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generally assumed for the B-redaction of Þorláks saga helga. Ásdís Egils-
dóttir suggests that the revision of the saga represented by AM 382 4to
was undertaken during the time of Bishop Árni Þorláksson (1269–1298),
who fought for the rights and independence of the Icelandic church in the
late 13th century. She assumes that by promoting the cultus of St Þorlákr,
Bishop Árni was drawing a parallel between his own ecclesiastical program
and the strife of St Þorlákr on behalf of the church a century earlier. Thus,
the B-version of the saga could, according to Ásdís Egilsdóttir, have been
written in support of Bishop Árni’s policy and might have been ‘published’
when St Þorlákr’s relics were enshrined in the cathedral in Skálholt in
1292.15 Margaret Cormack relates the revision of earlier sagas of Icelandic
saints, not only of Þorlákr Þórhallsson but also of Jón Ögmundarson and
Guðmundr Arason, in the 14th century, to the promotion of their cultus.16
An important but often neglected event in the history of St Þorlákr’s cultus
is the composition of his still extant Latin office, as was mentioned earli-
er.17 While it is generally believed that AM 382 4to is a 14th-century copy
of an earlier B-version dating to the late 13th century, it seems more likely
however that AM 382 4to represents the original edition of the B-version,
written to promote the worship of the saint by providing texts in the ver-
nacular for reading on St Þorlákr’s feast days, and to complement the new
Latin office.18
The value of the other main redaction for the vernacular tradition, the
so-called ‘A-redaction’, has been overestimated, on the assumption that the
redactor of the B-version is referring to it, when he speaks in his prologue
of the original version of the saga. The A-version is represented by one
15 For a survey of the scholarship with references to the writings of individual scholars, see
Ásdís Egilsdóttir, Biskupa sögur II, XXXVIII–XXXIX. See also Sverrir Tómasson, Formálar
íslenskra sagnaritara á miðöldum (Reykjavík: Stofnun Árna Magnússonar á Íslandi, 1988),
357–359, for a brief summary of the research associated with Þorláks saga helga and the dat-
ing of the B-redaction.
16 Cormack, The Saints in Iceland, 12. – Margaret Cormack also states that the episcopal see in
Hólar records twice as many saints’ sagas as the one in Skálholt, even though the Northern
diocese had only one third as many churches, which suggests that maybe there was a greater
interest in the writing and copying of sagas in the North. She, however, advises caution as
these numbers “may reflect the thoroughness of [the diocese’s] bishops rather than any real
difference in the number of volumes owned.” Ibid., 26.
17 Róbert Abraham Ottósson, Sancti Thorlaci Episcopi Officia Rhythmica, 68–74.
18 See section 7 for a discussion of the provenance and likely editor of AM 382 4to.