The ''riddarasögur'' (literally 'sagas of knights', also known in English as 'chivalric sagas', 'romance-sagas', 'knights' sagas', 'sagas of chivalry') are Norse prose

sagas Sagas are prose stories and histories, composed in Iceland and to a lesser extent elsewhere in Scandinavia. The most famous saga-genre is the (sagas concerning Icelanders), which feature Viking voyages, migration to Iceland, and feuds between ...

of the romance genre. Starting in the thirteenth century with Norse translations of French ''

chansons de geste The , from 'deeds, actions accomplished') is a medieval narrative, a type of epic poem that appears at the dawn of French literature. The earliest known poems of this genre date from the late 11th and early 12th centuries, shortly before the e ...

'' and Latin romances and histories, the genre expanded in Iceland to indigenous creations in a similar style. While the ''riddarasögur'' were widely read in Iceland for many centuries they have traditionally been regarded as popular literature inferior in artistic quality to the Icelanders' sagas and other indigenous genres. Receiving little attention from scholars of

Old Norse literature Old Norse literature refers to the vernacular literature of the Scandinavian people up to c. 1350. It mainly consists of Icelandic writings. In Britain From the 8th to the 15th centuries, Vikings and Norse settlers and their descendants colon ...

, many remain untranslated. The production of chivalric sagas in Scandinavia was focused on Norway in the thirteenth century and then Iceland in the fourteenth. Vernacular Danish and Swedish romances came to prominence rather later and were generally in verse; the most famous of these are the

Eufemiavisorna The ''Eufemiavisorna'' are a group of three medieval romances translated into medieval Swedish: '' Herr Ivan lejonriddaren'' (1303), '' Hertig Fredrik av Normandie'' (1301 or 1308), and '' Flores och Blanzeflor'' (probably 1312). They are known in ...

, themselves predominantly translations of Norwegian translations of Continental European romances.

Terminology

The term ''riddarasögur'' (singular ''riddarasaga'') occurs in ''

Mágus saga jarls ''Mágus saga jarls'' is a Medieval Icelandic literature, 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 So ...

'' where there is a reference to "Frásagnir...svo sem...Þiðreks saga, Flóvenz saga eðr aðrar riddarasögur", "narratives such as the saga of Þiðrekr, the saga of Flóvent, or other knights' sagas". Another technical term sometimes encountered is ''lygisögur'' (singular ''lygisaga''), "lie sagas", applied to fictional chivalric and

legendary saga A legendary saga or ''fornaldarsaga'' (literally, "story/history of the ancient era") is a Norse saga that, unlike the Icelanders' sagas, takes place before the settlement of Iceland.The article ''Fornaldarsagor'' in ''Nationalencyklopedin'' (1991 ...

Translations

The first known Old Norse translations of European romances occurred under the patronage of king

Hákon Hákonarson Haakon IV Haakonsson ( – 16 December 1263; ; ), sometimes called Haakon the Old in contrast to his namesake son, was King of Norway from 1217 to 1263. His reign lasted for 46 years, longer than any Norwegian king since Harald Fairhair. Haako ...

of Norway, and seem to have been part of a programme of Europeanisation. The earliest dated work is a 1226 translation by one Brother Robert of ''Tristan'' by

Thomas of Britain Thomas of Britain (also known as Thomas of England) was a poet of the 12th century. He is known for his Old French poem ''Tristan">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, w ...

. The Old Norse work, ''Tristrams saga ok Ísöndar'', is especially valuable since the original Old French poem is only preserved in fragments. ''Elis saga ok Rósamundu'', a translation of ''Elie de Saint Gille'', is similarly attributed to an Abbot Robert, presumably the same man having been promoted within his order. King Hákon also commissioned '' Möttuls saga'', an adaptation of '' Le mantel mautaillé'', ''Ívens saga'', a reworking of

Chrétien de Troyes Chrétien de Troyes (; ; 1160–1191) was a French poet and trouvère known for his writing on King Arthur, Arthurian subjects such as Gawain, Lancelot, Perceval and the Holy Grail. Chrétien's chivalric romances, including ''Erec and Enide'' ...

's ''

Yvain In Arthurian legend, Ywain , also known as Yvain and Owain among other spellings (''Ewaine'', ''Ivain'', ''Ivan'', ''Iwain'', ''Iwein'', ''Uwain'', ''Uwaine'', ''Ywan'', etc.), is a Knight of the Round Table. Tradition often portrays him as t ...

'' and ''

Strengleikar ''Strengleikar'' (English: ''Stringed Instruments'') is a collection of twenty-one Old Norse prose tales based on the Old French '' Lais'' of Marie de France">The Lais of Marie de France">Lais'' of Marie de France. It is one of the literary works ...

'', a collection of ballads principally by

Marie de France Marie de France (floruit, fl. 1160–1215) was a poet, likely born in France, who lived in England during the late 12th century. She lived and wrote at an unknown court, but she and her work were almost certainly known at the royal court of Kin ...

. Works in similar style, which may also have been commissioned by King Hákon, are ''Parcevals saga'', ''Valvens þáttr'' and '' Erex saga'', all derived from the works of Chrétien de Troyes. ''

Karlamagnús saga The ''Karlamagnús saga'', also called ''Karlamagnussaga'' or ''Karlamagnus-saga'' ("saga of Charlemagne") was a late-thirteenth-century Old Norse, Norse prose compilation and adaptation, made for Haakon V of Norway, of the Old French ''chansons de ...

'' is a compilation of more disparate origin, dealing with

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( ; 2 April 748 – 28 January 814) was List of Frankish kings, King of the Franks from 768, List of kings of the Lombards, King of the Lombards from 774, and Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor of what is now known as the Carolingian ...

and his twelve paladins and drawing on historiographical material as well as chansons de geste. Other works believed to derive from French originals are ''Bevers saga'', ''Flóres saga ok Blankiflúr'', ''Flóvents saga'' and ''

Partalopa saga ''Partalopa saga'' (or ''Partalópa saga'') is a medieval Icelandic romance saga deriving from the medieval French '' Partenopeus de Blois''. Synopsis Kalinke and Mitchell summarise the saga thus: Presumably either a thirteenth-century translat ...

''. Pseudo-historical works translated from Latin are ''

Alexanders saga ''Alexanders saga'' is an Old Norse translation of ''Alexandreis'', an epic Latin poem about the life of Alexander the Great written by Walter of Châtillon, which was itself based on Quintus Curtius Rufus's ''Historia Alexandri Magni''. It is att ...

'' (a translation of ''

Alexandreis The ''Alexandreis'' (or ''Alexandreid'') is a medieval Latin language, Latin epic poetry, epic poem by Walter of Châtillon, a 12th-century France, French writer and theology, theologian. It gives an account of the life of Alexander the Great, ba ...

''), '' Amícus saga ok Amilíus'' (based on

Vincent of Beauvais Vincent of Beauvais ( or ; ; c. 1264) was a Dominican friar at the Cistercian monastery of Royaumont Abbey, France. He is known mostly for his '' Speculum Maius'' (''Great mirror''), a major work of compilation that was widely read in the Middl ...

's ''Speculum historiale''), ''

Breta sögur ''Breta sögur'' (Sagas of the Britons) is an Old Norse, Old Norse-Icelandic rendering of Geoffrey of Monmouth's ''Historia Regum Britanniae, Historia regum Britanniae'' with some additional material from other sources. ''Breta sögur'' begins wit ...

'' (a translation of ''

Historia Regum Britanniae (''The History of the Kings of Britain''), originally called (''On the Deeds of the Britons''), is a fictitious account of British history, written around 1136 by Geoffrey of Monmouth. It chronicles the lives of the List of legendary kings o ...

''), and ''

Trójumanna saga Trójumanna saga (''The Saga of the Men of Troy'') is a saga in Old Norse which tells the story of the matter of Troy. It is the Old Icelandic translation of the ''Daretis Phrygii De Excidio Troiae Historia'' (''Dares Phrygius’ History of the D ...

'' (a translation of ''

De excidio Troiae Dares Phrygius (), according to Homer, was a Trojan priest of Hephaestus. He was later thought to have been the author of an account of the destruction of Troy. A work in Latin, purporting to be a translation of this, and entitled ''Daretis Phryg ...

''). Also pseudo-historical, '' Þiðreks saga af Bern'' is unusual in having been translated from German. These Old Norse translations have been characterised by Margaret Clunies Ross thus: :The Old Norse term ''riddarasaga'' ... covers what were a number of genres in Latin, French and Anglo-Norman, but common to all of them are their courtly setting, their interest in kingship, and their concerns with the ethics of chivalry and courtly love. It seems, however, from a comparison between the French originals and the Old Norse translations of courtly romances, such as Chrétien de Troyes' ''Erec et Enide'' (''Erex saga''), ''Yvain'' (''Ívens saga'') and ''Perceval'' (''Parcevals saga'' and ''Velvens þáttr''), that the translators who supplied King Hákon's court and others in Norway and Iceland who enjoyed such sagas offered an independent rewriting of their sources. It is notable that they did not convey a number of key aspects of Chrétien's somewhat ironic perspective on courtly society. This may well be because most of the translators were probably clerics, but it is also likely to reflect traditional Norse tastes and narrative conventions. In particular, most elements of explicit eroticism have been deleted from the ''riddarasögur'', as have much comedy and irony in the treatment of the protagonists' behaviour. Instead, the narratives are largely exemplary and didactic, in large part because the Scandinavian translators refrained from using two essential narrative devices of their sources, namely the internal monologue, which conveyed the private thoughts and feelings of the characters, and the intrusive involvement of the narrator, which was a vehicle for conveying a nuanced and often ironic point of view.

Original compositions

Inspired by translated Continental romances, Icelanders began enthusiastically composing their own romance-sagas, apparently around the later thirteenth century, with the genre flourishing from the fourteenth century. The rise of the genre has been associated with Iceland coming under Norwegian rule in the 1260s, and the consequent need for Icelandic ecclesiastical and secular elites to explore Icelanders' new identities as vassals to a king. These new political formations particularly affected the marriage market for elite Icelanders, making gender politics a central theme of many romances. One seminal composition, directly or indirectly influential on many subsequent sagas, seems to have been '' Klári saga'', whose prologue states that it was translated from a Latin metrical work which

Jón Halldórsson Jón Halldórsson, OP (; – 2 February 1339) was a Norwegian Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of Iceland from 1322 to 1339. He previously served in the Diocese of Skálholt and was a member of the Dominican Order The Order of Pre ...

Bishop of Skálholt A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of dioceses. The role ...

found in France, but which is now thought to have been composed by Jón from scratch. Jón's work seems to have been one of the inspirations for the fourteenth-century

North Icelandic Benedictine School The North Icelandic Benedictine School (''Norðlenski Benediktskólinn'') is a fourteenth-century Icelandic literary movement, the lives, activities, and relationships of whose members are attested particularly by '' Laurentius saga biskups''. Thi ...

which, while most clearly associated with religious writing, also seems to have involved romance-writing.

Post-medieval reception

Chivalric sagas remained in widespread manuscript circulation in Iceland into the twentieth century. They were often reworked as ''

rímur In Icelandic literature, a ''ríma'' (, literally "a rhyme", pl. ''rímur'', ) is an epic poetry, epic poem written in any of the so-called ''rímnahættir'' (, "rímur meters"). They are rhymed, they alliterative verse, alliterate and consist of ...

'', and new chivalric sagas in the same mould as medieval ones continued to be composed into the nineteenth century. Particularly during the eighteenth century, some chivalric sagas were taken to be useful historical sources for the history of Sweden and Denmark, underpinning their imperial aspirations, and were printed in these countries. One prominent example is Erik Julius Biörner's ''Nordiska kämpa dater'' of 1737.

Modern scholarship

The most comprehensive guide to the manuscripts, editions, translations, and secondary literature of this body of sagas is Kalinke and Mitchell's 1985 ''Bibliography of Old Norse-Icelandic Romances''. The genre received a fairly substantial survey in Margaret Schlauch's 1934 ''Romance in Iceland'', since when the main monograph studies of the genre have been Astrid van Nahl's ''Originale Riddarasögur als Teil altnordischer Sagaliteratur'', Jürg Glauser's ''Isländische Märchensagas'', Marianne Kalinke's ''Bridal-Quest Romance in Medieval Iceland'', and Geraldine Barnes's ''The Bookish Riddarasögur''.Astrid van Nahl, ''Originale Riddarasögur als Teil altnordischer Sagaliteratur'', Europäische Hochschulschriften, series 1, 447 (Frankfurt am Main: Lang, 1981); Jürg Glauser, ''Isländische Märchensagas: Studien zur Prosaliteratur im spätmittelalterlichen Island'', Beiträge zue nordischen Philologie, 12 (Basel: Helbing & Lichtenhahn, 1983); ; Geraldine Barnes, ''The Bookish Riddarasögur: Writing Romance in Late Mediaeval Iceland'', The Viking Collection, 21 (

dense Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the ratio of a substance's mass to its volume. The symbol most often used for density is ''ρ'' (the lower case Greek letter rho), although the Latin letter ''D'' (or ''d'') can also be use ...

University Press of Southern Denmark, 2014).

List of chivalric sagas

Translated into Old Norse

Kalinke and Mitchell's ''Bibliography of Old Norse-Icelandic Romances'' lists the following translated ''riddarasögur'': * ''

'' (''

'') * '' Amícus saga ok Amilíus'' ( Vincent of Beauvais's '' Speculum historiale'') * '' Bevis saga'' ('' Boeve de Haumtone'') * ''

'' (''

'') * ''Elis saga ok Rósamundu'' ('' Elie de Saint-Gille'') * '' Erex saga'' ('' Érec et Énide'') * '' Flóres saga ok Blankiflúr'' ('' Floire et Blanchiflor'') * ''Flóvents saga'' ('' Floovant'') * ''

Ívens saga ''Yvain, the Knight of the Lion'' () is an Arthurian Romance (heroic literature), romance by French poet Chrétien de Troyes. It was written c. 1180 simultaneously with ''Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart'', and includes several references to the ...

'' ('' Yvain, le Chevalier au Lion'') * ''

'' * '' Möttuls saga'' ('' La mantel mautaillé'') * ''Pamphilus ok Galathea'' (''

Pamphilus de amore ''Pamphilus de amore'' (or, simply, ''Pamphilus'' or ''Pamfilus'') is a 780-line, 12th-century Latin comedic play, probably composed in France, but possibly Spain.Vincente Cristóbal, "Ovid in Medieval Spain", in ''Ovid in the Middle Ages'', ed. ...

'') * ''Parcevals saga'' and ''Valvens þáttr'' ('' Perceval, le Conte du Graal'') * ''

'' ('' Partonopeus de Blois'') * ''

'' ** ''Forræða'' 'prologue' ** ''Bisclaretz ljóð'' (''

Bisclavret "Bisclavret" ("The Werewolf") is one of the twelve Lais of Marie de France written in the 12th century. Originally written in French, it tells the story of a Lord who is trapped in lupine form by the treachery of his wife. The tale shares a comm ...

'') ** ''Chetovel'' ('' Chaitivel'') ** ''Desire'' ('' Desiré'') ** ''Douns ljóð'' ('' Doon'') ** ''Eskja'' (''

Le Fresne (lai) "Le Fresne" is one of the Lais of Marie de France. It was likely written in the late 12th century. Marie claims it to be a Breton lai, an example of Anglo-Norman literature. Plot summary Le Fresne opens with the wife of a knight giving birth to tw ...

'') ** ''Equitan'' ('' Equitan'') ** ''Geitarlauf'' (''

Chevrefoil "Chevrefoil" is a Breton lai by the medieval poet Marie de France. The eleventh poem in the collection is called '' The Lais of Marie de France'' and its subject is an episode from the romance of Tristan and Iseult. The title means "honeysuckle," a ...

'') ** ''Grelent'' (''

Graelent ''Graelent'' is an Old French -4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ... Breton lai, named after its protagonist. It is one of the so-called anonymous lais ...

'') ** ''Guiamars ljóð'' ('' Guigemar'') ** '' Guruns ljóð'' (source unknown) ** ''Januals ljóð'' (''

Lanval ''Lanval'' is one of the Lais of Marie de France. Written in Anglo-Norman, it tells the story of Lanval, a knight at King Arthur's court, who is overlooked by the king, wooed by a fairy lady, given all manner of gifts by her, and subsequently r ...

'') ** ''Jonet'' (''

Yonec "Yonec" is one of the ''Lais of Marie de France'', written in the twelfth century by the French poet known only as Marie de France. ''Yonec'' is a Breton lai, a type of narrative poem. The poem is written in the Anglo-Norman dialect of Old French i ...

'') ** ''Laustik'' ('' Laüstic'') ** ''Leikara ljóð'' ('' Lecheor'') ** ''Milun'' ('' Milun'') ** ''Naboreis'' ('' Nabaret'') ** '' Ricar hinn gamli'' (source unknown) ** '' Strandar ljóð'' (source unknown) ** ''Tidorel'' ('' Tydorel'') ** ''Tveggja elskanda ljóð'' ('' Les Deux Amants'') ** '' Tveggia elskanda strengleikr'' (source unknown) * '' Tiódels saga'' (''

'', via ''Bisclaretz ljóð'') * ''Tristrams saga ok Ísöndar'' ( Thomas of Britain's ''Tristan'') * ''

'' (''

'')

Composed in Icelandic during the Middle Ages

The following is a probably complete list of original medieval Icelandic chivalric sagas. *'' Adonias saga'' *'' Ála flekks saga'' *'' Blómstrvallasaga'' *'' Bærings saga'' *'' Dámusta saga'' *'' Dínus saga drambláta'' *'' Drauma-Jóns saga'' *'' Ectors saga'' *'' Flóres saga konungs ok sona hans'' *'' Gibbons saga'' *'' Grega saga'' *'' Hrings saga ok Tryggva'' *'' Jarlmanns saga ok Hermanns'' *'' Jóns saga leikara'' *'' Kirialax saga'' *'' Klári saga'' *'' Konráðs saga keisarasonar'' *''

'' *'' Melkólfs saga ok Solomons konungs'' *'' Mírmans saga'' *'' Nítíða saga'' *'' Nikulás saga leikara'' *''Reinalds saga'' (now lost, known only from ''Reinalds rímur og Rósu'') *'' Rémundar saga keisarasonar'' *'' Samsons saga fagra'' *'' Saulus saga ok Nikanors'' *'' Sigrgarðs saga frœkna'' *'' Sigrgarðs saga ok Valbrands'' *'' Sigurðar saga fóts'' *'' Sigurðar saga turnara'' *'' Sigurðar saga þögla'' *'' Tristrams saga ok Ísoddar'' *'' Valdimars saga'' *'' Viktors saga ok Blávus'' *'' Vilhjálms saga sjóðs'' *'' Vilmundar saga viðutan'' *''

Þjalar-Jóns saga ''Þjalar-Jóns saga'' ('the saga of Þjálar-Jón' or 'Jón of the file'), also known as ''Saga Jóns Svipdagssonar ok Eireks forvitna'' ('the saga of Jón Svipdagsson and Eirekur the Curious') is a medieval Icelandic saga defined variously as a ...

Composed in Icelandic after the Middle Ages

Romance sagas continued to be composed in Iceland after the Middle Ages in the tradition of the medieval texts; ten are believed to have been penned, for example, by the priest Jón Oddsson Hjaltalín (1749-1835). There are thought to be about 150 post-medieval examples. The following is an incomplete list: *'' Ambales saga'' *'' Fimmbræðra saga'' (by Jón Oddsson Hjaltalín) *'' Jasonar saga bjarta'' *'' Sagan af Bernótus Borneyjarkappa'' (by Jón Oddsson Hjaltalín) *'' Sagan af Hinriki heilráða'' (by Jón Oddsson Hjaltalín) *'' Sagan af Ketlerus keisaraefni'' (by Jón Oddsson Hjaltalín) *'' Sagan af Mána fróða'' (by Jón Oddsson Hjaltalín) *'' Sagan af Marroni sterka'' (by Jón Oddsson Hjaltalín) *'' Sagan af Natoni persíska'' (by Jón Oddsson Hjaltalín) *'' Sagan af Reimari keisara og Fal hinum sterka'' (by Jón Oddsson Hjaltalín) *'' Sagan af Rígabal og Alkanusi'' (by Jón Oddsson Hjaltalín) *'' Sarpidons saga sterka'' (by Jón Oddsson Hjaltalín) *'' Úlfhams saga'' *'' Úlfs saga Uggasonar''

Notes

External links

Riddarasögur: Texts, Translations, and ScholarshipChivalric tales in old Norse at Heimskringla.no

References

* * Driscoll, Matthew (2005). "Late Prose Fiction (lygisögur)" in ''A Companion to Old Norse-Icelandic Literature and Culture'' pp. 190–204. Blackwell Publishing. * * * * Loth, Agnete (1962-5). ''Late medieval Icelandic romances'' (5 vols.) Den Arnamagnæanske Komission. Copenhagen. * * * O'Connor, Ralph J.
History or fiction? Truth-claims and defensive narrators in Icelandic romance-sagas
" In: ''Mediaeval Scandinavia'' 15 (2005): pp. 101-169. * {{Chivalric sagas