Strengleikar

Last updated

Strengleikar (English: Stringed Instruments) is a collection of twenty-one Old Norse prose tales based on the Old French Lais of Marie de France. It is one of the literary works commissioned by King Haakon IV of Norway (r. 1217-1263) for the Norwegian court, and is counted among the Old Norse Chivalric sagas. [1] The collection is anonymous. It has been attributed to Brother Robert, a cleric who adapted several French works into Norse under Haakon, the best known of which is Tristrams saga ok Ísöndar (a Norse version of the Tristan and Iseult legend), [2] but there is also reason to think that the collection may be a gathering of the work of several different translators. [3] Unlike many medieval translations, the Strengleikar are generally extremely close in sense to the Old French originals; the text which differs most is Milun , which is abridged to half its original length.

Contents

Lais and their sources

The Strengleikar comprise: [4]

Marie's lai Eliduc is not found in Scandinavian manuscripts but the motif of a character learning about healing plants by observing weasels appears not only there but in the Icelandic Völsunga saga , which seems to indicate that Eliduc was known in Iceland in some form. [5]

Bisclaretz ljóð, circulating in Iceland, was much adapted, becoming Tiódels saga . This has not traditionally been counted among the Strengleikar, however. [6]

Manuscripts

The principal manuscripts are: [7]

Other manuscripts include: [9]

Editions and translations

Notes

  1. ↑ Marianne E. Kalinke and P. M. Mitchell, Bibliography of Old Norse–Icelandic Romances, Islandica, 44 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1985), p. 105.
  2. ↑ Rivera, Isidro J. (1991), "Brother Robert", in Lacy, Norris J. (ed.), The New Arthurian Encyclopedia, New York: Garland, p. 56
  3. ↑ Sanders, Christopher (1993), "Strengleikar", in Pulsiano, Philip (ed.), Medieval Scandinavia: An Encyclopedia, New York: Garland, p. 612
  4. ↑ Marianne E. Kalinke and P. M. Mitchell, Bibliography of Old Norse–Icelandic Romances, Islandica, 44 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1985), p. 105.
  5. ↑ Carol J. Clover, ‘Vǫlsunga saga and the Missing Lai of Marie de France’, in Sagnaskemmtun: Studies in Honour of Hermann Pálsson on his 65th Birthday, 26th May 1986, ed. by Rudolf Simek, Jónas Kristjánsson and Hans Bekker-Nielsen, Philologica Germanica, 8 (Vienna: Böhlau, 1986), pp. 79–84.
  6. ↑ Tiodielis saga, ed. by Tove Hown Ohlsson, Stofnun Árna Magnússonar í íslenskum fræðum. Rit, 72 (Reykjavík: Stofnun Árna Magnússonar í íslenskum fræðum, 2009).
  7. ↑ Marianne E. Kalinke and P. M. Mitchell, Bibliography of Old Norse–Icelandic Romances, Islandica, 44 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1985), p. 105.
  8. ↑ Strengleikar: An Old Norse Translation of Twenty-one Old French Lais, ed. and trans. by Robert Cook and Mattias Tveitane, Norrøne tekster, 3 (Oslo: Norsk historisk kjeldeskrift-institutt, 1979), p. ix.
  9. ↑ Marianne E. Kalinke and P. M. Mitchell, Bibliography of Old Norse–Icelandic Romances, Islandica, 44 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1985), p. 105.

Related Research Articles

Fóstbrœðra saga or The Saga of the Sworn Brothers is one of the Icelanders' sagas. It relates the deeds of the sworn brothers Þorgeir and Þormóðr in early 11th century Iceland and abroad. Þorgeir is a capable and insanely brave warrior. He kills people for trifles and for sport. Þormóðr is a more complicated character; warrior, trouble-maker, womanizer and poet. The saga contains poetry attributed to him, including parts of a lay on his blood brother. It is said that a cairn called Þorgeirsdys, identifies the place of death and burial of Þorgeir. This is located on the Hraunhafnartangi peninsula, just south of the modern lighthouse.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chivalric sagas</span> Norse prose sagas of the romance genre

The riddarasögur are Norse prose sagas of the romance genre. Starting in the thirteenth century with Norse translations of French chansons de geste and Latin romances and histories, the genre expanded in Iceland to indigenous creations in a similar style.

Brother Robert was a cleric working in Norway who adapted several French literary works into Old Norse during the reign of King Haakon IV of Norway (1217–1263). The most important of these, Tristrams saga ok Ísöndar, based on Thomas of Britain's Tristan, is notable as the only example of Thomas' "courtly branch" of the Tristan and Iseult legend that has survived in its entirety. It was the earliest Scandinavian version of the story, and is thought to be the first Norwegian adaptation of an Old French work. Its success may have inspired the spate of translations during King Haakon's reign.

"Lecheor" is a short, bawdy Breton lai that tells the story a group of noble women who decide to write a lai about female genitalia.

Gibbons Saga is one of the Icelandic chivalric sagas. It is one of a very few sagas to feature a magical flying object—in this case a piece of cloth, amongst many other magical objects. It also features dwarfs and giants.

Sigrgarðs saga frœkna is a medieval Icelandic romance-saga, described by Finnur Jónsson as 'all in all ... one of the best and most worthy of reading' of the Icelandic 'stepmother-sagas'.

Uppsala University Library, De la Gardie, 4-7, a thirteenth-century Norwegian manuscript, is 'our oldest and most important source of so-called "courtly literature" in Old Norse translation'. It is now fragmentary; four leaves, once part of the last gathering, now survive separately as AM 666 b, 4° in the Arnamagnæan Collection, Copenhagen.

Tiódels saga is an Old Icelandic chivalric saga, based on the Old Norwegian translation, Bisclaretz ljóð, of Marie de France's Breton lai Bisclavret.

Viktors saga ok Blávus is a medieval Icelandic romance saga from the fifteenth century.

Dínus saga drambláta is an Old Norse chivalric saga, assumed to have been composed first in the fourteenth century. The saga is noted for its scholarly, highbrow style.

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

Mágus saga jarls is a medieval Icelandic romance saga. It survives in two main medieval redactions, a shorter one from about 1300 and a longer one from about 1350, both taking their inspiration from The Four Sons of Aymon, a French chanson de geste. It is distinctive enough, however, to be reckoned among the romances composed in Iceland, rather than a translation.

Þjalar-Jóns saga, also known as Saga Jóns Svipdagssonar ok Eireks forvitna is a medieval Icelandic saga defined variously as a romance-saga and a legendary saga. The earliest manuscript, Holm. perg. 6 4to, dates from around the first quarter of the fifteenth century, and the saga is thought to be from the fourteenth century.

Blómstrvalla saga is a medieval Icelandic romance saga.

Kirjalax saga, also Kirialax saga is a medieval Icelandic romance saga. It is noted for the array of scholarly sources its author(s) brought to bear.

Rómverja saga in an Old Norse-Icelandic translation of three Latin historical texts: Sallust's Bellum Jugurthinum and Coniuratio Catilinae and Lucan's Pharsalia. It gives an account of Roman history from the Jugurthine War to the death of Augustus. This combination of sources is unique in medieval literature. Along with Breta sögur, Veraldar saga and Trójumanna saga, it represent the earliest phase of translation of secular works into Old Norse-Icelandic.

Möttuls saga or Skikkju saga is an Old Norse translation of Le lai du cort mantel, a French fabliau dating to the beginning of the 13th century. The saga tells the story of a chastity-testing cloak brought to the court of King Arthur. It was translated, along with other chivalric sagas, under the patronage of Haakon IV of Norway. Its risqué content suggests that it was translated by clerks rather than in a religious context. Möttuls saga formed the basis for a later set of Icelandic rímur called Skikkjurímur.

Saulus saga ok Nikanors is a medieval Icelandic romance saga.

Amícus saga ok Amílius is a medieval Icelandic romance saga. Probably from the fourteenth century, it was translated from Vincent de Beauvais's Speculum historiale, probably during the reign of Haakon V of Norway, and tells a similar story to the related French romance Amis et Amiles. The saga survives in only one manuscript, Stockholm, Royal Library Perg 4to nr 6. The saga has enjoyed extensive critical discussion.

Bevers saga or Bevis saga is an Old Norse chivalric saga, translated from a now lost version of the Anglo-Norman poem Boeve de Haumtone. Kalinke summarises the saga as follows:

"The work is a medieval soap opera that commences with the murder of Bevers's father, instigated by Bevers's mother, and carried out by a rival wooer who in turn is killed by Bevers. The ensuing plot includes enslavement, imprisonment, abductions, separations, childbirth, heathen-Christian military and other encounters - Bevers marries a Muslim princess - and mass conversions."

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.