Þóra Finnsdóttir

Þóra Finnsdóttir (1408 – around 1460) was the prioress of the Benedictine convent named Reynistathir Abbey (Reynistaðarklaustur) in Iceland, serving since the death of the previous prioress, Þórunn Ormsdóttir. She became the abbess on August 25, 1437, when she was ordained by bishop of Skálholt Gozewijn Comhaer. An exemption had to be made for Þóra because she was only 29 years old when her predecessor died, and abbesses had to be at least 30 years old to be ordained.

Biography
Þóra came from a wealthy family. Her parents were Finnur Gamlason, a lawyer in Ysta-Mói in Fljót, and his wife Valgerður Vilhjálmsdóttir. Her uncles were Jón Gamlason, abbot of Þingeyrar, and Marteinn Gamlason, county magistrate in Ketilsstaðir of Vellir.

Þóra was one of the eight nuns who Jón Vilhjálmsson Craxton ordained at Hólar on February 4, 1431. Around the same time that she became prioress, the convent received a windfall. Margrét Bjarnadóttir, widow of the lawyer Hrafn Guðmundsson, joined the convent and brought a substantial amount of wealth. In addition, she gave land to the church of Hólar to lay to rest her husband, who was excommunicated when he died.

It iss likely that Þóra had taken the saint's name of Barbara when she was ordained because sources from the 1440s and 1450s refer to Barbara the Abbess but no sources mention her ordination or Þóra's death, so it seems that they are the same person. In fact, it is not entirely certain when Þóra/Barbara died. She was alive in 1459 but a new prioress, Agnes Jónsdóttir, had arrived by 1461.