Gripla - 20.12.2004, Page 254

GRIPLA252
some have argued for common authorship of the series of texts covering the
history of the Skálholt see: Hungrvaka, fiorláks saga helga and Páls saga.
The cult of Iceland’s first acknowledged saint, fiorlákr fiorhallsson, was
recognised in 1198 and the observance of his feast day made law in 1199. The
earliest surviving version of the vernacular fiorláks saga helga (‘A’) was pro-
bably composed around 1200; the main surviving manuscript is Sth perg fol nr
5 (dated to c.1360). The saga follows the conventions of lives of confessor
saints in covering fiorlákr’s birth and precocious childhood, his election, his
journey abroad to be consecrated, his time as bishop, his death, his later ex-
humation, and his posthumous miracles. The saga very frequently quotes the
Bible, and in her introduction Ásdís Egilsdóttir draws attention to the in-
fluence of ideas developed in Alcuin’s De virtutibus et vitiis and St Augu-
stine’s schematisation of the life of man and of the world into six ages (ÍF
XVI:lxiii–lxiv, lxxii–lxxiii).
fiorlákr is presented as an exemplary bishop, caring for his priests and
diocese, keeping long vigils, fasting, reading holy books, and acting as a kind
of marriage counsellor trying to keep couples together. It is said that he was
unable to live in communion with some chieftains and great men of whose
manner of living he disapproved (ÍF XVI:75), but the A version of the saga
gives no details about his conflict with the chieftain Jón Loptsson. In fiorlákr’s
final illness Gizurr Hallsson entertains him with exemplary stories and saints’
lives. The saint dies on 23 December 1186 (= 1193), thirsting at his death as
Christ did (ÍF XVI:82).
fiorláks saga byskups yngri (fiorláks saga B) is printed here in smaller
type. This version is badly preserved in AM 382 4to, from the first half of the
fourteenth century, but also survives in a later copy (BLAdd. 11242). A re-
ference to the death of Sæmundr, Jón Loptsson’s son, suggests a dating for
this version after 1222 (cf. ÍF XVI:xxxviii). This redaction is of particular
interest for the addition of the so-called Oddaverja fláttr detailing events in the
conflict between fiorlákr and Jón Loptsson.
The sagas of St fiorlákr conclude with collections of miracle stories (that
in the A redaction begins with chapter 20). In addition there are two separate
collections of miracles, Jarteinabók fiorláks byskups in forna (Jarteinabók I)
and Jarteinabók fiorláks byskups in önnur (Jarteinabók II). These various
collections overlap to some extent, with most miracles appearing in more than
one version. The oldest miracle book, surviving in AM 645 4to (c.1220), was
probably composed for reading aloud at the Alflingi when fiorlákr’s cult