Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1959, Síða 39

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Other romantic sagas may have existed, although they are now lost.
When, in the case of the Tristrams saga, we have to rely on a single 17th
century copy of an earlier MS for our text, it is not surprising if other
sagas have disappeared altogether. It is at least probable that the third
Arthurian romance of Chrétien de Troyes, Lancelot or Le Chevalier de
la Charette, was translated, since the Icelandic Rémundar saga keisara-
sonar, a 14th century imitation of the romantic sagas, shows us Rémundr
travelling about in a cart and calling himself hinn krankt kerrumadr, a
detail that must have been borrowed from Lancelot. There was also, in
Iceland, a tendency to rewrite the foreign romance; thus in addition to
the translated Tristrams saga, there is also an Icelandic adaptation of the
theme, based on the Norwegian translation, but changed and modified in
many respects to suit the taste for fighting and marvellous adventures that
was such a prominent feature of Icelandic literature in the post-classical
period. Mågus saga is a version of the theme treated in the chanson de
geste Les Quatre Fils Aimon, but in its present form it is an Icelandic
work, possibly based on an earlier Norwegian translation. Imitations of
the foreign models are Mirmanns saga, Barings saga, Konråds saga, and
Samsons saga fagra. It has been suggested, e.g. by Kolbing61, that some of
the lygisQgur are based on lost French or Latin originals, but it is gener-
ally easy to distinguish between a French romance in translation and an
Icelandic imitation. The real lygisaga practically always begins as an Ice-
landic saga should begin, with the presentation of the hero, his father,
mother, friends, foes, etc., while the French romances begin by stating
when and where, but regarding the general background of Carolingian or
Arthurian scenery and personages as known. T hen, in geography and
nomenclature, the Icelandic romances naturally do not distinguish between
the matters of France, Britain, Rome, and Dietrich’s Germany. Thus the
author of Barings saga, who is surprisingly well versed in geography,
makes his hero, the son of a duke of Brunswick, perform great deeds in
France and England (and not the imaginary Britain of King Arthur, but
the real England), whose kings are names RikarSr and Pippin. Occasion-
ally, the influence of the fornaldarsaga is felt, when the halls of kings and
noblemen are described as if they were the banqueting halls of the vikings,
with the Qndvegi, and the men seated along the walls, and great trolis
whose daughters fali in love with the heroes, etc. These lygisggur are
61 Riddarasbgur, p. xlvii, on Mirmanns saga.