Páls saga is the life of Bishop Páll Jónsson of Skálholt (1195 to 1211), of the Oddaverjar, and tells how he had the churches and priests of his diocese counted, about 220 churches and 290 priests, how he furthered the cult of his uncle Þorlákr, whose relics were raised in 1198 and whose feast the Althing adopted in 1199, and how he dealt with the chieftains. The oldest Guðmundar saga covers Guðmundr Arason's priesthood before his election to Hólar in 1201. Together with Þorláks saga and the translation of Bishop Jón of Hólar in 1200 they give the Icelandic church as it stood on 1 January 1200.
About this source
- Title
- Páls saga biskups; Guðmundar saga biskups (hin elzta); Þorláks saga; Biskupa sögur
- Author
- Anonymous
- Author's dates
- Skálholt and Hólar clerics; Páls saga by a man close to Bishop Páll
- Written
- Páls saga about 1211 to 1216; Þorláks saga about 1200 to 1210; the oldest Guðmundar saga in the 13th century
- Language
- Old Norse
- Covers
- 11th century to 1237; Páls saga 1195 to 1211
- Kind
- Biography
No English translation of Páls saga or the oldest Guðmundar saga was found online. The Internet Archive item is a community upload without bibliographic data.
Where to read it
Editions
- Biskupa sögur, 2 vols (Copenhagen 1858 to 1878), published by the Icelandic Literary Society; vol. 1 contains Hungrvaka, Þorláks saga, Páls saga, Jóns saga and the oldest Guðmundar saga; community scan at the Internet Archive
- Guðni Jónsson (ed.), Byskupa sögur, 3 vols (Reykjavík 1948); index page at heimskringla.no (texts not yet transcribed)
- Ásdís Egilsdóttir (ed.), Biskupa sögur II, Íslenzk fornrit 16 (Reykjavík 2002), with Páls saga; not free (not freely online)