In 'The Church in Fourteenth-Century Iceland', Erika Sigurdson provides a history of the fourteenth-century Icelandic Church with a focus on the the social status of elite clerics following the introduction of benefices to Iceland. In this period, the elite clergy developed a shared identity based in part on universal clerical values, but also on a shared sense of interdependence, personal networks and connections within the framework of the Church. 'The Church in Fourteenth-Century Iceland' examines the development of this social group through an analysis of bishops' sagas, annals, and documents. In the process, it chronicles major developments in the Icelandic Church after the reforms of the late thirteenth century, including its emphasis on property and land ownership, and the growth of ecclesiastical bureaucracy.
Author(s): Erika Sigurdson
Series: The Northern World. North Europe and the Baltic c. 400-1700 A.D. Peoples, Economies and Cultures, 72
Publisher: Brill
Year: 2016
Language: English
Pages: 218
City: Leiden
Acknowledgements and Spelling Conventions
List of Tables
List of Abbreviations
Introduction
Ecclesiastical History in a Scandinavian Context
Historiography and the ‘Boring’ Fourteenth Century
Methodology and Approaches
1: Iceland in the Fourteenth Century
Iceland and the Kings of Norway
The Aristocracy in Iceland and the Administration of Iceland
The Icelandic Church 1264–1300
Defining the Period
2: Sources and Authorship: The Intellectual Milieu
Contemporary Sagas in a Fourteenth-Century Context
Bishops’ Sagas
'Árna saga'
'Guðmundar saga D' ('Guðmundar saga Arngríms Brandssonar')
'Jóns þáttr Halldórssonar' and Exemplary Material
Annals
'Skálholtsannáll'
'Brot af Skálholtsannáll'
'Lögmannsannáll'
'Flateyjarannáll'
'Gottskálksannáll'
Documentary Sources
Authorship and Intellectual Milieu
3: The Icelandic Church after 1264
Parish and Local Structures
'Staðir'
Monasteries
Jurisdiction
Church Officials within Iceland
Iceland and Niðarós
Foreign Bishops
4: Elite Priests in Iceland
Staðir, Church Centres, and Benefices
Elite Priests in the Norwegian Age (1269–1400)
'Staðir' and Clerical Income
Elite Clerical Social Networks
Archiepiscopal Benefices
Elite Identity: Clerical Identity
Clerical Concubinage, Fostering, and the Children of Clerics
Clerical Violence and Conflict
Conclusion
5: Norway and Elite Icelandic Clerical Identity
Iceland and Niðarós: Introduction
Icelandic Clergy in Norway
Icelandic Perceptions of Norway and Niðarós
Conclusion
Conclusion
Appendices
Appendix 1: Bishops of Skálholt and Hólar, 1056–1550
Appendix 2: The 'officiales' and 'ráðsmenn' of Skálholt and Hólar
Bibliography
Index
