Árna saga biskups [The saga of Bishop Árni] belongs to the genre of Old Norse-Icelandic literature known as ‘biskupa sögur’ [Bishops’ sagas] and tells the story of the life and episcopal career of Árni Þorlásson, who was bishop of Skálholt, the southern diocese of Iceland, between 1269 and 1298. Árna saga biskups is preserved in forty manuscripts and manuscript fragments. Its popularity is primarily due to the saga’s inclusion in the principal fourteenth-century manuscript that contains Sturlunga saga, in Safn Árna Magnússonar, AM 122b fol. (c. 1350–1360), from which all known versions of the saga derive. Árna saga was composed in living memory of Bishop Árni, because of first-hand experience, and scholars agree in identifying Árni Helgason (1304–1320), Árni’s nephew and successor to the bishop’s see at Skálholt, as a possible candidate for the authorship...
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Citation: Salmoraighi, Davide. "Árna saga biskups". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 20 September 2023 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=40796, accessed 14 December 2025.]
