Gripla - 01.01.1993, Page 204

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GRIPLA
bishop Eysteinn was a sourceman for some of the material dealing
with Magnús.90 Whether or not this was the case, it appears likely that
the above-mentioned features derive ultimately from an attempt to
show that Magnús, rather than Sverrir, was the true representative of
God and St. Ólafr.
It is possible that an earlier Magnús was also the object of an in-
cipient cult. The son of St. Ólafr received the soubriquet ‘the good’,
which was often applied to holy men.91 Although he was always in the
shadow of his saintly father, a few miracles atlributed to Magnús him-
self suggest the beginning of a cult.92
The hagiographic elements in the sagas of contemporaries nray also
have carried implications of sanctity. Those whose deaths are de-
scribed are no less likely saints than many others who acquired the sta-
tus; as mentioned above, the mere fact of dying as an ‘innocent’ victim
could be a sufficient qualification. A passage in íslendinga saga sug-
gests that attempts to sanctify the victims of civil strife were not un-
known; after ordering the execution of the Þorvaldssons - with whom
he was technically at peace - Sturla Sighvatsson notes that ‘þú munt
skjótt kalla þá helga.’93 This sarcastic comment would lose its point if it
did not reflect a real possibility.94
It should be noted in this connection that many of the individuals
90 Ólaffa Einarsdóttir, ‘Áret 1164 for Magnus Erlingssons kroning,’ Gripla V (Stofn-
un Árna Magnússonar: Rit 23), Reykjavík, 1982, p. 132.
91
For example Edward the Confessor and Guðmundr Arason. The latter is so desig-
nated after his blessings are observed to have beneficial results (St I 135 / K 1148). The
alternation between ‘góðr’ and ‘heilagr’ in the annal entries describing Abbot Guð-
mundr of Þingeyrar (Lögmanns annáll and Flateyjar annáll under the year 1332) is also
worth noting, and Jóns saga byskups mentions ‘einn heilagr maðr, er hét Guðini, kallaðr
hinn góði, ok þat hyggja menn svá verit hafa’ (Bp I 217). A comprehensive study of the
terminology applied to saints is beyond the scope of this article; however. the above
examples suggest that the soubriquet ‘inn góði’ was often applied to persons who were
considered holy, but whose sanctity had not been formally confirmed.
92
Mork 119,146-7. It may be added that it was quite common for sanctity to run in
families; confining ourselves to Norwegian material, St. Hallvard was said to have been
a kinsman of St. Ólafr, and Ásta, Ólafr’s mother, appears to have enjoyed some sort of
veneration in the later Middle Ages (see Ludwig Daae, Norges Helgener, Christiania,
1879).
93 Stu I 357 / K I 441.
94
An alternative interpretation is that lieilagr reflects the fact that the Þorvaldssons
were in a state of truce, and Sturla could not legally attack them.