Saga - 1996, Blaðsíða 354

352
RITFREGNIR
og Heiðreks is the longest and most sophisticated, and that of Völsunga
saga the most convincing. Informed by the contemporary sagas, Torfi sin
gles out from the narratives issues such as the inheritance of younger
sons and bastards, generational problems between father and sons, trea
son among kin and allies, polygamy and the fate of concubines,
development of courtly ideals of chieftains desirous to serve ancie
kings, and the image of an ideal and therefore mythical monarch. 1
development of primogeniture in Iceland, the attempts by churchmen
impose the Christian norms of marriage, the growth of monarchy ^
Norway and the conscious attempts to imitate the royal splendor of t e
Angevin and especially the Capetian monarchies - undoubtedly observ
ed by Icelandic travelers both in Norway and in Europe - brought these
problems to the surface in Icelandic society in such urgent manner t
authors suggested their resolution in fictional settings of the past.
The third section starts out with a brilliant analysis of Jótnsvikinga saga■
Torfi considers this text a turning point in the development of medie ^
Icelandic literature because of its early dating - from the first third of I e
thirteenth century - its pagan subject matter, and its rich component 0
fictionality. Not included among the fornaldarsögur, this narrative is tfiuS
more important for his second theme, the development of fiction. tt *n
troduces subjects close to the heart of medieval Icelanders, the legitimate
revolt of worthy warriors against an unjust king and the ascendancy
wealthy farmers into a class of hereditary nobility through advantage°uS
marriages and royal service. Torfi reads this narrative in the context °t
development of the Norwegian monarchy and the concomitant grovvtn
the court which came to include numerous Icelanders.
It is interesting to compare Torfi's study with Gabrielle M. Spiegel '
Romancing the Past: The Rise of Vernacular Prose Historiography in Thirteen ^
Century France (University of Califomia Press, 1993), a work completed a
the same time as Torfi's dissertation. The two authors agree that France
and Iceland experienced a transition from poetry to prose and from Latin
to the vernacular, as local nobles sponsored a literary culture of their ovv,n
separate from that of the clergy. Spiegel argues, however, that the birth °
French vemacular prose historiography was fostered by nobles in Flanders
caught between the encroachment of the French monarchy from ab°ve
and the rise of a wealthy mercantile class from below. In a different envir°n
ment, Torfi perceives of a new class of Icelandic chieftains enamored )
monarchy and seeking preferment through service to the distant kmg-
Torfi wisely does not include Snorri Sturluson among the Icelan
chieftains who were whole-heartedly behind the Norwegian king- ^
stead, he appears prominently in the last chapter of Torfi's book as
presumed author of Egils saga, in which the themes introduced in ]ó'nS
víkinga saga are given fuller treatment. Starting from the premise t