Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1981, Page 38

States “por ce qu’el n’iert pas a droit dite/vos veil dire la verité” (vv. 4-5);
but to amuse and entertain is not declared to be a goal. In Yvain Chrétien
de Troyes goes so far as to inform us that King Arthur should be taken as
a model of chivalric behavior - La cui proesce nos ansaingne/Que nos
soiiens preu et cortois (vv. 2-3). Despite the faet that the saga version
expands the introduction considerably, the author of Ivens saga disre-
gards the didactic comment. We find instead a comparison of Arthur with
another great ruler:
Hinn ågæti konungr Arturus ré5 fyrir Englandi, sem morgum
monnum er kunnigt. Hann var um sidir keisari yfir Roma-
borg. Hann var ^eirra konunga frægstr, er verit hafa Jjann
veg frå hafinu, ok vinsælstr annarr en Karlamagnus. Hann
hafdi })å roskustu riddara, sem i våru allri kristninni. (3:4-
4:4)14
(The excellent King Arthur ruled over England - as many are
aware - and finally became emperor of Rome. He was the most
famous of all those kings who have ruled on that side of the ocean
and the most popular after Charlemagne. He had the bravest
knights in all Christendom.)
The testimony of later indigenous Icelandic romances lends credence to
the thesis that traditionally - both in Norway and Iceland - the primary
funetion of the riddarasogur was to amuse. Several Icelandic authors,
albeit all of them anonymous, concern themselves with the purpose and
nature of romance. The authors declare that their works exist for the
benefit of posterity and contain such information as will be remembered
and continue to entertain future generations - til minnis ok skemmtanar.15
The authors pride themselves on the faet that they have searched for
interesting narratives in the far corners of the earth; in exotic places they
found the stories they are now relating.16 The Icelandic authors of riddara-
sogur are in faet proselytizers. They not only inform their audiences that
14 Kolbing, Ivens saga, believes that the reference to Charlemagne suggests that Karla-
magnus saga antedates the translation of Yvain into Norwegian (p. 1, note to 1.4). The
allusion to Arthur’s becoming emperor of Rome may indicate the translator’s acquaintance
with Breta sogur.
15 Adonias saga, LM1R, III, 69:3.
16 Jarlmanns saga ok Hermanns, LMIR, III, 3:3-5; also, Adonias saga, III, 69:3-5; Vil-
hjålms saga sjods, LMIR, IV, 3:6-7.
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