Gripla - 2023, Page 162

160 GRIPLA
Þorlákr, who have illuminated Iceland with the exalted rays of their shin-
ing merits’).70
The sources rather point to Skálholt diocese as Magnúss saga lengri’s
place of origin. Two events are especially relevant in this context. The
first is the arrival of a St Magnús relic in Skálholt Cathedral. According
to Icelandic annals, this occurred in 1298, the same year as Bishop Árni
Þorláksson died in Norway.71 Although there is no mention of the relic’s
place of origin, it is possible that Árni secured the holy object while in
Norway, where he would have had the opportunity to engage with bishops
from the different parts of the Nidaros archbishopric. This would have
placed the bishop in an ideal environment in which to negotiate for and
exchange prestigious relics.
Also worth considering is Árni’s possible connection to Bishop Erlendr
of the Faroe Islands (1269–1308). Árni was consecrated in Norway in the
same year as this former cathedral canon of Bergen in Norway, and both
attended the coronation in 1280 of King Erlingr Magnússon.72 Sometime
in the 1290s, Bishop Erlendr commenced the building of a new cathedral
in Kirkjubøur dedicated to St Magnús of Orkney. Whether in Erlendr’s
time the cathedral ever amounted to much more than the outer walls is
uncertain.73 In this early phase, however, a plaque was made on the east
wall which in high relief depicts Christ flanked by the Virgin Mary and
Mary Magdalene. Below is a Latin inscription which lists the cathedral’s
relics. Along with a piece of the Holy Cross, they are of St Magnús, the
Virgin Mary and St Þorlákr.74 This may indicate that around the turn of
the thirteenth century Skálholt and the Faroese diocese exchanged relics of
their respective patron saints.
The second event to highlight is Althing’s adoption, in 1326, of
St Magnús’ feast (13 December) as an obligatory feast day. The Feast
of Corpus Christi was also made obligatory on the same occasion.75
According to Lárentíus saga, Jón Halldórsson of Skálholt introduced
70 Finnbogi Guðmundsson (ed.), 335.
71 Gustav Storm (ed.), See Konungsannáll, 145; Skálholtsannáll, 198.
72 Guðrún Ása Grímsdóttir (ed.), 80.
73 Kirstin Eliasen, ‘Domkirkeruinen, “Múrurin”, i Kirkjubø’, Fróðskaparrit 43 (1995): 23–58.
74 Ibid., 35–36.
75 Gustav Storm (ed.), Konungsannáll, 153. Skálholtsannáll, 205.