Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1959, Blaðsíða 29

15
it certain that they belong to the same period. Other considerations re-
inforce these conclusions: after 1319, when King Håkon V died, and his
grandson Magnus came to the throne, Norway and Sweden had the same
king for nearly thirty years, and the king and his court were usually in
Sweden. At the same time, the policy of Håkon V and his elder hrother
King Eirikr (1280-99) had brought about a change in the ancient cordial
relations between Norway and England36, and economically and politi-
cally, Norway was becoming more and more dependent on the North
German Hanse towns. No new literary impulses reached Norway after
about 1300, and even the flourishing French literature of the 13th century
was virtually unknown there. The alliance with France does not seem to
have had any influence in the literary field. King Håkon V is said, in an
Icelandic ly gisaga37, to have caused many riddarasggur (tales of chivalry)
to be translat ed, from Greek and from French, but the reference to Greek
sources makes the whole statement suspect.
It is not absolutely certain that Robert’s translation of the Tristrams
saga is really the first of these sagas, but it is quite likely. In 1226, King
Håkon was 23 years old, well educated, and well capable of expressing
his preference for “modern” literature by having a translation of Thomas’s
Tristan made. Of Robert we know nothing. He may have been a for-
eigner, as suggested by Leach38, but his command of Norwegian is so
good that I do not think it is very likely. It is true that the name Robert
is not recorded in Norway until the 14th century, but then, the names
known from Norway in the 13th century are chiefly those of nobles and
farmers. In the towns, the foreign influence was stronger, and our Robert
may have been a townsman from e.g. Bergen, who was named after an
English grandfather or the like. He may also have been an Orcadian, since
the Anglo-Norman influence (via Scotland) was strong in the Orkneys.
The two other known translators, Brandr and Jon Halldorsson, were
clerics and renowned for their learning, and both had travelled extensively,
Jon having studied in Bologna. It is by no means certain that all the
translators were clergymen of some kind, but it is likely. The style cannot
be used as an argument, for even laymen would have had to go to school
to learn Latin, and it is extremely improbable that anyone who had only
* Leach: Angevin Britain and Scandinavia, pp. 58-62.
31 Victors saga ok Bidus, unpubl., quoted by E. Kolbing in his ed. of Flores saga
ok Blankiflur, Halle 1896, p. v.
38 op. cit. pp. 179-80.
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