Бируля М. А. Саги о святом епископе Торлаке сыне Торхалля: краткий обзор изданий и переводов [Электронный ресурс] // Vox medii aevi. 2018. Vol. 2(3). С. 227–239. URL: https://voxmediiaevi.com/2018-2-birulya
DOI: 10.24411/2587-6619-2018-00023
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Margarita Birulya
Master Student of The Institute of slavic and baltic philology, Eötvös Loránd University (Budapest, Hungary)
birulya-zakamskaya@yandex.ru
The Sagas of Saint Bishop Thorlak Thorhallson: an Overview of the Editions and Translations
The Icelandic sagas are one of the most extensive groups of sources on the history of the island in the Middle Ages. By content, they can be divided into several types, but for the current article the most interesting are the so-called Sagas about the bishops. Among those, one can distinguish the sagas about Thorlak Thorhallsson (1133–1193, bishop of the diocese in Skalaholt since 1178), one of the most important figures in the Icelandic history. He was the only of the Icelandic clergymen and hierarchs whose merits were recognized by the Roman Catholic Church — on January 14, 1984 he was formally canonized. The most complete information about him is contained in Saga Þorláks biskups hin elzta and Oddaverja-Þáttr, published in the collection Byskupa so̜gur. Saga Þorláks biskups hin elzta was probably written as an analogue of the European lives of saints, in order to justify the sanctity of Bishop Thorlak for the his subsequent canonization. Oddaverja-Þáttr might have been created for a different purpose — one of the possible motives was to support Thorlak in his conflict with the head of the clan Oddi — Jón Loftsson. The first publication of the sagas was in 1858; the last was in 2013. It is thus obvious that the sources are still of interest to the researchers. These sources have been chosen for the current article because they provide the most complete evidence on the life of Bishop Thorlak, recorded in a form of a saga, so characteristic for Iceland.
Key words: Iceland; Church history; Sagas about Bishops; Saint Thorlak; Thorlak Thorhallson.