Literary Activity and Ecclesiastical Authority in Medieval Iceland: The Old Norse Reception of St Ambrose of Milan and his Exemplary Role in Bishops’ Sagas
This thesis investigates the literary and socio-political impact of the Church’s struggle for *libertas ecclesiae* in the medieval Icelandic Church. I argue that hagiography –in the form of Saints’ sagas– constituted an instrument to promote Gregorian ideals of ecclesiastical independence against secular chieftains from the late twelfth century to the early fourteenth century. As a case study, I focus on the reception of St Ambrose of Milan (374–97), a fundamental theologian in Western Christianity and a skilful diplomat who promoted the superiority of the Late Antique Church over secular interference while simultaneously securing for the Church the support of the Roman Empire. I argue that *Ambrósíuss saga biskups* constituted a source of legitimation in the composition of the sagas of those bishops who successfully fought to free the Icelandic Church from secular control during the *staðamál*, the struggle between clergy and laity for the control over church properties. To evaluate the importance of a seemingly distant saint in the history of the medieval Icelandic Church, I approach the question from an interdisciplinary perspective. Chapter One deals with the presence and cult of St Ambrose in medieval Iceland, from the late twelfth century until the Reformation. Contrary to what has been concluded by previous scholars, evidence from church dedications and ecclesiastical documents demonstrates that devotion to the saint did not falter, and that mentions of Ambrose in secular sagas and historical records suggest that the Icelanders were not unfamiliar with his figure and his importance in the history of the Church. Chapter Two provides background information on the manuscript tradition and narrative structure of *Ambrósíuss saga*. Central to the analysis is the additional material that differentiates *Ambrósíuss saga* from its base text, Paulinus’ *Vita Ambrosii* (BHL 377). I argue that inclusion of this material was meant to delineate a precedent of episcopal authority that could be offered to the Icelandic clergy against secular interference. In Chapter Three, a survey of Latin texts from Continental Europe and medieval Scandinavia shows that recourse to St Ambrose’s exemplary model was a current instrument of legitimation for the militant Church. In this context, *Ambrósíuss saga* represents the northernmost example of a trend of reworking of the saint’s hagiography that was first elaborated at the time of the Gregorian Reform to respond to particular purposes of ecclesiastical policy. Chapters Four, Five, and Six deal with three Icelandic bishops whose saga traditions associate them with St Ambrose and who were leading figures in the controversy between *regnum* and *sacerdotium* in thirteenth-century Iceland: Þorlákr Þórhallson of Skálholt (1178–93), Guðmundr Arason of Hólar (1203–37) and Árni Þorláksson of Skálholt (1269–98). The comparison of the political contexts of their episcopates and their relations with secular leaders shows that the careers of the bishop saints and his Icelandic colleagues share important similarities. These *Biskupa sögur* (‘Bishops’ sagas’) too show similar narrative patterns, where the representation of the bishops is moulded on the exemplary role of the mighty confessor, who is often mentioned as a direct parallel. This comparative analysis demonstrates that, like other ecclesiastical authors on the Continent before them, saga authors referred to the episcopal model elaborated in *Ambrósíuss saga* in order to confer legitimation and prestige on the acts of those bishops who had fought for the victory of the Church against secular interference in the *staðamál*. Overall, my dissertation demonstrates that St Ambrose played a central role in the ecclesiastical politics of the Middle Ages beyond geographical and chronological constraints. Taken as a source of legitimation, the authoritative model elaborated in the saga represented a bridge between Iceland’s peripheral position and Rome. With *Ambrósíuss saga* ecclesiastical authors elaborated the concept of episcopal authority into an instrument of the universal Church, and in the *Biskupa sögur* they employed Ambrose’s example to legitimise the local clergy in their fight for the independence of the Church from secular chieftains.
Ambrose, church history, Hagiography, Old Norse, Scandinavia
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