Benedictines, Augustinians, and Dominicans: A Crisis of Icelandic Monasticism, c. 1296–1358

This study draws connections between events which impacted Icelandic monasteries from around the end of the thirteenth to the middle of the fourteenth century. It proposes that these events were largely fueled by the growth of episcopal power in Iceland after the nominal resolution of the staðamál conflict, but that they also drew upon and exacerbated existing tensions between the Augustinian and Benedictine orders on the island. While some of these tensions played out along regional divisions between the northern diocese of Hólar and the southern diocese of Skálholt, the role of Dominicans based in Norwegian houses was also significant. The crisis climaxed when the Augustinian house of Viðey switched over to the Benedictine rule for over a decade, and only returned to its original rule when an Augustinian bishop took over the diocese. On the basis of Icelandic and Norwegian sources, including annals, diplomas, and sagas, it is argued that the change of rule at Viðey was fundamentally tied to clashes between monasteries, bishops, and other parties going back to the end of the thirteenth century, specifically the decision of Bishop Jörundr to bring a southern Icelandic model of monasticism north to Hólar.