Gripla - 2023, Blaðsíða 153

151THE END OF Á R N A S A G A B I S K U P S
Iceland to Norway with his wealth and garner favour with the king and his
court. This, at least, would explain his insistence on personally presenting
the narwhal tusk to King Eiríkr. From the perspective of this study, the
‘Nýjaland episode’ also underlines the impact that the fame and notoriety
of Þorvaldr Helgason may have had on the early audience of chapter 147
in Árna saga biskups.
v
The end of Árna saga biskups, as presented in the J version of the saga, is
marked by the deaths of Hrafn Oddsson (22 November 1289) and Þorvaldr
Helgason (in the summer of 1290). Bishop Árni aside, these are the char-
acters the saga follows most closely in its concluding part (1285–1290).
Unsurprisingly, Hrafn receives the greater share of attention. As we have
seen, his end brings about a reconciliation between him and the bishop.
This is neither political nor even personal. Rather, as we have already
observed, the saga draws Hrafn closer into Árni’s intercessional orbit with
the implication of his reprieve in the afterlife. The bishop hears Hrafn’s
confession in the days leading up to the fatal battle incident, and he prays
for the soul of his deceased adversary.
This presentation should be read in light of the historical context
in which Árna saga biskups was composed. Staðamál had been resolved
largely in favour of the Church. Thereafter it was in the Church’s inter-
est to reconcile with the secular elite, while also emphasising the salvific
benefits that only this institution could offer. Árna saga stresses this point
perhaps most obviously and dramatically in its description of the reburial
of Oddr Þórarinsson (d. 1255) in 1279. Oddr was a prominent chieftain
who died in battle while excommunicated and was therefore buried in
unconsecrated ground. Twenty-four years later, Bishop Árni, with the
archbishop’s permission, lifted Oddr’s excommunication and reburied
his bones in Skálholt.42 The level of detail and the length at which the
saga relates these events show the importance of its message. Even in the
afterlife, the bishop, the embodiment of the Church, could alter the fate of
seemingly lost causes among the laity.
In the case of Þorvaldr Helgason, the pendulum swings in the oppo-
42 Ibid., 71–74. The episode is analysed in Haki Antonsson, Damnation and Salvation in Old-
Norse Literature (Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer, 2018), 44–50.