Árni Lárentíusson (or Laurentiusson) is one of the few medieval Icelandic prose writers known by name, known to have translated ''
Dunstanus saga''.
Life
Árni was born in 1304, the son of
Lárentíus Kálfsson
Lárentíus Kálfsson (medieval Icelandic Laurentius Kálfsson; 10 August 1267 – 16 April 1331) was bishop of the northern Icelandic diocese of Hólar 1324–31.
Laurentius studied first with Þórarinn kaggi, his maternal uncle, in Vellir in ...
and his Norwegian concubine Þuríðr Árnadóttir af Borgundi. His biography is known largely from
Einarr Hafliðason's biography of Lárentíus, ''
Laurentius saga''. After spending his childhood in Norway, Árni joined his father in Icelandic in 1315 and 1317, Árni and his father became monks at the monastery of
Þingeyraklaustur
Þingeyraklaustur was a monastery of the Order of Saint Benedict located in Þingeyrar on Iceland from 1133 until 1551. It was the first monastery in Iceland and probably the last to be closed by the Icelandic Reformation.
History
The monastery ...
, alongside the translator
Bergr Sokkason, whose prose style seems to have influenced Árni's. Árni was consecrated by
Jón Halldórsson
Jón Halldórsson, OP (; – 2 February 1339) was a Norwegian Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of Iceland from 1322 to 1339. He previously served in the Diocese of Skálholt and was a member of the Dominican Order
The Order of Pre ...
, bishop of Skálholt, around 1325, and subsequently worked for his father, who by then was the bishop of
Hólar
Hólar (; also Hólar í Hjaltadal ) is a small community in the Skagafjörður district of northern Iceland.
Location
Hólar is in the valley Hjaltadalur, some from the national capital of Reykjavík. It has a population of around 100. It is t ...
. After this point, Árni's biography becomes obscure: it seems that Árni's behaviour won the disapproval of both his father and his father's biographer. It seems from a letter of 1337 sent from the monastery at
Nidaros
Nidaros, Niðarós or Niðaróss () was the medieval name of Trondheim when it was the capital of Norway's first Christian kings. It was named for its position at the mouth (Old Norse: ''óss'') of the River Nid (the present-day Nidelva).
Althou ...
to
Petrus Filipsson that Árni was at that time back in Norway and was seeking to work as a Dominican preacher in
Jämtland
Jämtland () is a historical provinces of Sweden, province () in the centre of Sweden in northern Europe. It borders Härjedalen and Medelpad to the south, Ångermanland to the east, Lapland, Sweden, Lapland to the north and Trøndelag and Norw ...
. No more is known of Árni's activities.
Works
Árni can be said to have been part of the
North Icelandic Benedictine School
The North Icelandic Benedictine School (''Norðlenski Benediktskólinn'') is a fourteenth-century Icelandic literary movement, the lives, activities, and relationships of whose members are attested particularly by '' Laurentius saga biskups''. Thi ...
, and to have been 'among the most productive, if not the most productive, scribes both in the north of Iceland and in Iceland as a whole'. In the words of ''Laurentius saga'', '' ('Brother Árni was the best scholar and poet, and taught many scholars'). He was the author of ''Dunstanus saga'', perhaps fairly early in his ecclesiastical career: in Fell's analysis, 'the enthusiasm and carelessness of the writing, the eagerness to display irrelevant knowledge, and the uncertain hovering between precise translation and rhetorical flourish, suggest that the ''Dunstanus Saga'' was an early work, and may even have been an experimental one'. Árni is also thought possibly to be the author of ''
Jóns saga helga''.
[Karl G. Johansson, 'Bergr Sokkason och Arngrímur Brandsson – översättare och författare i samma miljö', in ''Old Norse Myths, Literature and Society: Proceedings of the 11th International Saga Conference, 2–7 July 2000, University of Sydney'', ed. by Geraldine Barnes and ]Margaret Clunies Ross
Margaret Beryl Clunies Ross (born 24 April 1942) is a medievalist who was until her retirement in 2009 the McCaughey Professor of English Language and Early English Literature and Director of the Centre for Medieval Studies at the University of S ...
(Sydney: The University of Sydney
The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...
, Centre for Medieval Studies, 2000), pp. 181-97 (p. 186), rp-www.arts.usyd.edu.au/arts/.../181-johansson.pdf.
See also
*
List of Icelandic writers
Iceland has a rich literary history, which has carried on into the modern period.
Some of the best known examples of Icelandic literature are the Sagas of Icelanders. These are prose narratives based on historical events that took place in Icela ...
*
Icelandic literature
Icelandic literature refers to literature written in Iceland or by Icelandic people. It is best known for the sagas written in medieval times, starting in the 13th century. As Icelandic and Old Norse are almost the same, and because Icelandic wo ...
References
Sources
*Karl G. Johansson, 'Bergr Sokkason och Arngrímur Brandsson – översättare och författare i samma miljö', in ''Old Norse Myths, Literature and Society: Proceedings of the 11th International Saga Conference, 2–7 July 2000, University of Sydney'', ed. by Geraldine Barnes and Margaret Clunies Ross (Sydney: The University of Sydney, Centre for Medieval Studies, 2000), pp. 181–97, rp-www.arts.usyd.edu.au/arts/.../181-johansson.pdf.
*''Dunstanus Saga'', ed. by C. E. Fell, Editiones Arnamagnaeanae, Series B, 5 (Copenhagen: Reitzel, 1963), pp. lix-lxiv.
*Peter Foote, ' ''Jóns saga helga'' ', in ''Kristni saga; Kristni þættir; Jóns saga ins helga'', ed. by Sigurgeir Steingrímsson, Ólafur Halldórsson, and Peter Foote, Íslenzk fornrit, 15 (Reykjavík: Hið Íslenzka Fornritafélag, 2003), pp. ccxiii-cccxxi (p. ccxxix-ccxxxiii).
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arni Larentiusson
Icelandic writers
14th-century writers
14th-century Icelandic people