Gripla - 20.12.2009, Blaðsíða 208
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ens and makes more complex the evolutionary history of the genre. As has
already been said, Morkinskinna is believed to have been com posed earlier
than Heimskringla and to have influenced it considerably. If this is true it
means not only that clerical techniques and traditional storytelling, but
also literary fashions from the other european countries, formed the cruci
ble in which the kings’ sagas were shaped.
This is not surprising in a period when the Norwegian kingship was
being strengthened and endeavoured to model itself on the more estab
lished monarchies in france and england. Indeed, at the same time as the
composition of konungasögur was flourishing in Iceland and to a lesser
degree in Norway, there seems to have been great interest in the literature
of these same countries at the Norwegian court. From the 1220s (and
maybe earlier), a considerable number of literary works seem to have been
translated from french to norse.21 the translations travelled to Iceland
and quite a few autochthonous sagas can be shown to have borrowed
motifs, situations, even themes from the riddarasögur.
It is tempting to consider the totality of the literary and cultural pro
duction of medieval Iceland as participating more or less directly in the
courtly culture that was evolving in Norway and which seems to have fas
cinated Icelanders, especially the chieftains, many of whom were, by the
13th century, members of the Norwegian court. Not only did these chief
tains spend time at the court of the king of Norway, but they seem also to
have endeavoured to import courtly practices to Iceland, an indication that
they viewed themselves as aristocrats in the same way as the nobility of
europe.22
the amazing development of literature in Iceland during the same
period is in many ways linked to the rise of a courtly culture in the area. It
has been argued that kings’ sagas such as Heimskringla and Morkinskinna
were written for the court, not only to honour the ancestors of the rulers
but also as narratives of how to behave at court and on the risks and bene
21 the most recent presentation of this translated literature is by jürg Glauser, “Romance
(translated riddarasögur),” Companion to Old NorseIcelandic Literature and Culture, 371–
387.
22 That this is not a new observation can be seen from Einar Ól. Sveinsson’s remarks on court
ly influence on Icelandic chieftains in the thirteenth century, see The Age of the Sturlungs, p.
35–42.