Conference Proceedings by Davide Salmoiraghi
XXII Seminario avanzato in Filologia germanica GLOSSE E GLOSSARI NEL MEDIOEVO GERMANICO a cura di Carla Falluomini, 2024
This paper deals with the redaction of Ambrósíuss saga biskups that is preserved in the sixteenth... more This paper deals with the redaction of Ambrósíuss saga biskups that is preserved in the sixteenth-century legendary known as Reykjahólabók and discusses its composition and sources. It argues that the saga is an updated version of a late-thirteenth century Old Norse version, which has been expanded with material that comes from the Low German sources that the compiler of the manuscript, Björn Þorleifsson (c. 1480-1548/54), used to compose most of the hagiographies of the compilation. It also argues that the saga has been refashioned according to the writing style that Björn uses in translating the Low German material in other texts.
Il Bene e il Male nel Medioevo Germanico , 2024
Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles by Davide Salmoiraghi
Collegium Medievale, 2025
This article studies instances of divine retribution performed by God through his bishops in medi... more This article studies instances of divine retribution performed by God through his bishops in medieval Scandinavia. It focuses on the miracles performed by the bishops of Iceland-both saints and non-saints-as recorded in the Biskupa sögur and the miracle collections of the native bishop saints. Such divine retributions can be admonitory acts whose effects are not permanent, as well as supernatural retaliations with permanent effects. While scholars generally agree on the benign nature of the bishop saints of Iceland in comparison to their colleagues on the Continent (Whaley 1994), this study draws the attention to a large number of miraculous punishments than those considered so far. This overview thus unveils the multifaceted nature of the ecclesiastical officials of the northern world and questions the various purposes pursued by saga authors in including these miracles in their narratives.
Literary Encyclopedia, 2025
Studies in Church History 61, 2025
n 1053, the archdiocese of Hamburg-Bremen became patriarchate of the North as part of a process o... more n 1053, the archdiocese of Hamburg-Bremen became patriarchate of the North as part of a process of centralization with which the Curia sought control over Scandinavia and the North Atlantic. Although these ambitions risked being cut short by the German archbishops, who aspired to larger margins of independence, Gregory VII (1073–85) was able to secure the Icelandic diocese of Skálholt as a supporter of Roman reforming ideals. Bishop Gizurr Ísleifsson (1082–1118) maintained direct contacts with the Curia and organized the Icelandic church as a loyal Gregorian agent. In the absence of royal and archepiscopal authority in Iceland, Gizurr was considered ‘king and bishop over the country’: arguably, the pontiff of his own diocese. Through the analysis of Latin and Norse sources, this article explores how Gregorian ideals reached Iceland during the Investiture Controversy and how papal supremacy was built into the foundations of the northernmost diocese of Christendom.
https://doi.org/10.1017/stc.2024.36
https://doi.org/10.1017/stc.2024.36
Viking and Medieval Scandinavia, 2023
This article examines the attribution of Ambrósíuss saga biskups to Gunnlaugr Leifsson based on t... more This article examines the attribution of Ambrósíuss saga biskups to Gunnlaugr Leifsson based on the reference to the monk’s composition of a nova historia sancti Ambrosii contained in Arngrímr Brandsson’s Guðmundar saga. The article assesses the nature of the historia in question, the reliability of the episode the reference is found in, and the motives behind its composition. By analysing the narrative context of the bishop’s saga and the meaning of the term 'historia' in fourteenth-century Iceland, the expression in Guðmundar saga does not point to a prose work, but rather to a rhymed office of the saint, excluding the attribution of Ambrósíuss saga to Gunnlaugr. An intertextual analysis between the bishop’s saga, Bergr Sokkason’s Nikuláss saga erkibiskups (II), and Vincent of Beauvais’ Speculum Historiale shows that the 'historia' episode in Guðmundar saga is modelled on a similar scene that is ultimately drawn from the Latin universal history via the saint’s saga. The differences between the source and saga show that Arngrímr made conscious adaptations that served the purpose of his narrative. In the author’s plan, I argue that the reference to Ambrose, together with the presence of Gunnlaugr bestowed reliability to an episode that probably never happened and suggested the presence of a text that not only does not concide with Ambrósíuss saga, but also that probably never was.
The Literary Encyclopaedia , 2023
The anonymous Old Norse-Icelandic saga of Dámusti [Dámusta saga] belongs to the genre of original... more The anonymous Old Norse-Icelandic saga of Dámusti [Dámusta saga] belongs to the genre of original chivalric sagas (riddarasögur), Märchensaga [folktale saga] or lygisögur [lie-sagas], stories of knights set in exotic lands and characterized by a strong fabulous element, which are believed to originate in the late fourteenth century. The saga is extant in nineteen manuscripts, the oldest extant manuscript located in the Safn Árna Magnússonar in Reykjavík, AM 557 fol. (c. 1420-1450). There are three versions of the saga: a fourteenth-century version, an abridged version from the seventeenth century, and a summary that was written in the late eighteenth century. There also exist two eighteenth-century Swedish translations of the saga and a rímur version, known as Söguþáttr af Jóni Upplendingakonungi (Finnur Jónsson 1905-22).
![Research paper thumbnail of Anonymous: Árna saga biskups [The saga of Bishop Árni]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/106130427/thumbnails/1.jpg)
The Literary Encyclopaedia , 2023
Árna saga biskups [The saga of Bishop Árni] belongs to the genre of Old Norse-Icelandic literatur... more 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 or the patronage of the text (for opposite views, see Magnús Stefánsson and Gunhild Stefánsson 2007).
[Entry] The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.3.4: Icelandic Writing and Culture.
The Journal of English and Germanic Philology 122, 2023
Book Chapters by Davide Salmoiraghi
Celui qui parle, c’est aussi important! Forme e declinazioni della funzione-autore tra linguistica, filologia e letteratura, ed. by D. Capelli, B. Del Buono, E. Gallo, and E. Pepponi (Trieste: Edizioni Università di Trieste, 2023), pp. 21–43, 2023
Books by Davide Salmoiraghi
Edizioni Ca' Foscari, Scandinavica Venetiana 2, 2024
Dámusta saga belongs to the genre of original riddarasögur, the chivalric literature of medieval... more Dámusta saga belongs to the genre of original riddarasögur, the chivalric literature of medieval Iceland. The saga was likely composed sometime in the late fourteenth cen- tury and is extant in some twenty manuscripts and three versions. The story is set at the court of Constantinople and tells of Dámusti, a pious knight especially devout to the Virgin Mary: of his love for the emperor’s daughter, the fair Gratiana, and of the sin he commits for the sake of her love. This work represents the first Italian translation of Dámusta saga and the first study wholly devoted to the text since 1937. The study opens with an overview of the Norse literary system and the riddarasögur as a genre, from which the saga is set apart due to the centrality of the religious component as a driving force in the narrative. While scholars have been at odds in explaining how the saga justifies Dámusti’s salvation by the direct intercession of the Virgin despite his sin, this study argues for the coherence of the hero’s actions in light of the parable of sin and repentance that lies at the core of the saga. Through the discussion of parallels with European chivalric literature and Norse religious texts, the study demonstrates that this component is the supporting structure of a narrative which is in turn a tale of chivalric adventure and an example of penitential literature. The discussion of the manuscript tradition of the saga and of the codex of the version translated here (Reykjavík, Safn Jóns Sigurðssonar, JS 27 fol. (1670), ff. 314v-329r) is followed by an overview of the other versions of the story that transmits Dámusti’s adventure and demonstrates its success beyond the medieval period. The translation of Dámusta saga is based on the oldest complete manuscript. The facing Old Norse text is accompanied by a selection of significant variants chosen from other witnesses of the manuscript tradition.