Saints and their Legacies in Medieval Iceland
Title Details

402 Pages

23.4 x 15.6 cm

9 b/w, 8 line illus.

Series: Studies in Old Norse Literature

Series Vol. Number: 9

Imprint: D.S.Brewer

Saints and their Legacies in Medieval Iceland

Edited by Kirsten Wolf and Dario Bullitta

  • Description
  • Contents
  • Author
  • Reviews
An examination of hagiographical traditions and their impact.

Icelanders venerated numerous saints, both indigenous and from overseas, in the Middle Ages. However, although its literary elite was well acquainted with contemporary Continental currents in hagiographic compositions, theological discussions, and worship practices, much of the history of the learned European networks through which the Icelandic cult of the saints developed and partially survived the Lutheran Reformation remains obscure.
The essays collected in this volume address this lacuna by exploring the legacies of the cult of some of the most prominent saints and holy men in medieval Iceland (the Virgin Mary along with SS Agnes of Rome, Benedict of Nursia, Catherine of Alexandria, Dominic of Caleruega, Michael the Archangel, Jón of Hólar, Þorlákr of Skálholt, Lárentíus of Hólar, and Guðmundr the Good), using evidence drawn from Old Norse-Icelandic and Latin hagiographic literature, homilies, prayers, diplomas, sacred art, place-names, and church dedications. By placing the medieval Icelandic cult of the saints within its wider European context, the contributions trace new historical routes of cultural transmission and define the creative processes of the accommodation and adaptation of foreign hagiographic sources and models in medieval and early modern Iceland. They provide a clear picture of an Icelandic hagiographic literature and culture that celebrates the splendour of the saints; they also show how an engaging literary genre, which became immensely popular on the island throughout the Middle Ages and beyond, was created.
List of Illustrations
Notes on Contributors
Acknowledgements
List of Abbreviations

1 Introduction: The Splendor of the Saints
DARIO BULLITTA
Rannsǫkun heilagra bóka: The Search for Holy Books
2 Medieval Icelandic Hagiography: The State of the Art
KIRSTEN WOLF
3 An Old Norse Adaptation of an All Saints Sermon by Maurice de Sully
STEPHEN PELLE
4 The Tuscan Provenance of Framfǫr Maríu
DARIO BULLITTA
Heilagir byskupar: Holy Bishops
5 Latin Oratory at the Edge of the World: The Fragments of Gizurr Hallsson's *Gesta Scalotensis ecclesie presulum and the *Vita sancti Thorlaci
GOTTSKÁLK JENSSON
6 Three Scenes from Jóns saga helga: A Typological Mode of Thought in Early Icelandic Hagiography
HAKI ANTONSSON
7 Lárentíus saga byskups: Between History and Historiography
FULVIO FERRARI
8 Remembering Saints and Bishops in Medieval Iceland
ÁSDÍS EGILSDÓTTIR
Heilagir karlar ok englar: Holy Men and Angels
9 Þat vóro lavg munka: A Reading of Benedikts saga in Light of the Regula sancti Benedicti
MAURO CAMIZ
10 The Lore of St Dominic in Medieval Iceland and Norway
SIMONETTA BATTISTA
11 The Veneration of St Michael in Medieval Iceland
MARGARET CORMACK
Heilagar meyjar: Holy Maidens
12 Katrínarhólar: St Catherine's Hills, Milk, and Mount Sinai
HELGI ÞORLÁKSSON
13 St Agnes of Rome in Late Medieval and Early Modern Icelandic Verse
NATALIE M. VAN DEUSEN

Bibliography
Index of Manuscripts
General Index

KIRSTEN WOLF is the Birgit Baldwin Professor in the Department of German, Nordic, and Slavic at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

DARIO BULLITTA is Assistant Professor in Germanic Philology in the Department of Humanities at the University of Turin.

"This collection, though, certainly counts as fine work: it is a wonderful testimony to
the vibrancy of recent research on the cults of saints in Iceland and its potential for giving us
new insights into literary culture both in the early twelfth century and into the Reformation
and beyond." Siân Grønlie, Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies

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9781843846116

July 2021

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9781800101999

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Title Details

402 Pages

2.34 x 1.56 cm

9 b/w, 8 line illus.

Series: Studies in Old Norse Literature

Series Vol. Number: 9

Imprint: D.S.Brewer