Bishops in Early Iceland

The field of Old Norse-Icelandic studies welcomes Theodore M. Andersson’s English translation of three bishops’ sagas and one tale. The narratives in question are Hungrvaka, Páls saga byskups, Oddaverja þáttr, and Prestssaga Guðmundar góða. The volume thus supplements those bishops’ sagas that are already available in English translation (Þorláks saga byskups and Jóns saga helga). The four translations are based on authoritative, scholarly editions, that is, those of Ásdís Egilsdóttir in Biskupa sögur II (Hungrvaka, Páls saga byskups, and Oddaverja þáttr) and Jón Jóhannesson, Magnús Finnbogason, and Kristján Eldjárn in Sturlunga saga (Prestssaga Guðmundar góða).

The translations are prefaced by an introduction, in which each work is discussed in turn. Not surprisingly, Hungrvaka comes first, as it seems to be designed as a kind of introduction and to create a hunger for more information (hence, the title of the work, literally “hunger-waker,” though Andersson translates the title as “foretaste”). In his introduction to Hungrvaka, Andersson treats its composition, which in his view, “suffers from a certain repetitive uniformity” (p. viii), and he discusses the uniformly eulogistic tone of the biographical sketches of the five bishops. He summarizes the list of adjectives utilized to characterize each bishop and concludes that “they describe the qualities that make the bishops good leaders but also enable them to be on good terms with their flock. The focus is on social qualities” (p. x). Andersson compares Hungrvaka and the bishops’ sagas in general with the Sagas of Icelanders and the kings’ sagas and notes, among other things, the extraordinary attention paid to death and death scenes in the bishops’ sagas: “Death becomes a further test of the victim’s fortitude and patience, an opportunity for the bishop to enhance his distinction and for others to demonstrate their compassion, in other words, an opportunity to reinforce Christian values. The new descriptive vocabulary and the new endurance in the face of death set these sagas apart from the rest of medieval Icelandic literature” (pp. xi–xii).

Next, Páls saga is introduced. As Andersson notes, it is a bit of an outlier among the bishops’ sagas in the sense that it does not include many miracles. It is essentially a biography of a remarkable man and his family, detailing not only their successes, but also their trials and tribulations. Andersson calls it “the most decorative of the bishops’ sagas” (p. xvii) and speculates whether the decoration reflects Bishop Páll’s artistic orientation or the author’s artistic aspirations. He points to instances in the saga that show that the author was intimately acquainted with Bishop Páll’s family and staff and believes that he was an eyewitness to several events, including the drowning of his wife, Herdís, and his daughter Halla and the death of the bishop. He challenges Sveinbjörn Rafnsson’s hypothesis that Bishop Páll’s son Loptr was the author of the saga and that the saga was composed between 1229 and 1235, that is, 20 years after Bishop Páll’s death in 1211, arguing that the details of the story are recorded in fresh memory. He proposes—with good arguments—that Þorlákr, the brother of Bishop Páll’s wife, Herdís, was the author, noting, among other things, that Þorlákr was very attached to his sister and her children and that Bishop Páll was very fond of him.

Oddaverja þáttr, which is found in the B and C redactions of Þorláks saga, has hitherto received relatively little scholarly attention, and so Andersson’s discussion of the tale is particularly valuable. Andersson points out that it is a very good example of saga style and finds it quite unlikely that the biography (Þorláks saga), which is eulogistic and centered on the bishop, and the action-packed tale are from the same hand. He notes, among other things, the frequent use of biblical quotations in the biography and the complete absence of such quotations in the tale. In contrast to previous scholarship on the tale, which postulates that Oddaverja þáttr was a late composition, Andersson argues that it was interpolated early and therefore composed early. In his view, the tale is traditional and evolved into a fully formed narrative that could have been interpolated into redaction B at any time in the thirteenth century. He maintains that “it was not an adjustment of redaction B but a complete narrative added into redaction B” (p. xx).

Most of the introduction to Prestssaga Guðmundar góða is concerned with the dating of the text and its authorship. Lambkárr Þorgilsson, a close associate of Guðmundr’s, has been suggested, but Andersson points out that if indeed Lambkárr is the author, there are some chronological issues: “Lambkárr died in 1240, so that the earliest plausible date for his birth might be c. 1190. That would make him too young (about ten years old) to have been in Guðmundr’s employ around 1200” (p. xxviii). In contrast to previous scholars, who have dated the composition quite early, Andersson argues for a date later than the first decade of the thirteenth century. Among other things, he points to the author’s selection of details and historical events and the style and structure of the saga. Whereas in the earlier bishops’ saga, the miracles are presented as a supplement to the biography, in Prestssaga Guðmundar góða, they are integrated into the biographical narrative, which suggests that the saga is a more advanced composition.

The translation of the four narratives is idiomatic and accurate. This reviewer is especially impressed with the manner in which Andersson successfully tackled the enormously difficult preface to Hungrvaka. Fortunately for Andersson, most of the texts are written in preterite tense, so the tense of verbs required few adjustments on his part, but when the historical present tense occurs in the Old Norse-Icelandic texts, it has been replaced by the preterite tense, which makes the texts more readable. As for proper names, the Old Norse-Icelandic forms have been retained. The only real deviation from the narratives is Andersson’s own chapter headings.

A bibliography of works cited (primary and secondary), an index of personal names, and an index of place names round off the volume.

It is wonderful to finally have English translations of these texts. Both the translations and Andersson’s extraordinarily informative and authoritative introduction to the narratives will no doubt encourage further research on the bishops’ sagas. The general editors of the Viking Society Texts (Alison Finlay and Carl Phelpsted) are to be complimented as well for publishing such a fine volume at a very affordable price.