Contents Preface Forms of Names and Their Spelling List of Maps, Figures and Tables Notes on Contributors Introduction: a High-Status Farm at Oddi: an Ecclesiastical Centre of Power and Textual Culture Helgi Þorláksson Part 1 Church-Estates (Staðir) and Chieftains (Goðar, Kirkjugoðar) 1 Definitions and Usage of Staðr , Goði , and Kirkjugoði Chris Callow, Helgi Þorláksson and Viðar Pálsson 2 Kirkjugoðar and Staðir : the Control of Private Churches and Benefices in Iceland Chris Callow Part 2 Oddi: Environment and Farming: the Operation of an Estate Farm3 Plants and People in the Medieval Environment of Oddi Egill Erlendsson, Tómas Aron Þórarinsson and Kristborg Þórsdóttir 4 Artificial Caves as Key to the Economy of Early Oddi Kristborg Þórsdóttir 5 Economic Foundations of Oddi, 1100-1400 Árni Freyr Magnússon and Sigurlaugur Ingólfsson Part 3 Textual Culture and Foreign Impact6 Loerðr allra manna bezt : Sæmundr fróði as an Authority and Foundation for Medieval Icelandic Learned Culture Miguel Andrade 7 Sæmundr and the English Kings: Sæmundr fróði Sigfússon and the English Kings in AM 1 e β II fol. Richard North 8 Páll Jónsson and His Two Spouses: the Scion of Oddi and His Sacred Biography Ármann Jakobsson Part 4 Literate Education and Power through Learning and Texts 9 Learning and the Establishment of an Ecclesiastical Staðr at Oddi Viðar Pálsson 10 The 'Southern School of History' and Church Reform in the Early 13th Century Sverrir Jakobsson 11 Chieftain-Clerics at Oddi and Their Learning Helgi Þorláksson Part 5 Two Oddi-Men Mirrored in Written Sources12 The Different Roles of Jón Loptsson Oddur Pálsson 13 Sæmundr Jónsson: a Prince without a Kingdom Auður Magnúsdóttir Part 6 Oddi: Benefice, Church-Buildings, and Learned Priests14 The Learned Grímr Hólmsteinsson, Priest at Oddi Halldís Ármannsdóttir 15 Clerical Culture at Oddi in the 14th Century Gunnar Harðarson 16 Glimpses of the Medieval Church at Oddi Guðrún Harðardóttir 17 Epilogue: Textual Culture in Context Helgi Þorláksson Index.