Gripla - 2023, Page 141

Gripla XXXIV (2023): 139–171
HAKI ANTONSSON
THE END OF ÁRNA SAGA BISKUPS AND
THE CULT OF ST MAGNÚS OF ORKNEY
Hagiography and Ecclesiastical Politics
in Early Fourteenth-Century Iceland
Part I
i
Of all the biographical Old Norse sagas, Árna saga biskups is unique in
ending abruptly not with, or after, but before its hero’s death. The saga ter-
minates in 1290, eight years before the demise of its subject, Bishop Árni
Þorláksson of Skálholt (1269–1298).1 Although it survives in some forty
manuscript witnesses, there is no certainty about its conclusion. Except for
two fragments, all the surviving witnesses derive from the late fourteenth-
century Reykjarfjarðarbók. This manuscript originally had around a hun-
dred and forty leaves, but only about thirty of them still exist today, while
the rest are known from later transcripts. In this way, Árna saga’s abrupt
ending may reflect a loss of leaves from the manuscript at an early stage
of its copying. Alternatively, Reykjarfjarðarbók may never have included a
different ending for this saga in the first place.2 What is certain, however,
is that Árna saga biskups was produced after the death of its protagonist.
Both the latest editors of Árna saga biskups agree on a date of composition
during the episcopacy of Árni Helgason of Skálholt (1304–1320), either by
the bishop himself or someone within his circle of authority.3
1 I express my gratitude to Professor Richard North for his valuable advice during the early
phase of this research, and I also thank the anonymous reviewers for their constructive
feedback on the submitted manuscript.
2 Þorleifur Hauksson (ed.). Árna saga biskups (Reykjavík: Stofnun Árna Magnússonar, 1972),
vii–lx. Guðrún Ása Grímsdóttir (ed.). Biskupasögur 3: Árna saga biskups, Lárentíus saga bisk-
ups, Söguþáttur Jóns Halldórssonar biskups, Biskupa ættir. Íslensk fornrit 17 (Reykjavík: Hið
íslenzka fornritafélag, 1998), lii–lvi.
3 Þorleifur Hauksson (ed.), civ–cvii. Guðrún Ása Grímsdóttir (ed.), xxii–xxvii.