Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1959, Síða 51
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no interest for the text of the Norse Kms. This young translation is also
found in other manuscripts.
Unger was fully aware that the Icelandic MSS represented two differ-
ent versions of the saga. The difference between them is apparent in the
treatment of branch IV, which, in A and a, is a fairly literal translation
of a part of the so-called Pseudo-Turpin’s Chronicle and the Chanson
d’Aspremont. The combination of these widely differing sources has led
to much confusion and many contradictions, which the original translator
has not even tried to remove. The mediæval editor of the version found
in MSS B and b did his hest to get rid of the contradictions, but to do
this, he had to rewrite the whole branch. Since he did not know the ori-
ginal sources, his Agulandus jx'ittr is an entirely new tale, which differs
widely from the Aa version of the story. There are differences between
the two versions at other points as well, but they are less important and
rarely amount to a rewriting of the relevant parts of the saga.
Kms was apparently one of the most popular of the romantic sagas.
A Swedish translation of two branches (VII and VIII) has been pre-
served in four 15th century MSS20. The translator had a good MS of
the saga, and the Swedish version preserves occasional readings which, by
comparison with the Old French sources, can be shown to be better than
those of the Icelandic MSS. S (henceforth, this letter is used to denote the
Swedish version) presents a selection from the saga, thus it omits the first
part of branch VIII (the beginning of the Chanson de Roland). At the
end of that branch it has preserved the episode of La belle Aude, which
is lost in all four Icelandic MSS.
The Danish Karl Magnus Krønike (henceforth called D) is preserved
in one MS, written in 1480, and in a number of 16th century printed
editions which are not based on the existing MS21. This is not so much
a translation as an abridged version of the saga. It contains the same
branches as the Aa version up to and including branch VIII (i.e. there is
no trace of branch II, which is only found in B and b), and it has branch
IV in a form that is based on the Aa version. After branch VIII, D has
20 Ed. by G. E. Klemming: Prosadikter från Sveriges medeltid (Stockholm 1887-
89). The MSS are described on pp. 359-61. A more recent ed. of two of the MSS is:
Karl Magnus enligt Codex Verelianus och Fru Elins Bolt, utg. av David Kornhall
(Lund 1957).
21 Ed. by C. J. Brandt: Romantisk Digtning fra Middelalderen, vol. III (Copen-
hagen 1877). MSS and editions described on pp. 346-49.