Anonymous, Árna saga biskups [The saga of Bishop Árni]

Davide Salmoraighi (University of Cambridge)

Ed. by Ármann Jakobsson, University of Iceland
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.3.4: Icelandic Writing and Culture.
Vol. editors: Ármann Jakobsson (University of Iceland), Kjerstin Moody (Gustavus Adolphus College), Sven Hakon Rossel (Universitat Wien), Herbert Rowland (Purdue University), Jakob Stougaard-Nielsen (University College London)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1350 - 1360

Places

Iceland (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Prose Fiction Narrative

Resources

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Árna saga biskups

[

The saga of Bishop Árni

] belongs to the genre of Old Norse-Icelandic literature known as ‘biskupa sögur’ [Bishops’ sagas] and tells the story of the life and episcopal career of Árni Þorlásson, who was bishop of Skálholt, the southern diocese of Iceland, between 1269 and 1298.

Árna saga biskups

is preserved in forty manuscripts and manuscript fragments. Its popularity is primarily due to the saga’s inclusion in the principal fourteenth-century manuscript that contains

Sturlunga saga

, in Safn Árna Magnússonar, AM 122b fol. (c. 1350–1360), from which all known versions of the saga derive.

Árna saga

was composed in living memory of Bishop Árni, because of first-hand experience, and scholars agree in identifying Árni Helgason (1304–1320), Árni’s…

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1096 words

Citation: Salmoraighi, Davide. "Árna saga biskups". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 20 September 2023 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=40796, accessed 11 May 2024.]

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