accepted Lutheran ideas, but most Icelanders remained faithful to their traditional faith. Furthermore, the two Catholic bishopsÖgmundur Pálsson of Skálholt and Jón Arason of Hólartook over the government of the country for the years of the Danish civil war. However, a secret circle of young Lutheran intellectuals was developing in the court of Bishop Ögmundur Pálsson in the same period.
