Gripla - 2023, Blaðsíða 167

165THE END OF Á R N A S A G A B I S K U P S
hlutr er ótrúligr mætti þykkja, ef ei vitat væri þann grun á sem helgi
Magnús patron sömu kirkju píndist fyrir ekki ok varð ei forgefins
Krists píslarvottr.
Previously his family, advancement and high learning had kept him
safe as a plaintiff against the enemies of God’s Christendom, so long
as he remained faithful to his lord. Now he was attacked by an un-
clean spirit so violently that ten men were needed to bring him into
the holy Church of St Magnús. And when he came through the door,
such a thing happened as might have seemed unbelievable if it had not
been proved beyond doubt that St Magnús, the patron of the same
church, had suffered and become the aforesaid Christ’s martyr.
The contrast could hardly be starker. Þorvaldr Helgason is cured by a saint
who has made the ultimate sacrifice. At one time, he defended the Church
against her enemies, but then he became one of her enemies. Still, despite his
cure in the Faroes, Þorvaldr continues on his chosen trajectory and so suf-
fers the fatal and eternal consequence in Norway. The evocation of Magnús’
martyrdom is not accidental. He is the warrior who transforms himself into
an epigone of ecclesiastical virtues. At the end, in a death-scene amplified
by associations with Becket’s martyrdom, Earl Magnús gives his life for the
Church. Þorvaldr Helgason acts in the opposite way, and his fate reflects this.
iv
Stefán Karlsson observed how three generations of Icelandic authors cre-
ated the Old Norse Becket corpus.91 Further, these three generations
align with different periods in the struggle for libertas ecclesiae. Bergr
Gunnsteinsson (ca. 1160–1230) represents the first generation with his
oldest saga of St Thomas Becket. This text (Thómas saga I) augments his
translation of Robert of Cricklade’s aforementioned vita with material
from other Becket biographies. Guðmundar saga A mentions that Bergr
was part of Guðmundr Arason’s entourage when he travelled to Norway
to be consecrated as the bishop of Hólar (1203–1237).92
91 Stefán Karlsson, ‘Icelandic Lives of Thomas à Becket: Questions of Authorship’, in
Proceedings of the First International Saga Conference, University of Edinburgh, 1971, ed. by
Peter Foote, Hermann Pálsson and Desmond Slay (London: Viking Society for Northern
Research, 1973), 212–243.
92 Stefán Karlsson (ed.), Guðmundar sögur biskups. Ævi Guðmundar biskups: Guðmundar saga