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was at the time himself compiling law for his own diocese.5 Árni’s lawbook
was more closely aligned than the older Christian Law with general canon
law, as may be seen from the rudimentary source references he provided in
the margins, where the tag “aff decretalibus,” referring to papal legislation,
appears several times. the alþingi approved the new lawbook in 1275 with
some modifications.6
Behind the older and newer Christian Laws of Iceland stands, as is
well known, the huge edifice of general European canon law.7 Previous
scholarship has, however, only occasionally explored the sources in canon
law of particular statements in written Icelandic law.8 Instead, the depend-
5 Norges gamle love indtil 1387, ed. by rudolph Keyser et al. (Christiania: Chr. Gröndahl,
1846–1895), 2.341–386; see also Nyere norske kristenretter (ca. 1260–1273), trans. by Bjørg
Dale Spørck (oslo: aschehoug, 2009), 101–146 and 163–165.
6 “Árna saga biskups," Biskupa sögur, ed. by Guðrún Ása Grímsdóttir, Íslenzk fornrit 17
(reykjavík: Hið íslenzka fornritafélag, 2008), 49. the most recent printed edition of
Árni’s lawbook is Norges gamle love, 5.16–56. a better edition is found in “Kristinréttur
Árna frá 1275: athugun á efni og varðveizlu í miðaldahandritum,” ed. by Magnús Lyngdal
Magnússon (Ma thesis, Háskóli Íslands, 2002). Magnús’s modern Icelandic translation
is found in Járnsíða og Kristinréttur Árna Þorlákssonar, ed. by Haraldur Bernharðsson,
Magnús Lyngdal Magnússon, and Már Jónsson (reykjavík: Sögufélag, 2005). about the
approval of the new lawbook in 1275, see Magnús Stefánsson, “frá goðakirkju til biskups-
kirkju,” Saga Íslands, vol. 3, ed. by Sigurður Líndal (reykjavík: Hið íslenzka bókmennta-
félag; Sögufélag, 1978), 150–154; “Kristinréttur Árna frá 1275,” ed. by Magnús Lyngdal
Magnússon, 4; Magnús Lyngdal Magnússon, “‘Kátt er þeim af kristinrétti, kærur vilja
margar læra’: af kristinrétti Árna, setningu hans og valdsviði,” Gripla 15 (2004); Lára
Magnúsardóttir, Bannfæring og kirkjuvald á Íslandi 1275–1550: Lög og rannsóknarforsendur
(reykjavík: Háskólaútgáfan: 2007), 303–306.
7 Convenient summaries of general canon law are James a. Brundage, Medieval Canon
Law, the Medieval world (London; new York: Longman, 1995); John C. Wei and
Anders Winroth, The Cambridge History of Medieval Canon Law (Cambridge: Cambridge
university Press, forthcoming).
8 See, generally, Per andersen, Ditlev tamm, and Helle Vogt (eds.). How Nordic Are the Nordic
Medieval Laws: Proceedings from the First Carlsberg Conference on Medieval Legal History (2 ed.;
Copenhagen: DJØf Publishing, 2011) and Per andersen et al. (eds.). How Nordic Are the
Nordic Medieval laws? Ten Years After; Proceedings of the Tenth Carlsberg Academy Conference
on Medieval Legal History 2013 (Copenhagen: DJØf Publishing, 2014). Some examples of
more specific studies are Bertil nilsson, De sepulturis: Gravrätten i Corpus iuris canonici och
i medeltida nordisk lagstiftning, Bibliotheca theologiae practicae 44 (Stockholm: almqvist &
Wiksell International, 1989); Lára Magnúsardóttir, Bannfæring og kirkjuvald á Íslandi, 311
and 315; torgeir Landro, “Kristenrett og kyrkjerett: Borgartingskristenretten i eit komp-
arativt perspektiv” (PhD diss., universitetet i Bergen, 2010), and, for the field of roman
law, Sveinbjörn rafnsson, “Grágás og Digesta Iustiniani,” in Sjötíu ritgerðir helgaðar Jakobi
Benediktssyni 20. júlí 1977, rit 12 (reykjavík: Stofnun Árna Magnússonar á Íslandi, 1977),
THE CANON LAW OF EMERGENCY BAPTISM