Jarlmanns saga ok Hermanns

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Jarlmanns saga ok Hermanns (also known as Hermanns saga ok Jarlmanns) is a medieval Icelandic romance saga. The saga contains the first written evidence for the Icelandic circle dance form known as hringbrot, [1] which is also the first Icelandic attestation of elves dancing. [2]

Contents

Synopsis

Kalinke and Mitchell summarise the saga thus:

The foster-brothers Hermann (son of the king of Frakkland) and Jarlmann (son of an earl) are of an age and have been educated together. Hermann sends Jarlmann to Miklagarðr to sue for the hand of Ríkilát. She has previously rejected many suitors, but Jarlmann wins her for Hermann by means of a magic ring. She cannot return with Jarlmann, however, until the armed forces of another suitor have been repelled. When the wedding finally takes place, Ríkilát is mysteriously abducted and imprisoned by the old king Rudent of Serkland who plans to marry her. Jarlmann feigns love for Þorbjörg, a giantess who guards Ríkilát, and a double wedding ceremony (Rudent-Ríkilát, Jarlmann-Þorbjörg) ensues. Hermann kills the old king and regains his abducted bride, while Jarlmann kills the giantess in the bridal bed. The foster-brothers and Ríkilát return to Frakkland for a second double wedding ceremony. Jarlmann marries the king's sister Herborg and receives half of the kingdom. [3]

The saga survives in two main versions from the Middle Ages, one more learned in tone (traditionally referred to as the older version) and one more orientated to telling a lively narrative (traditionally referred to as the younger version). Recent scholarship, however, reads the two versions as both deriving from and making changes to an earlier original version. [4] : 19–22 

Influences

Jarlmanns saga ok Hermanns is viewed as a specific and intentional response to Konráðs saga , to which its shorter version contains an explicit reference: it deals, of course, with the hero's relationship with a faithful, though unjustly suspected, companion'. [5] [4] : 18  'The author of Jarlmanns saga ok Hermanns was acquainted not only with indigenous Icelandic romances, such as Konráðs saga , but also with the Old Norse translation Tristrams saga ok Isondar , from which the proxy wooing, the bride as leech, and the problem of the proxy wooer as lover presumably derive. The hall-of-statues episode in Tristrams saga seems to have been the inspiration for the scene in which Jarlmann draws a picture of Hermann for Ríkilát to obtain her consent to the marriage'. [6]

Manuscripts

The saga is attested in more manuscripts than almost any other Icelandic saga, around 70; [6] the only competitor is Mágus saga jarls . [7] There are two main early versions: a generally longer, more highbrow and probably earlier version, first attested in Eggertsbók (AM 556a-b 4to, from the later fifteenth century), and a generally shorter, more dynamic, probably younger version. [8] Recent research suggests, however, that these two versions are probably independent adaptations of a lost common original, rather than the shorter version being adapted from the longer. [9] Most manuscripts are held in Iceland and elsewhere in Europe, though a few, such as Fiske Icelandic Collection, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York: Ic F75 A125, 8° are in North America.

The following list of manuscripts is based on the survey by Kalinke and Mitchell [3] as corrected and expanded by Philip Lavender, [4] and on Handrit.is and the Stories for All Time survey of fornaldarsaga manuscripts. Links to online catalogue entries are provided where available.

LocationClassmarkDateCatalogue Entry URLNotes
Copenhagen, Arnamagnæan Institute AM 167, fol.ca. 1660 https://handrit.is/en/manuscript/view/is/AM02-0167
Copenhagen, Arnamagnæan Institute AM 510, 4to late 15th century https://handrit.is/en/manuscript/view/is/AM04-0510
Copenhagen, Arnamagnæan InstituteAM 529, 4to16th century https://handrit.is/en/manuscript/view/is/AM04-0529 defective
Copenhagen, Arnamagnæan InstituteAM 556b, 4to15th century https://handrit.is/en/manuscript/view/is/AM04-0556b
Copenhagen, Arnamagnæan InstituteAM 576b, 4toca. 1700 https://handrit.is/en/manuscript/view/is/AM04-0576b résumé
Copenhagen, Arnamagnæan InstituteRask 3518th century https://handrit.is/en/manuscript/view/da/Rask035
Copenhagen, Arnamagnæan InstituteRask 7718th century https://handrit.is/en/manuscript/view/Rask077
Copenhagen, Arnamagnæan InstituteRask 95early 19th century https://handrit.is/en/manuscript/view/da/Rask095
Copenhagen, Royal Library NKS 1144, fol.18th centuryrésumé
Copenhagen, Royal LibraryNKS 1156, follate 18th century
Copenhagen, Royal LibraryNKS 1685b, I, 4to19th centuryrésumé
Copenhagen, Royal LibraryNKS 3051, 4toca. 1800
Copenhagen, Royal LibraryNKS 445, 8vo1869
Reykjavík, National Library of Iceland Lbs 325, fol.ca. 1660-80 https://handrit.is/en/manuscript/view/is/Lbs02-0325
Reykjavík, National Library of IcelandLbs 151, 4toca. 1780 https://handrit.is/en/manuscript/view/is/Lbs04-0151
Reykjavík, National Library of IcelandLbs 354, 4to18th century https://handrit.is/en/manuscript/view/is/Lbs04-0354
Reykjavík, National Library of IcelandLbs 360, 4to18th-19th century https://handrit.is/en/manuscript/view/is/Lbs04-0360
Reykjavík, National Library of IcelandLbs 840, 4to1737 https://handrit.is/en/manuscript/view/is/Lbs04-0840
Reykjavík, National Library of IcelandLbs 988, 4to1851-75 https://handrit.is/manuscript/view/is/Lbs04-0988
Reykjavík, National Library of IcelandLbs 1341, 4toca. 1820
Reykjavík, National Library of IcelandLbs 1509, 4to1880-1905 https://handrit.is/en/manuscript/view/is/Lbs04-1509
Reykjavík, National Library of IcelandLbs 1629, 4to18th century https://handrit.is/en/manuscript/view/is/Lbs04-1629
Reykjavík, National Library of IcelandLbs 1635, 4toca. 1860 https://handrit.is/en/manuscript/view/is/Lbs04-1635
Reykjavík, National Library of IcelandLbs 1637, 4toca. 1780
Reykjavík, National Library of IcelandLbs 1785, 4to1833
Reykjavík, National Library of IcelandLbs 1942, 4to1872
Reykjavík, National Library of IcelandLbs 2114, 4to18th-19th century
Reykjavík, National Library of IcelandLbs 2115, 4to18th-19th century
Reykjavík, National Library of IcelandLbs 3022, 4to1876-77
Reykjavík, National Library of IcelandLbs 3122, 4to19th century
Reykjavík, National Library of IcelandLbs 3128, 4to1885 https://handrit.is/en/manuscript/view/is/Lbs04-3128 resumé
Reykjavík, National Library of IcelandLbs 4484, 4to
Reykjavík, National Library of IcelandLbs 4492, 4to1892
Reykjavík, National Library of IcelandLbs 4493, 4to1902-3 https://handrit.is/en/manuscript/view/is/Lbs04-4493
Reykjavík, National Library of IcelandLbs 1446, 8vo1864-71 https://handrit.is/en/manuscript/view/is/Lbs08-1446
Reykjavík, National Library of IcelandLbs 1687, 8voca. 1850 https://handrit.is/en/manuscript/view/is/Lbs08-1687
Reykjavík, National Library of IcelandLbs 1993, 8voca. 1826-35 https://handrit.is/en/manuscript/view/is/Lbs08-1993
Reykjavík, National Library of IcelandLbs 2233, 8vo18th-19th centurydefective
Reykjavík, National Library of IcelandLbs 2497, 8voca. 1902
Reykjavík, National Library of IcelandLbs 2975, 8vo19th century
Reykjavík, National Library of IcelandLbs 3933, 8vo1851
Reykjavík, National Library of IcelandLbs 3940, 8vo1887
Reykjavík, National Library of IcelandLbs 4009, 8vo1896
Reykjavík, National Library of IcelandLbs 4069, 8vo1879
Reykjavík, National Library of IcelandLbs 4729 8vo1903 https://handrit.is/en/manuscript/view/is/Lbs08-4729
Reykjavík, National Library of IcelandLbs 5175 4to [10] 1899-1903 https://handrit.is/en/manuscript/view/is/Lbs04-5175
Reykjavík, National Library of IcelandLbs 5186 4to1899-1903 https://handrit.is/en/manuscript/view/is/Lbs04-5186
Reykjavík, National Library of IcelandLbs 5769 4to1912 https://handrit.is/manuscript/view/is/Lbs04-5769 formerly Böðvar Kvaran, Tjaldanes MS III 4.b
Reykjavík, National Library of IcelandJS 623, 4to17th-19th century https://handrit.is/en/manuscript/view/is/JS04-0623
Reykjavík, National Library of IcelandJS 634, 4to17th-19th century https://handrit.is/en/manuscript/view/is/JS04-0634
Reykjavík, National Library of IcelandJS 635, 4to17th-19th century https://handrit.is/en/manuscript/view/is/JS04-0635
Reykjavík, National Library of IcelandÍB 206, 4toca. 1830 https://handrit.is/en/manuscript/view/is/IB04-0206 resumé of Guðmundur Bergþórsson's rímur version
Reykjavík, National Library of IcelandÍB 271, 4toca. 1800 https://handrit.is/en/manuscript/view/is/IB04-0271
Reykjavík, National Library of IcelandÍB 423, 4toca. 1750 https://handrit.is/en/manuscript/view/is/IB04-0423
Reykjavík, National Library of IcelandÍB 426, 4to1877 https://handrit.is/en/manuscript/view/is/IB04-0426
Reykjavík, National Library of IcelandÍB 185, 8voca. 1770
Reykjavík, National Library of IcelandÍB 224, 8voca. 1750 https://handrit.is/en/manuscript/view/is/IB08-0224
Reykjavík, National Library of IcelandÍB 260, 8voca. 1824-27 https://handrit.is/en/manuscript/view/is/IB08-0260
Reykjavík, National Library of IcelandÍBR 59, 4to1798
Reykjavík, National Library of IcelandÍBR 43, 8to1851
Reykjavík, National Museum of Iceland Ásbúðarsafn: "Fornar riddera og æfintýra sögur skrifaðar af Þorsteini M. Jónssyni"1902
Jón Ófeigsson, Hafarnes, Hornafjörður MS II1901
Bragi Húnfjörður, Stykkishólmur MS 1, 8vo
Bergen, University of Bergen UBB MS. 1491ca. 1700 https://fasnl.net/manuscripts/7; https://marcus.uib.no/instance/manuscript/ubb-ms-1491.html
Oslo, University of Oslo Library UB 1158, 8volate 19th - early 20th century https://sprogsamlinger.ku.dk/q.php?p=ds/hjem/billed/82731
Lund, University Library LUB 14, 4tomid-18th century
Stockholm, National Archives I Papp. 1118th century https://fasnl.net/manuscripts/672
Stockholm, Royal Library Papp. fol nr 56ca. 1685
Stockholm, Royal LibraryPapp. 8vo nr 41668
Stockholm, Royal LibraryEngeström B: III. 1, 21ca. 1820
Ithaca, New York, Cornell University,

Fiske Icelandic Collection

Ic F75 A125, 8vo18th century https://newcatalog.library.cornell.edu/catalog/3039305
Baltimore, Md, Johns Hopkins University, Nikulas Ottenson Collection MS. Nr. 91847-48
Winnipeg, Elizabeth Dafoe LibraryISDA JB6 11825-1851 https://fasnl.net/manuscripts/214
Reykjavík, Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies SÁM 151825 https://handrit.is/en/manuscript/view/is/SAM-0015
Reykjavík, Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic StudiesSÁM 61800-1900 https://handrit.is/en/manuscript/view/is/SAM-0006
Reykjavík, Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic StudiesSÁM 741888-89 https://handrit.is/manuscript/view/is/SAM-0074
Reykjavík, Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic StudiesAM 591 e 4to1675-1700 https://handrit.is/manuscript/view/is/AM04-0591e defective
Reykjavík, Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic StudiesHÍ 151825

Editions and translations

References

  1. ↑ Aðalheiður Guðmundsdóttir, 'Om hringbrot og våbendanse i islandsk tradition', Kulturstudier, 1 (2010), 132–53.
  2. ↑ Aðalheiður Guðmundsdóttir, 'How Icelandic Legends Reflect the Prohibition on Dancing', ARV, 61 (2006), 25–52.
  3. 1 2 Marianne E. Kalinke and P. M. Mitchell, Bibliography of Old Norse–Icelandic Romances, Islandica, 44 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1985), pp. 52-53.
  4. 1 2 3 Philip Lavender, 'Jarlmanns saga og Hermanns: An Introduction', Scandinavian-Canadian Studies/Études Scandinaves au Canada , 27 (2020), 16-49.
  5. ↑ Bibire, Paul, 'From Riddarasaga to Lygisaga: The Norse Response to Romance', in Les Sagas de Chevaliers (Riddarasögur): Actes de la Ve Conférence Internationale sur les Sagas Présentés par Régis Boyer (Toulon. Juillet 1982), ed. by Régis Boyer, Serie Civilisations, 10 (Toulon: Presses de l’Université Paris-Sorbonne, 1985), pp. 55-74 (p. 68).
  6. 1 2 Marianne E. Kalinke, 'Jarlmanns saga ok Hermanns', in Medieval Scandinavia: An Encyclopedia, ed. by Phillip Pulsiano (New York: Garland, 1993), p. 339.
  7. ↑ Matthew Driscoll, `Late Prose Fiction (Lygisögur)', in A Companion to Old Norse-Icelandic Literature and Culture, ed. by Rory McTurk (Oxford: Blackwell, 2005), pp. 190--204 (p. 194).
  8. ↑ Cf. Marianne E. Kalinke and P. M. Mitchell, Bibliography of Old Norse–Icelandic Romances, Islandica, 44 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1985), p. 53.
  9. ↑ Marianne E. Kalinke, 2017: Stories Set Forth with Fair Words: The Evolution of Medieval Romance in Iceland. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. pp. 120-21,
  10. ↑ Listed by Lavender as Lbs 5157 4to.
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