The Arthur of the North: The Arthurian Legend in the Norse and Rus' Realms (University of Wales Press - Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages)

235 Pages·2011·2.4 MB·English

by  Marianne E. Kalinke

Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages
The Arthur of the North
The Arthurian Legend in
the Norse and Rus’ Realms
Edited by
Marianne E. Kalinke
University of Wales Press
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THE ARTHUR OF THE NORTH
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ARTHURIAN LITERATURE IN THE MIDDLE AGES
V
THE ARTHUR OF
THE NORTH
THE ARTHURIAN LEGEND IN THE
NORSE AND RUS’ REALMS
edited by
Marianne E. Kalinke
CARDIFF
UNIVERSITY OF WALES PRESS
2011
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© The Vinaver Trust, 2011
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any material form (including
photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently
or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the
copyright owner except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988. Applications for the copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce any
part of this publication should be addressed to The University of Wales Press, 10 Columbus
Walk, Brigantine Place, Cardiff, CF10 4UP.
www.uwp.co.uk
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-0-7083-2353-3
e-ISBN 978-0-7083-2354-0
The right of the Contributors to be identified separately as authors of this work has been
asserted by them in accordance with sections 77, 78 and 79 of the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988.
Typeset by Mark Heslington Ltd, Scarborough, North Yorkshire
Printed by CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham, Wiltshire
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PUBLISHED IN COOPERATION WITH
THE VINAVER TRUST
The Vinaver Trust was established by the British Branch
of the International Arthurian Society to commemorate a
greatly respected colleague and a distinguished scholar
Eugène Vinaver
the editor of Malory’s Morte Darthur. The Trust aims to
advance study of Arthurian literature in all languages by
planning and encouraging research projects in the field,
and by aiding publication of the resultant studies.
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ARTHURIAN LITERATURE IN THE MIDDLE AGES
Series Editor
Ad Putter
I The Arthur of the Welsh, Edited by Rachel Bromwich, A. O. H. Jarman
and Brynley F. Roberts (Cardiff, 1991)
II The Arthur of the English, Edited by W. R. J. Barron (Cardiff, 1999)
III The Arthur of the Germans, Edited by W. H. Jackson and S. A.
Ranawake (Cardiff, 2000)
IV The Arthur of the French, Edited by Glyn S. Burgess and Karen Pratt
(Cardiff, 2006)
V The Arthur of the North, Edited by Marianne E. Kalinke (Cardiff,
2011)
VI The Arthur of Medieval Latin Literature, Edited by Siân Echard
(Cardiff, 2011)
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CoNTENTS
Preface ix
Ad Putter
Introduction 1
Marianne E. Kalinke
1 The Introduction of the Arthurian Legend in Scandinavia 5
Marianne E. Kalinke
2 Sources, Translations, Redactions, Manuscript Transmission 22
Marianne E. Kalinke
3 Breta sögur and Merlínússpá 48
Stefanie Gropper
4 The Tristan Legend 61
Geraldine Barnes
5 The Translated Lais 77
Carolyne Larrington
6 The Old Norse-Icelandic Transmission of Chrétien de Troyes’s Romances:
Ívens saga, Erex saga, Parcevals saga with Valvens þáttr 98
Claudia Bornholdt
7 The Old Swedish Hærra Ivan Leons riddare 123
William Layher
8 Arthurian Echoes in Indigenous Icelandic Sagas 145
Marianne E. Kalinke
9 Arthurian Ballads, rímur, Chapbooks and Folktales 168
M. J. Driscoll
10 Arthurian Literature in East Slavic 196
Susana Torres Prieto
General Bibliography 209
Marianne E. Kalinke
Index of Manuscripts 213
General Index 215
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PREfACE
This book forms part of the ongoing series Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages.
The purpose of the series is to provide a comprehensive and reliable survey of
Arthurian writings in all their cultural and generic variety. For some time, the single-
volume Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages: A Collaborative History (ed. R.S.
Loomis, Oxford, 1959) served the needs of students and scholars of Arthurian liter-
ature admirably, but it has now been overtaken by advances in scholarship and by
changes in critical perspectives and methodologies. The Vinaver Trust recognized the
need for a fresh and up-to-date survey, and decided that several volumes were required
to do justice to the distinctive contributions made to Arthurian literature by the various
cultures of medieval Europe. The Arthur of the North: The Arthurian Legend in the
Norse and Rus’ Realms is primarily devoted to medieval Arthurian texts composed in
the Scandinavian peninsula and in Iceland, but it also takes account of later Arthurian
material, such as the Arthurian ballads from Iceland, Denmark, Norway and the Faroe
Islands, and of the Belarusian ‘Tristan’ story and its context.
The series is mainly aimed at undergraduate and postgraduate students and at
scholars working in the fields covered by each of the volumes. The series has,
however, also been designed to be accessible to students and scholars from different
fields, who want to learn what forms Arthurian narratives took in languages and litera-
tures that they may not know, and how those narratives influenced the cultures that
they do know. Within these parameters the editors have had control over the shape and
content of their individual volumes.
Ad Putter, University of Bristol
(General Editor)
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