The Cult of Saints in Nidaros Archbishopric: Manuscripts, Miracles, Objects (Medieval Texts and Cultures of Northern Europe, 33) 9782503591148, 2503591140

Table of contents :
Front Matter
Ragnhild M. Bø and Jón Viðar Sigurðsson. Introduction
Natalie M. Van Deusen and Kirsten Wolf. Epitomes of Saints’ Lives in Two Old Norse-Icelandic Manuscripts AM 764 4to and AM 672 4to
Åslaug Ommundsen. The Mass of St Óláfr and a Recovered Sequence for a missa votiva
Caitlin Ellis. The Development of the Cult of Magnús: The Interplay between Saints, Bishops, and Earls in Orkney
Jón Viðar Sigurðsson. Bergr Sokkason and God’s Dearest Friend St Nicholas
Cornelia Spjelkavik Sparre. The Miracles of Medieval Norway
Ásdís Egilsdóttir. Telling and Writing Miracles in Medieval Iceland
Siân Grønlie. ‘Ok er hann sannheilagr’: The Role of Saints in Remembering and Representing Iceland’s Conversion
Ragnhild M. Bø. Saints across Borders: The Cults of St Gertrude of Nivelles and St Clare of Assisi in Late Medieval Norway
Noëlle L. W. Streeton. An Afterlife for Cult Sculpture from Norwegian Churches: Tradition, Continuity, and Partial Mutilation after the Reformation
Elise Kleivane. Saints in Everyday Life Epigraphy as a Source for the Medieval Cult of Saints
Back Matter

Citation preview

The Cult of Saints in Nidaros Archbishopric

MEDIEVAL TEXTS AND CULTURES OF NORTHERN EUROPE

General Editor Rory Naismith, University of Cambridge Editorial Board Elizabeth Boyle, Maynooth University Aisling Byrne, University of Reading Sharon Kinoshita, University of California, Santa Cruz Carolyne Larrington, University of Oxford Erik Niblaeus, University of Cambridge Emily V. Thornbury, Yale University

Previously published volumes in this series are listed at the back of the book.

Volume 33

The Cult of Saints in Nidaros Archbishopric Manuscripts, Miracles, Objects Edited by

Ragnhild M. Bø and Jón Viðar Sigurðsson

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

© 2022, Brepols Publishers n.v., Turnhout, Belgium All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

ISBN: 978-2-503-59114-8 e-ISBN: 978-2-503-59115-5 DOI: 10.1484/M.TCNE-EB.5.121305 ISSN: 1784-2859 e-ISSN: 2294-8414 Printed in the EU on acid-free paper D/2022/0095/179

In memory of

Kimberley-Joy Knight (1984–2021)

Contents

List of Illustrations Introduction RAGNHILD M. BØ and JÓN VIÐAR SIGURÐSSON

Epitomes of Saints’ Lives in Two Old Norse-Icelandic Manuscripts AM 764 4to and AM 672 4to NATALIE M. VAN DEUSEN and KIRSTEN WOLF

María, drótning himins ok iarðar: The Doctrine of Mary’s Queenship in Maríu saga CHRISTELLE FAIRISE

The Mass of St Óláfr and a Recovered Sequence for a missa votiva ÅSLAUG OMMUNDSEN

The Development of the Cult of Magnús: The Interplay between Saints, Bishops, and Earls in Orkney CAITLIN ELLIS

Bergr Sokkason and God’s Dearest Friend St Nicholas JÓN VIÐAR SIGURÐSSON

The Miracles of Medieval Norway CORNELIA SPJELKAVIK SPARRE

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111 143 161

Contents

viii

Telling and Writing Miracles in Medieval Iceland ÁSDÍS EGILSDÓTTIR

‘Ok er hann sannheilagr’: The Role of Saints in Remembering and Representing Iceland’s Conversion SIÂN GRØNLIE

Saints across Borders: The Cults of St Gertrude of Nivelles and St Clare of Assisi in Late Medieval Norway RAGNHILD M. BØ

An Afterlife for Cult Sculpture from Norwegian Churches: Tradition, Continuity, and Partial Mutilation after the Reformation NOËLLE L. W. STREETON

Saints in Everyday Life: Epigraphy as a Source for the Medieval Cult of Saints ELISE KLEIVANE

Index

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249

273

309 335

List of Illustrations

Figures Figure 4.1, p. 86. St Óláfr, polychrome sculpture, c. 1250. From Fresvik church (Sogn og Fjordane), now in the Museum of Cultural History C35142. Figure 4.2, p. 87. Detail from an altar frontal from c.  1300 showing the declaration of Óláfr as a holy man in 1031 after the opening of the casket. Altar frontal. Archbishop Palace Museum, Trondheim. Figure 4.3, p. 89. The Red Book of Darley, with the collect prayer ‘Deus regum corona’ for St Óláfr, a prayer used for 500 years. Figure 4.4, p. 100. The digital reconstruction of the sequentiary referred to as Seqv 13 led to the discovery of the first strophe of the sequence formerly known as Predicasti dei care (top of the verso), namely Salutamus te rex, ave. Figure 4.5, p. 103. Manuscript fragment. Lux illuxit with a decor­ated initial. Figure 10.1, p. 250. Rissa altarpiece, open. Unknown artist, Northern Nether­ lands, 1520s. Trondheim, NTNU University Museum T 898. Figure 10.2, p. 250. Rissa altarpiece, closed. Unknown artist, Northern Nether­ lands, 1520s. Figure 10.3, p. 252. Gertrude of Nivelles, Ringsaker altarpiece. Antwerp workshop, 1527–1537. Figure 10.4, p. 252. St Clara of Assisi, chalice, Nidaros cathedral. Trondheim, 1520s.

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list of Illustrations

Figure 11.1, p. 276. Røldal crucifix, c. 1250. Røldal stave church. Figure 11.2, p. 279. Throne of Mercy, c. 1490. Altarpiece from Skjervøy church (Troms), Museum of Cultural History, UiO C3000. Figure 11.3, p. 284. Punishing ‘witches’. Woodcut from Laienspiegel [Tengler, Ulrich, Matthias Hupfuff (printmakers) and Sebastian Brant (preface)]. Figure 11.4, p. 298. Details showing burn marks. Throne of Mercy/detail, altar­ piece from Skjervøy (Troms), c. 1490. Figure 11.5, p. 298. St Anne, the Virgin and Child (unknown provenance). Figure 11.6, p. 299. Systematic attacks. Left. Altarpiece, Lurøy church (Nord­ land), c. 1470. Figure 12.1, p. 310. Rune stick from Bryggen, Bergen, N B13. Figure 12.2, p. 323. Crucifix with runic inscriptions, S1616/N 248. Figure 12.3, p. 327. Pilgrim badge from Vadstena, C1830. Tables Table 4.1, p. 95. Table of the Mass Celebration of St Óláfr for 29 July. Table 11.1, p. 277. Damaged sculpture. In this tally, only damages to the nose that could be classified as targeted/deliberate are accounted for. Table 11.2, p. 282. Key words cited in the Norwegian laws introduced in the 1270s, which were maintained until Christian  IV’s laws replaced them in 1604. Table 11.3, p. 285. Timeline 1521–1665.

Introduction Ragnhild M. Bø and Jón Viðar Sigurðsson

C

hristianity became the official religion in Norway, Iceland, Orkney, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands around the year 1000. The process of Christian consolidation in the north took around 150 years. Until 1104, Scandinavia and the islands in the North Atlantic belonged to the archdiocese of Hamburg-Bremen, and from 1104 to 1152/1153 to that of Lund. In 1152/1153 the archbishopric of Nidaros (Trondheim) with its eleven bishoprics was established: it comprised Norway and the Norse settlements on the islands in the west, including the bishoprics of the Isle of Man, Orkney, the Faroes, Iceland, and Greenland. The foundation of the archbishopric of Nidaros in 1152/1153 came to have major consequences, both religious and political, for the development of a Norse community. The archbishop’s most important task was to implement the Church’s reform laws. In connection to the events of 1152/1153, there are many indications that the Norwegian kings accepted the Church’s demands for reform in order to proceed with the establishment of the archbishopric. One such reform concerned the Church’s right to appoint to all ecclesiastical offices and to control their own property. Hence, the archbishops were able to concentrate on restructuring the dioceses in the North Atlantic and during the thirRagnhild M. Bø ([email protected]) holds a PhD in Art History from the University of Oslo. Her research interests centre on the making of meaning of religious works c. 1200–1600, in particular in relation to devotional practices, the cult of saints, and non-consecrated spaces. Jón Viðar Sigurðsson ([email protected]) is a Professor of Medieval History at the Department of Archaeology, Conservation and History, University of Oslo. He has published a number of books and articles on Icelandic and Scandinavian history in the period c. 800–1500. The Cult of Saints in Nidaros Archbishopric. Manuscripts, Miracles, Objects, ed. by Ragnhild M. Bø and Jon Viðar Sigurðsson, tcne 33 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2022), pp. 1–16 BREPOLS PUBLISHERS 10.1484/M.TCNE-EB.5.124876

2 Ragnhild M. Bø and Jón Viðar Sigurðsson

teenth century they successfully achieved this.1 As the archbishop of Nidaros did not gain the same control over the bishopric of Man as the other bishoprics in his province, it will be excluded from further discussion. As a consequence of the limited sources (or the concentration of sources), this publication will focus on Norway, Iceland, and Orkney; the chapters cover these three areas from c. 1000 until the Reformation in 1537. The construction of churches started soon after Christianity became the official religion, and most of the churches were probably built in the second half of the eleventh century and the first decades of the twelfth. Our knowledge of the first churches is somewhat limited, but it seems safe to assume that by 1200, there were around thirty-five parish churches in Orkney, c. 330 in Iceland and about 2000 in Norway,2 along with an uncertain number of annex churches and chapels.

Saints and Society The cult of saints played a central role in the dissemination of the new faith and the development of Christianity. All churches were dedicated to one or more saints as well as to God. These saints were thus the official owners of the property belonging to the Church, although the donor and his family, and later the Church itself, administered the gift on behalf of the saint. Through these and other gifts to the saints, friendships were established and maintained. As it was, the Church organization in the Nidaros province prospered somewhat more from this dynamic of gift-giving than the neighbouring dioceses in Scandinavia. At the beginning of the sixteenth century the Church owned c. 45–50 per cent of all property in the Norwegian realm, 35–40 per cent in Denmark, and 20 per cent in the Swedish kingdom.3 Saints were important as role models (exempla) for the common people.4 The first Christian martyr, St Stephen (d. c. 35), who met his end while preaching about Christ is a good example. The homily about Stephen, found both in the Old Norwegian Homily 1 

For an overview of this development see e.g. Narikawa, ‘Innovations and Conservatism’, pp. 22–108; Jón Viðar Sigurðsson, Det norrøne samfunnet, pp. 147–76; Perron, ‘Metropolitan Might and Papal Power on the Latin-Christian Frontier’. 2  Jón Viðar Sigurðsson, Det norrøne samfunnet, p. 149 (n. 9); Sollund and Brendalsmo, ‘Middelalderske kirker i hedenske gravfelt’, pp. 203–04. 3  These figures need to be considered with caution but are nonetheless informative. See Orrman, ‘The Condition of the Rural Population’, pp. 582–83. 4  Jón Viðar Sigurðsson, Viking Friendship, pp. 90–102.

Introduction

3

Book and the Icelandic Homily Book, emphasizes that he loved and prayed for his enemies, making him appeal to those who wanted to follow the example set by Jesus.5 Over 100 saints are known in the western Norse tradition through hagiographical texts, church art, liturgical works, relics, church devotions, personal names, charters, and feast days.6 Most of these saints are non-native. St Óláfr is without a doubt the most important saint in the Norse community. He died at the Battle of Stiklestad in 1030 and was venerated the year after. Two other important saints were St Hallvarðr, patron saint of Oslo (killed in 1043), and St Sunniva, supposedly a pious Irish princess who fled to Selja in the midtenth century. Moreover, St Þorfinnr, bishop of Hamar from 1278, was canonized in 1345, but traces of him and his cult are very sparse.7 In Orkney Jarl Magnús Erlendsson ruled jointly with his cousin Hákon until they fell out. He was killed in 1117 and sanctified in 1136.8 In Iceland, the veneration of local saints started around the year 1200. In 1198 the Alþingi, after permission from the bishop of Skálholt, Páll Jónsson (1195–1211), allowed vows to be made to Bishop Þorlákr Þórhallsson (1178–1193). His feast was adopted as a Holy Day of Obligation in the following year. In December 1198 Jón Ögmundarson, bishop of Hólar (1106–1112), was exhumed, washed, and transferred to a new coffin. Two years later the Alþingi adopted his feast as a Holy Day of Obligation. The cult of the third bishop, Guðmundr Arason, who was also bishop of Hólar (d. 1237), may have started shortly after his death. However, the translatio of his bones did not occur until 1315.9 As discussed in Ásdís Egilsdóttir’s chapter in this volume there was a tendency to venerate other local saints, whose cults never became widespread. Saints, and God, could, in contrast to the Old Norse gods, work miracles. We know of about 300 miracles associated with local saints in the Nidaros archbishopric. Almost all of these are associated with St Óláfr, St Magnús, and the three Icelandic bishops.10 What is striking is that most of them, as mentioned 5 

Jón Viðar Sigurðsson, Kristninga i Norden, pp. 84–92; Haki Antonsson, ‘Saints and Relics in Early Christian Scandinavia’, p. 58; Jón Viðar Sigurðsson, Viking Friendship, pp. 86–102; Gamal norsk homiliebok, ed. by Indrebø, pp. 43–47; Íslensk hómilíubók fornar stólræður, ed. by Guðrún Kvaran, Sigurbjörn Einarsson, and Gunnlaugur Ingólfsson, pp. 253–57. 6  Kratz, ‘Saints’ Lives (Iceland and Norway)’, p. 563; Skórzewska, Constructing a Cult. 7  We know of few other Norwegian saints, but their veneration only lasted for a few years. 8  We do not know of any other local saints in Orkney. 9  Skórzewska, Constructing a Cult, pp. 26–27 and pp. 236–37. 10  Whaley, ‘Miracles in the Sagas of Bishops’; Sparre, ‘Mirakler i middelalderens Norge’.

4 Ragnhild M. Bø and Jón Viðar Sigurðsson

in Cornelia Spjelkavik Sparre’s chapter in this volume, take place before the year 1300. We know that saints in Europe did perform miracles in this period, though not to the same extent as earlier. The changes we can see in the Nidaros archbishopric is probably best explained by a stronger focus on saints as exempla for people to follow. Relics were important aspects of medieval Christianity.11 One striking feature of the process of Christianization in Iceland, which has the most comprehensive sources for this issue, is the small number of proper relics. Only seven of the 108 churches in the bishopric of Hólar had authenticated relics and there are similar figures for Skálholt bishopric.12 Most of the Icelandic altars were made of wood and to convert them into ‘proper’ altars, altar stones had to be fitted.13

Saints and Sagas The strong focus on saints is most evident in the Vitae about their lives. In Íslendingabók from c. 1125 Ari fróði Þorgilsson states that Iceland was settled in the year Edmund the Holy was killed, as is written in the ‘saga’ dedicated to him. It is uncertain whether this saga was Passio Sancti Eadmundi or De miraculis Sancti Eadmundi, respectively from around 1000 and approximately 1100.14 Either way, the legend about Edmund the Holy was known in Iceland at the beginning of the twelfth century. Other evidence is clearly found in an often-quoted paragraph in Fyrsta málfræðiritgerðin, from around 1150, stressing þýðingar helgar (the translation of devotional writings, sermons and legends) as one of the genres existent in Iceland.15 In Margaret Cormack’s survey, The Saints in Iceland: Their Veneration from the Conversion to 1400, approximately seventy-five patron saints of churches in Iceland were recorded.16 Of these, only seven do not have a saga written about them in Old Norse. Most of the Icelandic medieval manuscripts have been lost, and it is therefore not unlikely that all the patron saints of Iceland had their legends translated. Many 11 

Geary, Phantoms of Remembrance, p. 194 and p. 202. See Jón Viðar Sigurðsson, ‘Distribution of Reliquaries and Relics in the Bishopric of Hólar’. 13  Guðbrandur Jónsson, ‘Dómkirkjan á Hólum í Hjaltadal’, pp. 289–90. 14  Íslendingabók, Landnámabók, ed. by Jakob Benediktsson, pp. xxii–xxiii; Grønlie, The Saint and the Saga. 15  The First Grammatical Treatise, ed. by Hreinn Benediktsson, p. 209. 16  Cormack, The Saints in Iceland. 12 

Introduction

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parish churches probably owned a saga about their patron saint,17 maybe in the vernacular. In Norway, two surviving church inventories from the parish churches of Hålandsdalen (1306) and Ylmheim (1321/1323) both list vitae among the posessions of their church.18 This might be an indication that vitae were also common in smaller parish churches. We do not know, however, if the contents of the vitae correspond to the respective patron saints of the churches. A substantial corpus of religious prose has survived in the western Norse tradition, and some of the earliest surviving manuscripts are fragments of the lives of saints from the middle of the twelfth century. As the chapters by Natalie M. Van Deusen and Kirsten Wolf, Christelle Fairise, and Jón Viðar Sigurðsson show, hagiographical texts, both ‘indigenous’ and translations of continental originals, were produced steadily throughout the medieval period in the archdiocese of Nidaros. Scores of vitae were translated into Old Norse from Latin and later from other vernacular languages such as Low German. Many manuscripts survive in the western Norse tradition; the largest proportion are from Iceland. The survival of these sources for the cult of saints in the western Norse tradition is curious; while a number of manuscript remains have survived in Iceland, church art was more likely to be destroyed. The reverse is true for Norway; where the manuscript tradition is scant, we have a higher number of surviving devotional objects and art.

Saints and Scholarship During the 1980s, a number of seminal studies were published on the cult of saints in western Christendom. This began with André Vauchez’s La Sainteté en Occident aux Derniers Siècles du Moyen Age in 1981,19 swiftly followed by Weinstein and Bell’s empirical study Saints and Society and Benedicta Ward’s Miracles and the Medieval Mind: Theory, Record and Event, 1000–1215 in 1982.20 These otherwise systematic studies are notable for their neglect of Scandinavia. Much more recently, Robert Bartlett’s Why Can the Dead Do Such Great Things? from 2013 maintains this inattention;21 this is a reflection of the author’s inability to access the primary source material, rather than a desire to disregard the northern cult of saints. However, these studies 17 

Jón Viðar Sigurðsson, ‘Legender om hellige kvinner på Island i høymiddelalderen’, p. 116. Bø, ‘Sculptures and Accessories’. 19  English translation Vauchez, Sainthood in the Later Middle Ages. 20  Weinstein and Bell, Saints and Society; Ward, Miracles and the Medieval Mind. 21  Bartlett, Why Can the Dead Do Such Great Things?. 18 

6 Ragnhild M. Bø and Jón Viðar Sigurðsson

perpetuate the idea of the cult of the saints in the north as something different, separate, and not part of an integrated study of sanctity. Across studies of ‘European’ or Western sainthood, Scandinavia is often a footnote or reduced to the unimaginative, and now representative, example of Bridget of Sweden (d. 1373, canonized 1391). Recent edited volumes including Saints and Lives on the Periphery (2010) and Historical Narratives and Christian Identity on a European Periphery (2011) redress this imbalance, but their titles imply that the fringes of Europe have no part of the centre.22 We know that ‘[i]n every sense, the hagiographic lore of Scandinavia was intimately connected with and fully integrated into the traditions of the rest of Europe’,23 but the way that scholarship is presented does not always reflect this. The iteration of the cult of saints in Norway and Iceland is one that deserves more attention as a part of, and not separated from, continental Europe. This notion also holds true for studies of the material culture of saints. The most significant and lasting contribution to the study of Old Norse hagiography began in the late nineteenth century when C. R. Unger (d. 1897) produced several invaluable edited collections of Old Norse saints’ sagas, including Mariu saga (1868, 1871), Postola Sögur (1874), and Heilagra Manna Sögur (1877).24 These editions still represent the core of the printed source material, but have been steadily ameliorated and expanded on by the valuable editorial work that has been done by Peter Foote, Christine Fell, Marianne Kalinke, and Kirsten Wolf.25 These editions are supported by a number of secondary studies, beginning in the 1960s with the work of Hans Bekker-Nielsen and Ole Widding,26 followed by the work of, for example, Birte Carlé,27 Margaret Cormack,28 Ásdís 22 

Garipzanov and Haki Antonsson, eds, Saints and their Lives on the Periphery; Garipzanov, ed., Historical Narratives and Christian Identity on a European Periphery. 23  DuBois, ed., Sanctity in the North, p. 22. 24  Mariu saga: Legende om Jomfru Maria og hendes Jertegner: efter gamle Haandskrifter, ed. by Unger; Postola Sögur, ed. by Unger; Heilagra manna sögur, ed. by Unger. 25  For an overview see Wolf, The Legends of the Saints in Old Norse-Icelandic Prose. Cf. Wolf and Van Deusen, The Saints in Old Norse and Early Modern Icelandic Poetry. 26  For an overview see Wolf, The Legends of the Saints in Old Norse-Icelandic Prose, and e.g. Widding, Bekker-Nielsen, and Shook, ‘The Lives of the Saints in Old Norse Prose’; Widding, ‘AM 655,4°, fragment III: Et brudstykke af Nicolaus saga’. 27  Carlé, Jomfru-fortællingen; Carlé, Skøger og jomfruer i den kristne fortællekunst. 28  Cormack, The Saints in Iceland; Cormack, ‘Saints of Medieval Hólar’; Cormack, ‘The Cult of St Blaise in Iceland’.

Introduction

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Egilsdóttir,29 Siân Grønlie,30 and Haki Antonsson.31 For an overview of the debate about different Old Norse sagas, see Kirsten Wolf, The Legends of the Saints in Old Norse-Icelandic Prose.32 The visual presence of saints was predominantly found inside medieval churches; representations of saints abound on baptismal fonts, textiles, altar frontals, and other paintings as well as polychrome sculptures. Some churches also had mural paintings on their walls and ceilings, and saints appeared as part of these iconographic programmes too. The oldest preserved sculptures date from the mid-twelfth century, as does the oldest altar frontal. The production of these artefacts would have taken place in the larger cities of Bergen, Oslo, and Nidaros and possibly also in the cathedral towns of Hamar and Stavanger.33 When the Black Death hit Norway in 1349, and Iceland in 1402, much of the local production ceased. Although there was never a complete stop in local production, imported artworks — in particular, carved altarpieces from artistic centres in Northern Germany and the Northern Netherlands — were important suppliers of religious art. At times the religious content of these imported altarpieces moved beyond their formulaic and conventional content and introduced new saints and new religious concepts to Nidaros. Ragnhild M. Bø discusses such examples in her chapter in this volume. On the material manifestations of the cult of saints in the Nidaros archbishopric, the two saints with the most church dedications and preserved sculptures — St Óláfr and the Virgin — are also the two who have generated more research interest. St Óláfr in particular has been the subject of monographs such as Harry Fett’s Hellig Olav: Norges evige konge (1938) and St Olav i kunsten, edited by Øystein Ekroll (2016), as well as numerous articles.34 The art historian Martin Blindheim even named him the ‘Scandinavian SupraSaint’.35 Research concerning images of the Virgin is also abundant; in particular, analysis of polychrome sculpture of the Virgin.36 The exceptional collection 29 

Ásdís Egilsdóttir, Fræðinæmi. Grønlie, The Saint and the Saga Hero. 31  Haki Antonsson, St Magnus of Orkney; Haki Antonsson, Damnation and Salvation in Old Norse Literature. 32  Wolf, The Legends of the Saints in Old Norse-Icelandic Prose. 33  See the historiography and summaries of techniques in Blindheim, Gothic Painted Wooden Sculpture in Norway, pp. 15–22. 34  See e.g. Fett, Hellig Olav; Ekroll, ed., Helgenkongen St Olav i kunsten. 35  Blindheim, ‘St Olav, en skandinavisk overhelgen’. 36  Andersen, ‘Madonna Tabernacles in Scandinavia’ 30 

8 Ragnhild M. Bø and Jón Viðar Sigurðsson

of medieval altar frontals from Norway — many of which have depictions of saints — offer a unique insight into the visual culture of the Middle Ages, as does the painted canopy with scenes from the life of St Margaret in Torpo stave church.37 Material culture in the form of relics, as well as textiles and seals with representations of saints, and runic sticks which mention saints, however, have received less attention, but are emerging themes in present-day scholarship.38 The discussion on runes in Elise Kleivane’s chapter in this volume adds to this discussion. For Iceland, medieval religious material culture is covered by the book Hlutavelta tímans: menningararfur á Þjóðminjasafni. 39 On specific saints, Selma Jónsdóttir has written about St Nicholas and his presence in manuscript culture, and Margaret Cormack has provided us with a useful list of sculptures and paintings owned by individual churches.40 Because the regions within the Nidaros archbishopric were not hit by any iconoclastic riots similar to those which occurred in for example England, Switzerland, and the Northern Netherlands, the material culture of saints thus offer a comparable variety of objects. Rather, the many losses which have inevitably also taken place in Nidaros are more often the result of aesthetic and practical changes in the church interiors in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and not concerned either with the cult of saints or images more in general.41 For more on this subject, see Noëlle L. W. Streeton’s chapter in this volume.

Saints as Subjects In addition to the various aspects of the cult of saints that emerge in the discussions provided in the chapters included here, we would like to draw the reader’s attention to some questions and thoughts of a more rhetorical nature. By examining the typology of saints in the archdiocese of Nidaros, we can explore what 37 

Plahter and others, Painted Altar Frontals of Norway 1250–1350. Liepe, ‘The Presence of the Sacred’; Imer, Peasants and Prayers. 39  Árni Björnsson and Hrefna Róbertsdóttir, eds, Hlutavelta tímans: menningararfur á Þjóðminjasafni, in which especially: Guðbjörg Kristjánsdóttir, ‘Messuföng og kirkjulist’, pp. 246–59; Guðjónsson, ‘Listræn textiliðja fyrr á öldum’, pp. 272–89; Lilja Árnadóttir, ‘Útskurður’, pp. 290–301. 40  Selma Jónsdóttir, ‘Heilagur Nikulás í Árnasafni = St Nicholas in Iceland’; Cormack, The Saints in Iceland; Cormack, ‘Saints of Medieval Hólar’. 41  Jürgensen, Ritual and Art across the Danish Reformation; Bø, ‘From Material to Immaterial Presence’. 38 

Introduction

9

type of saints suited the needs of the people of the Archdiocese of Nidaros.We know that of the 100 or so saints in the western Norse tradition, most are drawn from the Latin tradition. They include apostles (whose lives were taken from sources such as Acta Apostolorum and New Testament Apocrypha), martyr saints (including Sts Sebastian, Thomas Becket as well as several early virgin martyrs) and confessor saints (such as Nicholas and Anthony who became known for miracles and exemplary lives rather than martyrdom).42 Indigenous saints who met local needs and conditions emerged (e.g. St Hallvarðr, St Sunniva). All these saints were influential; they shaped religious consciousness by offering a piety that was capable of imitation and gave figurative life to theological abstractions. But why did certain lives become more popular than others? In contrast to the development of the cult of saints on the continent, religious houses appear to have a played a limited role in the promotion of cults.43 While certain places were connected with certain saints (Nidaros and St Óláfr; Oslo and St Hallvarðr; Bergen St Sunniva; Stavanger St Swithun; Orkney St  Magnús; Skálholt St  Þorlákr; Hólar Jón Ögmundarson, and Guðmundr Arason), this may have originated in popular devotion and then been championed by bishops with the dual purpose of strengthening local identity and reinforcing episcopal authority.44 In other cases, the exemplary lives of saints were devised with certain people in mind. For example, the promotion of certain female saints including the Virgin Mary appears to have been more relevant for women in Iceland where vita activa rather than vita contemplativa may have been more practical.45 However, it is not known in many cases why particular saints’ cults flourished in the north. Furthermore, it is also relevant to explore how and why the typology and popularity of saints changed with the development of the cult of saints. Secondly, the translations of vitae into the vernacular provide an unparalleled insight into the development of Christianity in the North. Old Norse saints’ lives were rewritten and revitalized to suit the audiences to which they were directed. These holy lives were adaptable in ways that the Bible or key doctrinal texts were not. Their ability to metamorphose yet maintain authority was powerful, and therefore, the impact of these texts was wide-reaching. Indeed, the textual plasticity of vitae ensured their enduring popularity throughout the 42 

Kratz, ‘Saints’ Lives (Iceland and Norway)’, p. 563. Haki Antonsson, ‘Saints and Relics in Early Christian Scandinavia’, p. 68. 44  Haki Antonsson, ‘Saints and Relics in Early Christian Scandinavia’, p. 69. See also Brown, The Cult of the Saints. 45  Van Deusen, ‘The Dominican Connection’, p. 19. 43 

10 Ragnhild M. Bø and Jón Viðar Sigurðsson

Middle Ages and into the early modern period, when texts such as Mariu saga continued to be copied despite the Reformation. The translators who produced Old Norse versions of European vitae were no different from the vernacular translators on the continent; they chose to include or exclude particular elements in order to produce a version that suited their needs and pastoral objectives. The earliest hagiographical sources are close translations of the Latin passio material on Peter, Paul, and the other apostles, as well as Pope Clement and Bishop Martin. However, later translated hagiographies display increasing fluidity and a movement towards a more individualized style. Consequently, there are different degrees of fidelity in religious texts translated from Latin to Old Norse. Thus, the earliest texts show little influence of Latin syntax and loan words. In the second phase, from around the mid-thirteenth to the fifteenth century, however, the style became more ‘florid’, with a more deliberate attempt to imitate the Latin.46 For example, some compilers ‘harmonized’ several Latin texts, as Natalie Van Deusen has shown in her examination of the authorship of Marthe saga ok Marie Magdalene.47 This form of textual bricolage was particularly common in the so-called ‘florid’ style of texts. Although it is often difficult to identify the exact Latin source text for a vita, it is often possible to piece together elements that inform the hagiographic writing. For example, in some cases it is evident that sources for the translated vitae include legendaria such as Jacobus de Voragine’s Legenda Aurea, Gregory the Great’s Dialogues or apocryphal books of the New Testament. In addition, rewritings did not only stem from Latin texts. The Icelandic legendary Reykjahólabók (c. 1525), which contains twenty-five saints’ lives and is believed to have been written by the scribe Björn Þorleifsson (b. after 1467, d. before 1554) at Reykhólar in Iceland c. 1525, is thought to have been modelled on primarily Low German sources.48 These multi-layered texts provide a challenging yet fascinating insight into the development of the cult of saints. By breathing new life into the saintly vanguard of the Christian faith, each derivation became a unique extension of the Christian past. The Old Norse translators of the thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries thus had a defining role in the development of Christian spirituality and society in the North; their adaptations of saints’ vitae provided spiritual guidance that moulded both lay and monastic life. The ways in which the trans46 

The so-called ‘florid style’ was used by Icelandic writers including the priest Grímr Hólmsteinsson (d. 1298) in Jóns saga baptista (Kratz, ‘Saints’ Lives (Iceland and Norway)’, p. 563). 47  Van Deusen, ‘The Dominican Connection’, p. 209. 48  Kratz, ‘Saints’ Lives (Iceland and Norway)’, p. 563; Wolf, ‘Reykjahólabók’, pp. 527–28.

Introduction

11

lators reconfigured and transformed the vitae of European saints provides an incomparable insight into medieval societies, the intercultural translation of ideas, and conversion across cultural borders. When analysing these texts, we might ask: what was changed, abbreviated, suppressed, or interpolated? Why might some narrative structures have been modified while other parts of the text remained unchanged? What can this adaptation tell us about the audience? What does the choice, adaptation, and skill in harmonizing texts tells us about the competence of these redactors? What does this textual ‘bricolage’ tell us about the types of Latin text that were circulating in the diocese? Thirdly, the analysis of the veneration of saints in the archdiocese of Nidaros can provide a deeper understanding of interaction with the Church and the development of lay piety in the north. Jón Viðar Sigurdsson has shown that saints were understood to be guðs vinir (god’s friends) and that the Church used the notion of friendship to encourage people to follow biblical teachings. What then was the relationship that people could have with God’s friends? And how did people relate to saints? Did the veneration of saints change if they were perceived in terms of friendship? We might also examine local veneration practices or the private and personal veneration of saints in order to gain an insight into the social and cultural practices surrounding the cult of saints. Beyond the hagiographical texts from the western Norse tradition, religious material culture, including the cult of relics, is intimately connected with the veneration of saints. During the course of the twelfth century, local churches began to acquire relics, or relic collections, of foreign saints.49 As Haki Antonsson has shown, the importation of the cult of relics played a part in drawing Scandinavia further into the fold of European Christianity.50 Often, little is known about the acquisition and dissemination of relics. However, the Miracula of St Óláfr composed in the late twelfth century describe how ‘precious things [i.e. relics] … were sent from Constantinople’.51 In 1316, the Dominicans in Bruges sent a letter to King Hákon of Norway. Having erected an altar dedicated to St Óláfr and embellished with an ymago of him (possibly a sculpture of the saint) in their church, the monks asked for information about the saint’s miracles, life, and relics as they were eager to properly venerate the saint. These and other examples of gift-giving and ownership patterns prove 49 

Haki Antonsson, ‘Saints and Relics in Early Christian Scandinavia’, p. 65. Haki Antonsson, ‘Saints and Relics in Early Christian Scandinavia’, p. 55. 51  A History of Norway and The Passion and Miracles of the Blessed Óláfr, ed. by Phelpstead, trans. by Kunin, p. 35; Haki Antonsson, ‘Saints and Relics in Early Christian Scandinavia’, p. 67. 50 

12 Ragnhild M. Bø and Jón Viðar Sigurðsson

valuable in assessing the development of the cult of relics on behalf of both lay and ordained. They are also valuable in assessing the material endowment of churches. In examining church art and sculptures, we might ask how the ‘codes of viewing’ saints develop and what types of devotional activities were associated with images of saints. Images could be invested with indulgence letters and activated in different ways through pilgrimage on feast days,52 donations, and prayers. Moreover, addressing the tactile nature of piety we may inform ourselves more about the physical interaction with saints. As written hagiography was enclosed in books, we may want to address what the disfigurement of sculpture tells us about the disempowerment or survival of particular cults as we move towards the Reformation. Much more remains to be done, yet despite the many outdated editions and uneven source distribution, the field is privileged to have a base of excellent scholarship. It is our hope that this volume will contribute to the advancement of the field by uniting both textual and material studies of the cult of saints in the archdiocese of Nidaros. Moreover, we hope this book will inspire established and early career scholars alike to continue the inquiries commenced by the present authors.

52 

Rumar, ed., Helgonet i Nidaros.

Introduction

13

Works Cited Primary Sources The First Grammatical Treatise: Introduction, Text, Notes, Translation, Vocabulary, Facsimiles, ed.  by Hreinn Benediktsson, Publications in Linguistics, University of Iceland, 1 (Reykjavík: Institute of Nordic Linguistics, 1972)Gamal norsk homiliebok. Cod. AM 619 4o, ed. by Gustav Indrebø (Oslo: I hovudkommisjon hjaa Dybwad, 1931) Heilagra manna sögur. Fortællinger og Legender om hellige Mænd og Kvinder efter gamle Haands[k]rifter I–II, ed. by Carl Richard Unger (Christiania [Oslo]: Bentzen, 1877) A History of Norway and The Passion and Miracles of the Blessed Óláfr, ed. by Carl Phelpstead, trans. by Devra Kunin (London: Viking Society for Northern Research, 2001) Íslendingabók, Landnámabók, ed.  by Jakob Benediktsson, Íslenzk fornrit, I  (Reykjavík: Hið íslenzka fornritafélag, 1968) Íslensk hómilíubók fornar stólræður, ed.  by Guðrún Kvaran, Sigurbjörn Einarsson, and Gunnlaugur Ingólfsson (Reykjavík: Hið íslenska bókmenntafélag, 1993) Mariu saga: Legende om Jomfru Maria og hendes Jertegner: efter gamle Haandskrifter, ed. by Carl Richard Unger, Det norske Oldskriftselskabs Samlinger (Christiania [Oslo]: Det norske Oldskriftselskab, 1868) Mariu saga: Legende om Jomfru Maria og hendes Jertegner: efter gamle Haandskrifter, ed. by Carl Richard Unger, Det norske Oldskriftselskabs Samlinger (Christiania [Oslo]: Det norske Oldskriftselskab, 1871) Postola Sögur: legendariske Fortællinger om Apostlernes Liv, deres Kamp for Kristendommens Udbredelse samt deres Martyrdød: efter gamle Haandskrifter, ed. by Carl Richard Unger (Christiania [Oslo]: Bentzen, 1874)

Secondary Studies Andersen, Elisabeth, ‘Madonna Tabernacles in Scandinavia c. 1150–c. 1350’, Journal of the British Archaeological Association, 168 (2015), 165–85 Árni Björnsson and Hrefna Róbertsdóttir, eds, Hlutavelta tímans: menningararfur á Þjóðminjasafni (Reykjavík: Þjóðminjasafn Íslands, 2004) Ásdís Egilsdóttir, Fræðinæmi: greinar gefnar út í tilefni 70 ára afmælis Ásdísar Egilsdóttur (Reykjavík: Hið íslenska bókmenntafélag, 2016) Bartlett, Robert, Why Can the Dead Do Such Great Things? Saints and Worshippers from the Martyrs to the Reformation (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2013) Blindheim, Martin, Gothic Painted Wooden Sculpture in Norway 1220–1350, Medieval Art in Norway (Oslo: Messel, 2004) —— , ‘St Olav, en skandinavisk overhelgen’, in Olav: konge og helgen, myte og symbol, ed. by Johs Bruce and Martin Blindheim (Oslo: St Olav forlag, 1981), pp. 105–35 Bø, Ragnhild M., ‘From Material to Immaterial Presence: Engagements with Saints before and after the Reformation in Denmark-Norway’, Mirator, 19 (2018), 84–107

14 Ragnhild M. Bø and Jón Viðar Sigurðsson

——  , ‘Sculptures and Accessories: Domestic Piety and the Norwegian Parish around 1300’, in Domestic Devotions in Medieval and Early Modern Europe, ed. by Salvador Ryan (Basel: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute, 2020), pp. 13–37 Brown, Peter, The Cult of the Saints: Its Rise and Function in Latin Christianity, Haskell Lectures on History of Religions, new series (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1981) The Cambridge Histoy of Scandinavia I: Prehistory to 1520, ed. by Knut Helle (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003) Carlé, Birte, Jomfru-fortællingen: et bidrag til genrehistorien, Odense University Studies in Scandinavian Languages and Literatures (Odense: Odense Universitetsforlag, 1985) —— , Skøger og jomfruer i den kristne fortællekunst. Den skandinaviske tradition og den rødder i middelhavslandene, Odense University Studies in Scandinavian Languages and Literatures (Odense: Odense Universitetsforlag, 1991) Cormack, Margaret, ‘The Cult of St  Blaise in Iceland’, Saga-Book of the Viking Society (2014), 43–61 —— , The Saints in Iceland: Their Veneration from the Conversion to 1400, Subsidia hagiographica, 78 (Brussels: Société des Bollandistes, 1994) —— , ‘Saints of Medieval Hólar: A Statistical Survey of the Veneration of Saints in the Diocese’, Peregrinations: Journal of Medieval Art and Architecture, 3 (2011), 7–37 DuBois, Thomas A., ed., Sanctity in the North: Saints, Lives, and Cults in Medieval Scandinavia (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2008) Ekroll, Øystein, ed., Helgenkongen St  Olav i kunsten (Trondheim: Museumsforlaget, Nidaros domkirkes restaureringsarbeider, 2016) Fett, Harry, Hellig Olav: Norges evige konge, Kunst og kulturs serie (Oslo: Gyldendal, 1938) Garipzanov, Ildar H., and Haki Antonsson, eds, Saints and their Lives on the Periphery: Veneration of Saints in Scandinavia and Eastern Europe (c.  1000–1200), Cursor Mundi, 9 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2010) Garipzanov, Ildar H., ed., Historical Narratives and Christian Identity on a European Periphery: Early History Writing in Northern, East-Central, and Eastern Europe (c.  1070–1200), Medieval Texts and Cultures of Northern Europe, 26 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2011) Geary, Patrick J., Phantoms of Remembrance: Memory and Oblivion at the End of the First Millennium (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994) Grønlie, Siân E., The Saint and the Saga Hero: Hagiography and Early Icelandic Literature (Cambridge: Brewer, 2017) Guðbrandur Jónsson, ‘Dómkirkjan á Hólum í Hjaltadal. Lýsing íslenzkra miðaldakirkna’, in Safn til sögu Íslands og íslenzkra bókmenta að fornu og nýju 5/6, ed. Jón Sigurðsson and others (Kaupmannahöfn: Hið íslenzka bókmenntafjelag, 1919), pp. 1–418 Guðbjörg Kristjánsdóttir, ‘Messuföng og kirkjulist: Búnaður kirkna í kaþólskum sið’, in Hlutavelta tímans: menningararfur á Þjóðminjasafni, ed.  by Árni Björnsson and Hrefna Róbertsdóttir (Reykjavík: Þjóðminjasafn Íslands, 2004), pp. 246–59 Guðjónsson, Elsa E., ‘Listræn textiliðja fyrr á öldum. Útsaumur, listavefnaður, skinnsaumumur, knipl og útprjón’, in Hlutavelta tímans: menningararfur á Þjóðminjasafni, ed. by Árni Björnsson and Hrefna Róbertsdóttir (Reykjavík: Þjóðminjasafn Íslands, 2004), pp. 272–89

Introduction

15

Haki Antonsson, Damnation and Salvation in Old Norse Literature, Studies in Old Norse Literature (Cambridge: Brewer, 2018) ——  , ‘Saints and Relics in Early Christian Scandianvia’, Mediaeval Scandinavia, 15 (2005), 51–80 ——  , St  Magnus of Orkney: A  Scandinavian Martyr-Cult in Context, The Northern World, 29 (Leiden: Brill, 2007) Imer, Lisbeth M., Peasants and Prayers: The Inscriptions of Norse Greenland, Publications from the National Museum, Studies in Archaeology & History, 25 (Odense: University Press of Southern Denmark, 2017) Jón Viðar Sigurðsson, ‘Distribution of Reliquaries and Relics in the Bishopric of Hólar, c.  1320’, in Paint and Piety: Collected Essays on Medieval Painting and Polychrome Sculpture, ed.  by Noëlle Lynn Wenger Streeton and Kaja Kollandsrud (London: Archetype, 2014), pp. 67–74 —— , Kristninga i Norden 750–1200, Utsyn & innsikt (Oslo: Samlaget, 2003) ——  , ‘Legender om hellige kvinner på Island i høymiddelalderen’, in Kirkehistorier. Rapport fra et middelaldersymposium, ed. by Nanna Damsholt, Grethe Jacobsen, and Niels Holmqvist-Larsen (Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum, 1996), pp. 115–33 —— , Det norrøne samfunnet. Vikingen, kongen, erkebiskopen og bonden (Oslo: Pax, 2008) ——  , Viking Friendship: The Social Bond in Iceland and Norway, c.  900–1300 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2017) Jürgensen, Martin Wangsgaard, Ritual and Art across the Danish Reformation: Changing Interiors of Village Churches, 1450–1600, Ritus et Artes, 6 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2018) Kratz, Henry, ‘Saints’ Lives (Iceland and Norway)’, in Medieval Scandinavia: An Encyclopedia, ed. by Philip Pulsiano and Kirsten Wolf, Garland Encyclopedias of the Middle Ages, 1 (New York: Garland, 1993), pp. 562–64 Liepe, Lena, ‘The Presence of the Sacred: Relics in Medieval Wooden Sculptures in Scandinavia’, in Paint and Piety: Collected Essays on Medieval Painting and Polychrome Sculpture, ed.  by Noëlle Lynn Wenger Streeton and Kaja Kollandsrud (London: Archetype, 2014), pp. 39–50 Lilja Árnadóttir, ‘Útskurður. Skorið í tré, horn og bein’, in Hlutavelta tímans: menningararfur á Þjóðminjasafni, ed. by Árni Björnsson and Hrefna Róbertsdóttir (Reykjavík: Þjóðminjasafn Íslands, 2004), pp. 290–301 Medieval Scandinavia: An Encyclopedia, ed. by Phillip Pulsiano and Kirsten Wolf, Garland Encyclopedias of the Middle Ages, 1 (New York: Garland, 1993) Narikawa, Takahiro, ‘Innovations and Conservatism: Foundation of the Metropolitan Authority and the Effective Control within the Church Province of Nidaros in the Thirteenth Century’ (unpublished MA thesis, Universitetet i Oslo, 2008) Orrman, Eljas, ‘The Condition of the Rural Population’, in The Cambridge History of Scandinavia  I: Prehistory to 1520, ed.  by Knut Helle (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), pp. 581–610 Perron, Anthony, ‘Metropolitan Might and Papal Power on the Latin–Christian Frontier: Transforming the Danish Church around the Time of the Fourth Lateran Council’, Catholic Historical Review, 89 (2003), 182–212

16 Ragnhild M. Bø and Jón Viðar Sigurðsson

Plahter, Unn, Erla Bergendahl Hohler, Nigel J. Morgan, and Anne Wichstrøm, Painted Altar Frontals of Norway 1250–1350, 3 vols (London: Archetype, 2004) Rumar, Lars, ed., Helgonet i Nidaros: Olavskult och kristnande i Norden, Skrifter utgivna av Riksarkivet, 3 (Stockholm: Riksarkivet, 1997) Selma Jónsdóttir, ‘Heilagur Nikulás í Árnasafni  = St  Nicholas in Iceland: A  Fragment of an English Psalter’, in Afmælisrit Jóns Helgasonar: 30. júní 1969, ed.  by Jakob Benediktsson, Jón Samsonarson, and Jónas Kristjánsson (Reykjavík: Heimskringla, 1969), pp. 260–69 Skórzewska, Joanna A., Constructing a Cult: The Life and Veneration of Guðmundr Arason (1161–1237) in the Icelandic Written Sources, The Northern World, 51 (Leiden: Brill, 2011) Sollund, May-Liss Bøe, and Jan Brendalsmo, ‘Middelalderske kirker i hedenske gravfelt’, Viking, 76 (2013), 203–18 Sparre, Cornelia Spjelkavik, ‘Mirakler i middelalderens Norge: En analyse av norske mirakler’ (unpublished MA thesis, Universitetet i Oslo, 2014) Van Deusen, Natalie M., ‘The Dominican Connection: Some Comments on the Sources, Authorship, and Provenance of Mǫrtu saga ok Maríu Magðalenu’, Journal of English and Germanic Philology, 113 (2014), 206–21 Vauchez, André, Sainthood in the Later Middle Ages (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997) Ward, Benedicta, Miracles and the Medieval Mind: Theory, Record and Event, 1000–1215, rev. edn (Aldershot: Scolar, 1987) Weinstein, Donald, and Rudolph M. Bell, Saints and Society: The Two Worlds of Western Christendom, 1000–1700 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982) Whaley, Diana, ‘Miracles in the Sagas of Bishops: Icelandic Variations on an International Theme’, Collegium Medievale, 7 (1994), 155–85 Widding, Ole, Hans Bekker-Nielsen, and L. K. Shook, ‘The Lives of the Saints in Old Norse Prose: A Handlist’, Mediaeval Studies, 25 (1963), 294–337 Widding, Ole, ‘AM 655,4°, fragment III: Et brudstykke af Nicolaus saga’, Opuscula, 2 (1961), 27–33 Wolf, Kirsten, The Legends of the Saints in Old Norse-Icelandic Prose (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2013) —— , ‘Reykjahólabók’, in Medieval Scandinavia: An Encyclopedia, ed. by Philip Pulsiano and Kirsten Wolf, Garland Encyclopedias of the Middle Ages, 1 (New York: Garland, 1993), pp. 527–28 Wolf, Kirsten, and Natalie M. Van Deusen, The Saints in Old Norse and Early Modern Icelandic Poetry, Toronto Old Norse and Icelandic Studies, 10 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2017)

Epitomes of Saints’ Lives in Two Old Norse-Icelandic Manuscripts AM 764 4to and AM 672 4to Natalie M. Van Deusen and Kirsten Wolf

T

he lives, passions, or miracles, in part or in full, of about 150 saints have been preserved in prose in Old Norse-Icelandic literature. There are several versions of some legends including those of Sts Agatha, Agnes, Ambrose, Eustace, Gregory the Great, Guðmundr the Good, Jón of Hólar, Margaret of Antioch, Nicholas, Óláfr of Norway, Stephen the Deacon, Thomas Becket, Þorlákr of Skálholt, the Apostles (notably Andrew, Bartholomew, James the Greater, John, Paul, Peter, Philip, and Thomas), and John the Baptist. Some of these saints’ lives reappear heavily abridged in two manuscripts: AM 764 4to (Reynistaðarbók) which has been dated to c. 1376–1386 and AM 672 4to which has been dated to c.  1450–1500. The former contains epitomes of the lives of Sts Bede the Venerable, Cuthbert, Edward the Confessor, Elizabeth of Schönau, Gregory the Great, Malchus, Martha, Nicholas, Remigius, Sunniva, Ursula, and Walburga. The latter contains epitomes of the lives of Sts Agatha, Barbara, Bartholomew, Blase, and Nicholas. While some of the lives of the saints in these two manuscripts are well represented in Old Norse-Icelandic, others are not. Except for the tale of St Bede incorporated into the miracles of the Virgin Mary, AM 764 4to is the only manuscript containing a life of St Bede. Similarly,

Natalie M. Van Deusen ([email protected]) is the Henry Cabot and Linnea Lodge Scan­dinavian Professor at the University of Alberta. She specializes in Old Norse-Icelandic philology, manuscript culture, and hagiography. Kirsten Wolf ([email protected]) is the Birgit Baldwin Professor in the Department of German, Nordic, and Slavic at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she teaches Old Norse and Scandinavian linguistics. The Cult of Saints in Nidaros Archbishopric. Manuscripts, Miracles, Objects, ed. by Ragnhild M. Bø and Jon Viðar Sigurðsson, tcne 33 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2022), pp. 17–51 BREPOLS PUBLISHERS 10.1484/M.TCNE-EB.5.124877

18 Natalie M. Van Deusen and Kirsten Wolf

there is no legend about St Cuthbert except for two short passages in AM 655 4to XXI (c. 1200–1250) and AM 686b 4to (c. 1200–1225) to be read on his feast-day. St  Martha is incorporated into the composite legend of Sts Martha and Mary Magdalen extant in AM 233a fol. (c.  1350–1375), AM 235  fol. (c. 1400), NRA 79 (c. 1350), and Stock. Perg. fol. no. 2 (c. 1425–1445), but she has her own legend only in AM 764 4to. Other than AM 764 4to, the legend of St Ursula is known only from an epitome that forms part of Breta sǫgur, and from references to the martyrdom of the saint and her companions in Kirjalax saga and Ambrósíuss saga.1 And St Walburga is known only from AM 764 4to. This chapter is concerned with some of the epitomes of saints’ lives in AM 764 4to and AM 672 4to.2 In addition to investigating the sources of the epitomes and the particular aspects of the individual lives that were chosen or emphasized in the epitomes, it reflects on why these particular saints and their legends were selected, and what their function is within the wider context of the two manuscripts.

AM 764 4to The codex is from Skagafjörður and appears to have been compiled over a period of time by a number of scribes. It may be divided into two parts.3 Part I (1–23v) is a description of the world’s history organized by Augustine’s six ages of the world and the two ages yet to come. The historical periods covered are as follows: the first age from Adam to Noah, the second from Noah to Abraham, the third from Abraham to David, the fourth from David to the Babylonian Exile, the fifth from the Exile to the birth of Christ, the sixth from the birth of Christ (and the present age) until the Apocalypse, the seventh the period of rest between the Apocalypse and Judgement Day, and the eighth age eternal life in heaven.4 The description of the sixth age includes lists of popes and emper1 

Parsons, ‘Radiant Maidens and Butchered Brides’, pp. 227–43, esp. pp. 230–38. Since this chapter deals with the epitomes of saints’ legends, the section on AM 764 4to treats only epitomes of the vitae or sections which are included in Wolf, The Legends of the Saints in Old Norse-Icelandic Prose. However, for reasons of space, Inventio crucis, Gregory the Great’s Dialogi, and Vitae patrum are not discussed here, nor are the miracles of the Virgin Mary and St Peter. 3  The following description of the manuscript’s contents relies on the detailed list presented by Svanhildur Óskarsdóttir, ‘Universal History in Fourteenth-Century Iceland’, pp. 239–41; and Svanhildur Óskarsdóttir, ‘What Icelandic Nuns Read’, pp. 229–48, esp. pp. 240–41. 4  Svanhildur Óskarsdóttir, ‘Universal History in Fourteenth-Century Iceland’, pp. 239–41. 2 

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ors, canonical and apocryphal scripture, theological works, and also draws on several saints’ lives; these comprise the legends of Sts Martha of Bethany (15v11–16r5), Elisabeth of Schönau (16r14–16v17), Gregory the Great (18bis), Inventio crucis (20r7–12 and 20v8–12), and Vitae patrum (21r20–21v3). Part II is a miscellany and includes exempla, extracts from the Dialogues of Gregory the Great, an account of Cyrus the Great, an Icelandic version of the dream manual Somniale Danielis, writings of the Church Fathers, lists of English rulers based on Breta sǫgur, a biography of Bishop Jón Halldórsson, chapters from Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta, a text of Upphaf allra frásagna, a description of the world, genealogies, and annals. The epitomes of the lives of the following saints are included in part II: Remigius (23v5–25r14); Malchus (27r1–30r4); Ursula (31v14–24); Nicholas (31v30–37); Walburga (34r1–34v; defective); Sunniva (35r1–16; defective); Cuthbert (36r1–5); Bede (36r6–19); and Edward the Confessor (37v; defective). Miracles of Sts Peter and Mary and some extracts from Vitae patrum are also included. Árni Magnússon’s notes regarding AM 764 4to are attached to the front of the codex on two folios and four slips and reveal that he obtained most of the manuscript from Skálholt. After the list of the manuscript’s contents, he writes: ‘Mig minner eg hafe feinged þetta frä Bæ [= Gaulverjabær in Flói, Árnessýsla], mun, öefad, hafa tilheyrt Skalholltz kirkiu, og slædst frä Skalhollte til Bæjar, epter andlat Mag. Bryniolfs’(I recall that I received this from Bær [=Gaulverjabær in Flói, Árnessýsla] and must without a doubt have belonged to Skálholt church, and drifted from Skálholt to Bær, after the death of Mag. Brynjólfur).5 Árni also acquired other parts of the manuscript from Gaulverjabær. It is clear, however, that Árni did not receive all forty-three leaves at the same time. On an endnote to his list of contents, he writes that he obtained fol. 38 (labelled α) separately: ‘bladed sem þad æfintir er á hefi eg feingid sier i lage. Synest ad þad mune ei heyra inn þar þad liggur’ (I received the leaf containing the exemplum separately. It seems as if it does not belong to where it is). On another slip, he writes that he believes that fol. 38 came from Skálholt: on the recto side, ‘fra Skalhollte mun þetta vera i fyrstu. (α)’ (Must be at first from Skálholt) and on the verso side, ‘α] ecki stendr þad annars i neinu afhendingar registre, so þad kynne’ (It does not appear otherwise in any delivery register, so it could be). Árni’s notes show that several other leaves (39–43) came to him from Skálholt, where they were kept in a codex containing annals. In his notes, this codex is referred to as ‘Skallholt [or Skallholtz or Skallholts] annal hinu forna’ (The 5 

Quoted from Svanhildur Óskarsdóttir, ‘Universal History in Fourteenth-Century Iceland’, p. 13.

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old Skálholt annal), a name given to the annal by ‘Mag. Bryniolfur’. Two additional leaves, which Svanhildur Óskarsdóttir argues are fols 27–28, came to Árni from Daði Halldórsson of Steinsholt, whose daughter had received the leaves from Gaulverjabær: þess[e] 2. blỏd eru komin til dottur Sira Dada i Steins holltu fra Gaulveria bæ i Flöa, en eg feck þau hiä Sira Dada. J Bæ er eckert meira þar af. inqvisivi. Sira Halldor Torfason seiger mier, ad þessa blỏd hafi flækst þar (i Bæ) i rugle, og veit eckert vidara þar af, hverki hvadan þau sieu, nie hvernig hattad hafi vered. hafe og eckert vïdara þar af, eda veit sig nockurn tima haft hafa.6

The codex belongs to a group of late fourteenth-century manuscripts linked to the family at Akrar in Blönduhlíð, and was most likely the product of a scribal school at the Benedictine convent of Reynistaður in northern Iceland, to which the family had connections.7 Because of its likely origins at the convent, AM 764 4to is also referred to as Reynistaðarbók.

AM 672 4to8 The manuscript is an Icelandic miscellany of religious literature. The first text is the Parva pars oculi dextri sacerdotis, which is based primarily on the theological manual Oculus Sacerdotis compiled by the English writer William Pagula in the fourteenth century. Though, as Ian McDougall has noted, the Compendium Theologicae Veritatis also served as a source for the Icelandic translation.9 The Parva pars is followed by epitomes of the legends of St Bartholomew (55r23–55v) and Barbara (56r1–19).10 Then there is a section on the Lenten fast, a translation of Luke 8. 5–15 (the parable of the sower,11 and

6 

Svanhildur Óskarsdóttir, ‘Universal History in Fourteenth-Century Iceland’, pp. 13–14. The transcription of Árni Magnússon’s notes is quoted on p. 13 n. 6. 7  Svanhildur Óskarsdóttir, ‘Arctic Garden of Delights’, esp. p. 297. 8  An edition of AM 672 4to by Kirsten Wolf is forthcoming under the title The Priest’s Eye: AM 672 4to in The Arnamagnaean Collection, Copenhagen in Manuscripta Nordica: Early Nordic Manuscripts in Digital Facsimile. The discussion of this manuscript below is extracted from the introduction to the edition. 9  McDougall, ‘Latin Sources of the Old Icelandic Speculum Penitentis’, pp. 136–85. 10  Wolf, ed., The Old Norse-Icelandic Legend of Saint Barbara, p. 114. 11  Þorvaldur Bjarnarson, ed., Leifar fornra kristinna frœða íslenzkra, p. 188, ll. 12–32.

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an explication of the Mass,12 followed by epitomes of the legends of Sts Agatha (61r4–61v9),13 Blase (61v9–62r8), and Nicholas (62r8–62v20),14 and a translation of John 20.  24–31.15 A theological treatise concludes the manuscript. The immediate source of the treatise is unknown, but many of the Latin quotes and references point to the Decretum magistri Gratiani, also known as the Concordia discordantium canonum, which is a collection of canon law compiled and written in the mid-twelfth century as a legal textbook by Gratian, who was probably a canon lawyer from Bologna. AM 672 4to was acquired by Árni Magnússon. In his catalogue of manuscripts in AM 345a-b 4to, he provides a list of its contents and the information that ‘Bokin hefur fyrrum verid eign Skalholltskirkiu, þo alldri stadid i neinu registre þar’ (The book was previously in the possession of the church of Skálholt but was never mentioned in a catalogue there).16 On the basis of her identification of the Hallfríður mentioned in a scribal note on fol. 55v — ‘les betur enn skrifat er kiærí fadir ok seg halfridi goda notth’ (Read better than what is written, dear father, and say goodnight to Hallfriður) — with Hallfríður Þórðardóttir, próventukona at Hagi and daughter of Þórður Sigurðarson, who in 1473 sold half of Hagi to Gísli Filipusson (d. 1504), Jonna Louis-Jensen argues that the manuscript has its provenance in the western part of Iceland.17 She points out that this Hallfríður is mentioned in one diploma, AM Dipl. Isl. Fasc. XXIV, 22,18 which is written in a hand virtually identical to hand II in AM 672 4to. According to the diploma, which was written at Hagi in Barðaströnd on 16 October 1479, Hallfríður Þórðardóttir and her husband Jón Ólafsson agree to turn over the farm Botn in Patreksfjörður to Gísli Filippusson in return for ‘æfinligt framfæri ok profentv hia … gisla filipvssyne ok ingibiorgv eyolfs dottvr konv hans ok þeira ǫrfvm’ (eternal maintenance and prebent with Gísli Fílippusson and Ingibjörg Eyjólfsdóttir, his wife, and their heirs). Hallfríður was Gísli Filippusson’s cousin and the daughter of Þórður Sigurðarson, who in 1473 sold half of Hagi to his nephew Gísli Filippusson in return for Botn. 12 

Kolsrud, ed., Messuskýringar, pp. 57–64. Wolf, ‘Agǫtu saga IV and V’, pp. 1–24, esp. pp. 19–20. 14  Wolf, ‘A Little Tale about Santa Claus from Medieval Iceland’, pp. 127–33, esp. pp. 129–30. 15  Kirby, Bible Translation in Old Norse, p. 152, ll. 19–33. 16  Arne Magnussons i AM. 435A-B, p. 17. 17  Louis-Jensen, ‘Seg Hallfríði góða nótt’, pp. 149–53, esp. p. 150. The following is a summary of her article and arguments. 18  Diplomatarium Islandicum [henceforth DI], vi, no. 225. 13 

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Louis-Jensen believes that the ‘kiærí faðir’ in the scribal note is Gísli Filippusson and she hypothesizes that the note and, by extension, fols 55r23–62v were written for Gísli Filippusson by one of his sons after Hallfríður had moved to Hagi as a próventukona. She points out that since there was a church at Hagi, Gísli Filippusson may have been interested in acquiring books for the priest and notes that one of Gísli Filippusson’s sons became a priest and later a rural dean at Holt undir Eyjafjöllum.19

The Epitomes in AM 764 4to St  Martha of Bethany: Her legend forms part of the composite legend of Martha and her ‘sister’, St Mary Magdalen. It tells of the two women from Bethany who welcomed Jesus into their home and whose brother, Lazarus, was raised from the dead by Jesus. Mary of Bethany was conflated with two other biblical women in the Middle Ages. Accordingly, the so-called Mǫrtu saga ok Maríu Magðalenu also tells the story of Mary Magdalen, the faithful follower of Jesus out of whom he cast seven demons, and of the unnamed sinner in Luke who anointed Jesus’s feet and dried them with her hair. The saga summarizes the various biblical stories involving the two sisters of Bethany, including the feast at the home of Simon the Pharisee, Jesus’s visit, the raising of Lazarus, Martha’s recognition of Jesus, and the Crucifixion and Resurrection. After the Resurrection, Mary, Martha, and many of Christ’s other disciples were persecuted and ultimately exiled. Mary and Martha, along with Bishop Maximinus 19 

Louis-Jensen, ‘Seg Hallfríði góða nótt’, draws attention to another diploma, AM Dipl. Isl. Fasc. XXXIV, 13 (DI vii 440), written in Saurbær á Rauðasandi in 1500, which supports but also complicates her hypothesis. According to this diploma, Björn Þorleifsson (the younger), turned over the farm Deildará at Skálmarnes to one of Gísli Filippusson’s sons, Helgi Gíslason. In terms of palaeography, AM Dipl. Isl. Fasc. XXIV and AM Dipl. Isl. Fasc. XXXIV, 13 are so similar that they might well be by the same hand, but in terms of orthography, they are quite dissimilar. Her conclusion is that ‘[b]åde lighederne og forskellen mellem de to diplomer kunne imidlertid forklares ved at de var skrevet af to hinanden nærtstående personer, f.eks. af to brødre, eller af lærer og elev. Skriveren af XXXIV, 13 måtte i så tilfælde snarest være Helgi Gíslason selv; og hvis XXIV 22 er med samme hånd som 672(2) måtte disse to skriftstykker være skrevet af en af hans brødre. Muligvis skal man dog regne med tre hænder: tre brødre eller en lærer og hans to elever?’ (Both the similarities and differences between the two diplomas could, however, be explained if they had been written by two closely related people, e.g., by two brothers or by a teacher and his pupil. The writer of XXXIV,13 would in that case probably be Helgi Gíslason himself; and if XXIV,22 is in the same hand as 672(2) these two writings would have been written by one of his brothers. Possibly, one should, however, consider three hands: three brothers or a teacher and his two pupils) (p. 153).

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and other followers of Christ, were put on a ship that drifted to Marseilles, where Mary Magdalen converted the citizens. The saga also details Martha’s time in Tarascon, where she defeated a dragon, resurrected a boy who had drowned, and, after establishing a church, remained for the rest of her life. Mary Magdalen is said to have spent the last thirty years of her life as a hermit in the wilderness, where she was fed only heavenly food and carried up into heaven by angels seven times a day until her death. Martha died shortly afterwards and was visited by the spirit of her sister before her death. After relating the translation of Mary Magdalen’s body, the composite legend gives an account of her post-mortem miracles. The epitome is an extract of chapters 15 and 26 of the saga. They recount miraculous deeds performed by Martha during her years in Tarascon, where she came after the ascension and the dispersion of Christ’s disciples. The first part describes Martha’s defeat of the dragon in Tarascon. The second relates the miraculous out-of-body transportation of Bishop Fronto to Tarascon for Martha’s funeral preparations. There are two redactions of Mǫrtu saga ok Maríu Magðalenu. The first (Mǫrtu saga ok Maríu Magðalenu I) is represented by AM 235 fol. and Stock. Perg. 2 fol., and the second (Mǫrtu saga ok Maríu Magðalenu II) by AM 233a fol. The text is also extant in NRA 79 fragm., which consistently has the closest readings to the Latin sources, and as such may be a direct descendant of the archetype. AM 233a fol. is likely to be a copy of NRA 79 fragm. or of another copy of the archetype, and is the sibling of the exemplar for Stock. Perg. fol. no. 2 and AM 235 fol.20 The saga is based on a wide variety of Latin sources, but it relies most heavily on Vincent de Beauvais’s Speculum historiale, which is the sole Latin source for the section of the saga covered in AM 764 4to. The epitome relates the same legend in both redactions of Mǫrtu saga ok Maríu Magðalenu, but the material is condensed. Specifically, in its resumé of chapter 26, AM 764 4to omits the scene found in both redactions, where Bishop Fronto sends men to retrieve the gilded mass gloves (messuglófa gullbúna21), which he left in Tarascon during the funeral services he performed for Martha as proof that the Lord transported him there. Also not included is the explanatory half of a miracle, in which Fronto recalls how in Tarascon a learned man from the area showed him a book, on which every page had a Latin verse testifying to Martha’s sanctity. Although abbreviated, the text is clearly related to that found in the main witnesses of both redactions of 20  21 

Van Deusen, ed., The Saga of the Sister Saints, pp. 65–66. Van Deusen, ed., The Saga of the Sister Saints, pp. 180–81.

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Mǫrtu saga ok Maríu Magðalenu. The following example shows that the text of AM 764 4to is virtually identical with that of both redactions: 764: tenn hans uoru huassar sem suerdz oddar. fax hafdi hann mikid sem hestr huass kambr geck a baki honum sem breídauxar egg. (15v14–15) Stock 2: Tenn hans vorv hvassar sem sverds oddar fax hafdi hann mikít sem hestr hvass kambr geck eptir baaki hans. sem breid o᾽xar egg. (70va2–5) 235: tenn hans voru huassar sem suerðzodðar. fax hafdi hann mikit sem hestr. huarss kambr gek eptir baki hans. sem breið o᾽xar egg. (25ra9–11) 233a: Ten hans voru huassar sem suerdz oddar Fax hafdi hann mikit sem hestr. huass kampr gekk eptir baki hans sem breid o᾽xar eg. (22vb33–35)22

At times, AM 764 4to shows a closer affinity to Mǫ rtu saga ok Maríu Magðalenu II. One of the most striking examples — especially when compared to the Latin source text, Speculum historiale — is where AM 764 4to and AM 233a fol. only have ‘e(ða) huadan hann uærí’ (corresponding to the Latin ‘vel vnde’): Latin: Postquam, inquit, eam sepulchro tradidimus; ab ecclesia iam exeuntes; nos insecutus est, quidam frater eiusdem loci litteratus, & interrogauit Dominum quis esset? vel vnde, vel quo nomine censeretur? (p. 360) 764: hann sagdi ok at þa er þeir geingu brott or kirkiunní spurdi eínn brodir þess stadar sialfan drottínn huerr hann uæri e(da) hu`a´dan hann uæri e(da) huert nafn hann ætti. (15v39–16r1) 233a: Hinn sæli fronto sagði bræðrum. þa er hann giorði minning þessarar sælu konu marthe. at þa er þeir ho᾽fdu hana j gro᾽f lagit. ok þeir gengu or kirkiunni. spurdi einn bok lærðr brodir þess stadar. sa er okkr fylgdi af kirkiunni. sialfan drottin huerr hann værí e(ða) huadan hann uærí e(ða) huert nafn hann ætti. (24vb2–6) Stock 2: hín sæli fronto sagdi ok brædrvm þa er hann giordi mínníng þessarar sælo konv marthe. ath þa er þeir ho᾽fdu hana j grauf lagit ok þeir gengu wr kirkíunní. spurdi eínn boklærdr brodir þess stadar sa er ockr fylgdi. af kirkíunní sialfan drottínn hverr hann wæri eda hvert nafn hans ættí. (71vb41–72ra4) 22 

764: Its teeth were sharp, like the points of a sword. It had a great mane, like a horse. A sharp ridge ran down the back on it, like the broad edge of an axe. Stock 2: Its teeth were sharp, like the points of a sword. It had a great mane, like a horse. A sharp ridge ran down its back, like the broad edge of an axe. 235: Its teeth were sharp, like the points of a sword. It had a great mane, like a horse. A sharp ridge ran down its back, like the broad edge of an axe. 233a: Its teeth were sharp, like the points of a sword. It had a great mane, like a horse. A sharp ridge ran down its back, like the broad edge of an axe.

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235: hinn sęla fronto sagdi ok bredrum þa er hann gerdi minning. hinar sęlu marthe þa er þeir hofdu hana i gro᾽f lagit ok þeir gengu vr kirkiunni. spurdi einn boklęrdr brodir. þess stadar sa er okr fylgdi af kirkiu. siolfan drotin huerr hann væri. eda huert nafn hann e᾽tti. (27vb6–10)23

Often, however, AM 764 4to shows an equal, if not slightly closer, affinity to the Latin and Mǫrtu saga ok Maríu Magðalenu I: Latin: apparuit Dominus dicens ei: Dilecte mi Fronto si vis implere, quæ hospitæ nostræ Marthæ pollicitus es, veni festinanter ad eius exequias complendas, & sequere me. (p. 360) 764: i þeim suefní uítradiz honum sialfr gud ok m(ællti) mín elskuligr uín fronto ef þu uilt ennda þítt firir heít þat sem þu hez ´hus`fru uarrí marthe far nu skíotliga at ueíta henni grauptr ok fylg mer (15v31–33) Stock 2: J þeim sefní vítradiz honvm sialfr drottínn ihesvs kristr. svo mælandi. Mínn elsku