The figure of Guðmundr Arason (1161-1237) and especially his role in the history of medieval Iceland has provoked many strong opinions for decades. This book uses a variety of extant written sources to reexamine those views. It discusses a discrepancy between the popularity of the saint as suggested by the sagas and that reflected by other sources. One of the study’s main claims suggests that the clergy from Northern Iceland had a vital impact upon the construction of the cult. A variety of means applied to achieve it demonstrate the authorial knowledge of the vernacular and international traditions, as well as of living conditions in Iceland at the time when the sources were put down in writing.

The figure of Guðmundr Arason (1161-1237) and especially his role in the history of medieval Iceland has provoked many strong opinions for decades. This book uses a variety of extant written sources to reexamine those views. It discusses a discrepancy between the popularity of the saint as suggested by the sagas and that reflected by other sources. One of the study’s main claims suggests that the clergy from Northern Iceland had a vital impact upon the construction of the cult. A variety of means applied to achieve it demonstrate the authorial knowledge of the vernacular and international traditions, as well as of living conditions in Iceland at the time when the sources were put down in writing.