Dominican Resonances in Medieval Iceland: The Legacy of Bishop Jón Halldórsson of Skálholt

This book explores the life and times of Jón Halldórsson, bishop of Skálholt (1323–39), a Dominican who had studied the liberal arts and canon law in Paris and Bologna, and provides a snapshot with wider implications for understanding of medieval literacy.

In May 2016 the Centre for Medieval Studies at the University of Iceland set out to hold a small conference in Skálholt on the legacy of a medieval bishop who reigned there from 1323 to 1339. The idea for this project originated in a conversation between the two editors of this volume during a coffee break at the 19th Biennial Congress of the New Chaucer Society in Reykjavik in July 2014. The intention was, at first, to compare Franciscan and Dominican influences in Scandinavia through a study of the literary output of Swedish and Norwegian friars who had studied in Paris. As it happened, the project turned to the figure, milieu and influence of the Dominican Jón Halldórsson, who was consecrated bishop of Skálholt in 1322 and whose stories and travels became something of a legend.