Gripla - 2023, Síða 161

159THE END OF Á R N A S A G A B I S K U P S
ii
Magnúss saga lengri survives in a copy made by Ásgeir Jónsson from around
1700. Ásgeir’s exemplar was Bæjarbók (from Bær in Rauðasandur in the
Western-fjords), a manuscript dated to 1370–1390. With the exception
of four leaves, this manuscript was destroyed in a fire in Copenhagen in
1795. The other dating indicator of Magnúss saga lengri resides in its use of
skrúðstíll (‘ornamental style’), a feature that appeared in the late thirteenth
century and is common in fourteenth-century Old Norse ecclesiastical
literature. On this basis, the timeframe for Magnúss saga lengri is ca. 1290–
ca. 1390, with a preference for the early part of the fourteenth century.67
In an essay published in 1962, Magnús Már Lárusson argued that the
saga’s most likely place of origin was the northern diocese of Hólar.68 His
argument rested on the genealogical connection this text makes between
the Orkney saint and Bishop Jón Ögmundarson of Hólar (1052–1121).
Further, Magnúss saga lengri situates Magnús’ martyrdom during the pa-
pacy of Paschal II (1099–1118) and Jón’s episcopacy (1106–1121). These
are unconvincing reasons for a northern authorship of Magnúss saga lengri,
presupposing as they do a factional attitude among Icelandic ecclesiastics
towards the cult of the native saints. However, the sources do not reveal
such an attitude. From the outset, churchmen from both dioceses con-
tributed to the promotion of the cults of Jón Ögmundarson and Þorlákr
Þórhallsson.69 To Icelandic ecclesiastics, the native saints were manifestly
a source of pride irrespective of their diocesan origins. This sentiment is
explicitly expressed in the saga’s Icelandic prologue: ‘Hér með eru blessaðir
biskupar, Johannes ok Thorlacus, hverir Ísland hafa geislat med háleitu
skini sinna bjartra verðleika’ (‘Herewith are the saintly bishops, Jón and
with the music for St Dominic’s Office which is commonly attributed to the circle around
Bishop Jón Halldórsson of Skálholt. Gisela Attinger, ‘Some Reflections on the Liturgy for
St Þorlákr’, in Dominican Resonances in Medieval Iceland, ed. by Gunnar Harðarson and
Karl G. Johansson (Leiden: Brill, 2021), 204.
67 Finnbogi Guðmundsson (ed.), cxxxvii–cxxxviii.
68 Magnús Már Lárusson, ‘Sct. Magnus Orcadensis Comes’, Saga 3 (1960–1963): 470–508.
69 For instance, Guðmundr Arason and Gunnlaugr Leifsson, who around 1200 both had
close associations with the diocese of Hólar, were instrumental in the early recording of
St Þorlákr’s miracles. Ásdís Egilsdóttir (ed.). Biskupasögur 2: Hungurvaka, Þorláks byskups
in elzta, Jarteinabók Þorláks byskups önnur, Þorláks saga byskups C, Þorláks saga byskups E, Páls
saga byskups, Ísleifs þáttr byskups, Latínubrot um Þorlák byskup. Íslensk fornrit 16 (Reykjavík:
Hið íslenzka fornritafélag, 2002), 246–247.