Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1981, Qupperneq 43
tion.”33 Moreover, this royal passivity is transferred to the riddarasogur.
There is no evidence to support the claim that the translations demon-
strate a concern with kingship, that King Arthur attains in them a promi-
nence which he fails to attain in Chrétien’s romances, or that the transla-
tors endow him with a stature, dignity and power notably lacking in the
originals.34
One of the passages cited to support the thesis that the riddarasogur
exalt King Arthur beyond their French sources is the preface to Mottuls
saga, containing the most expansive portrait of Arthur found in the trans-
lated romances. The image of the legendary king in this work is an
independent creation - by the translator or a later copyist. Nothing in Le
mantel mautaillié or in the other French sources of the Arthurian riddara-
sogur corresponds to the portrait of Arthur in Mottuls saga. In faet,
Arthur’s encomium rivals in length if not in style similar passages in the
romans courtois.
Artus konungr var hinn frægasti hofdingi at hverskonar fræk-
leik ok allskonar drengskap ok kurteisi med fullkomnu hug-
gædi ok vinsælasta mildleik, svå at fullkomliga vard eigi fræg-
ari ok vinsælli hofdingi um hans daga i heiminum. Var hann
hinn vaskasti at våpnum, hinn mildasti at gjofum, blidasti i
ordum, hagrådasti i rådagerdum, hinn godgjarnasti i mis-
kunnsemd, hinn sidugasti i godum medferdum, hinn tigulig-
asti i ollum konungligum stjornum, gudhræddr i verkum,
mjuklyndr godum, hardr illum, miskunnsamr jjurftugum,
beinisamr bjodondum, svå fullkominn i ollum hofdingskap, at
engi illgirnd né ofund var med honum, ok engi kunni at telja
lofsfullri tungu virduligan gofugleik ok sæmd rikis hans. (ch.
l.p. 1).
(King Arthur was the most famous chieftain in all kinds of valor
and all kinds of courage and feats of chivalry, combined with a
perfeet compassion and a most popular mildness, so that in every
respect there was no chieftain more famous or popular in the world
33 Philippe Ménard, Le rire et le sourire dans le roman courtois en France au Moyen Age
(1150-1250). Publications romanes et frangaises, CV (Geneva: Librairie Droz, 1969), p.
314.
34 Barnes, “The riddarasogur and Medieval European Literature,” pp. 147-48.
29