Gripla - 2019, Page 166

GRIPLA166
Archbishop Jón helped to oversee the production of the code usually
associated with Bishop Árni Þorláksson, compiled specifically for the
Icelanders. This code was partially accepted at the Alþing in 1275.42 Árni
did not simply copy the code of his Norwegian boss, however. In early
manuscripts of Árni’s Christian law we find an even simpler form of Si quis
suadente. In the earliest extant manuscript AM 49 8vo, chapter 14, the code
reads: “we are obliged to respect the rights of the holy church and of cler-
ics. Because whoever disrespects a cleric or cloistered person with a violent
hand is excommunicated by the deed itself until he is absolved according to
God’s laws under the supervision of the bishop. There are certain circum-
stances in which a person does not fall into automatic excommunication
although he attacks or deals a blow to this type of person (i.e. a cleric) and
the bishop will explain these and make decisions according to what God’s
laws say.”43 This is not a translation of the full canon (nor an exact copy of
Jón rauði’s text) although it is clearly using phrasing and concepts derived
from the Latin canon. It does not mention the pope directly, instead refer-
ring all matters to the bishop’s further interpretation. It also alludes to the
many exceptions that did not require a papal absolution although these
too are referred to the bishop’s interpretation rather than being listed. In
two early manuscripts, AM 49 8vo and AM 350 fol, there is a marginal
note that this is taken “[af] decretalibus.”44 It is possible that rather than
being a source reference, this note is actually more about where the bishop
should look to clarify the issues of any particular case. In complex cases,
he should look to the decretales, that is the Liber extra. Some manuscripts of
Kristinréttr Árna incorporate more details about automatic excommunica-
175 a 4to, however, contains a text about the papal ban that is very similar to chapter 54 of
Jón rauði’s code cited here. See, Norges gamle lov, 2.378–81.
42 Árna saga, 49.
43 “Kristinréttr Árna frá 1275: athugun á efni og varðveizlu í miðaldahandritum,” edited by
Magnús Lyngdal Magnússon (MA thesis, Háskóli íslands, 2002), 160 (typography simp-
lified): “[E]n erv fleiri lutir þeir sem ver erom scylldvgir at þyrma retti hæilagrar kirkio oc
lerðra manna. Þvi at huerr er heiptugri hendi misþyrmir clerc æða clavstra manni þa ær
hann ibanni af sialfs sins verki þar til er hann fær lavsn eptir gvðs lagvm með forsia byscops.
Nv erv þeir noccorir at bvrðir er maþr fellr eigi ibann þo at þæsshattar manni veiti til ræþi
eða hogg oc scal byscop þat scyra oc scipa eptir þvi sem guþslog segia.”
44 It is generally accepted that these decretales probably refer to the work we now call the
Liber extra, which was promulgated in 1234 and compiled by Raymond of Penyafort at the
request of Pope Gregory IX.