III. KIRKJUBÆR (KIRKBY).  On the northern side of the river Skaptáfellssýsla, in the east of Iceland, is situated the homestead of Kirkby, which even from times anterior to the discovery of the country by the Norsemen has been inhabited by Christians.  For when the first historic occupier, Ketil the Foolish (who was a Christian), settled at the place towards the end of the 9th century, he found it had been previously occupied by Christian "papar," and all his descendants preserved their faith until Christianity became the law of the land.
    Here Thorlak son of Thorhall, the first national saint of Iceland, bishop of Skalholt 1178-1193, founded the first convent for nuns in Iceland 1186, and ordained that it should obey the rule of St. Benedict, and that the abbess should have independent authority in all matters relating to the convent itself.  The first abbess here was
    (1) Halldóra Eyjólfsdóttir, consecrated 1189, ob. 1210.  From this time until 1293 there are no records left relating to this foundation.
. . . . 
    (6) Halldóra Runolfsdóttir, consecrated 1387, deposed a few months afterwards.
    (7) Halldóra, apparently different from the preceding, died of the Black Death in 1402, when six of the sisterhood perished, while seven survived... (The Downside Review, v.16, 1897)