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 PC4 cover ALMA template.indd 1 09/05/2011 12:18:49 THE ARTHUR OF THE NORTH 00 Prelims.indd 1 09/02/2011 14:50 00 Prelims.indd 2 09/02/2011 14:50 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 00 Prelims.indd 3 09/02/2011 14:50 © 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 00 Prelims.indd 4 09/02/2011 14:50 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. 00 Prelims.indd 5 09/02/2011 14:50 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) 00 Prelims.indd 6 09/02/2011 14:50 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 00 Prelims.indd 7 09/02/2011 14:50 00 Prelims.indd 8 09/02/2011 14:50 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) 00 Prelims.indd 9 09/02/2011 14:50