Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1981, Síða 46
hann fjolmenni um sik hafa, en fong hans mætti uppi halda.
En med hann var hinn vildasti i gjofum ok åstsamasti i
sfnum medferdum ok hinn hardasti i bardogum, sotti hann af
sinni hreysti, vaskleik ok burtreidum svå miklar eignir ok
rxkar tekjur af ovinum sfnum, at å fåm årum vox vald hans ok
virding med morgum fongum. (pp. 3-4).
(In Britanny there lived a youth, the most handsome of body,
outstanding in magnificent gifts, powerful and possessing mighty
castles and strongholds. He was learned in many kinds of know-
ledge, the doughtiest in chivalry, the boldest in all manner of prow-
ess, wise and wary in his plans, foresighted and farseeing, fully ac-
complished in all skiils above all other men who lived at that time in
the realm, and this knight was named Kanelangres. He was most
fierce to the fierce, and most severe to the severe. He kept so great
a host of trusty knights and hardy retainers about him, that he
would have more men about him than his means could provide.
Since he was so generous with gifts, so affectionate in his behavior,
and so fierce in battie, he won such extensive possessions through
his prowess and skili in fighting, and such rich booty from his
enemies that within a few years his power and reputation increased
together with his means.)
Aside from a few aspects of a portrait that are unique to Kanelangres,
such as the reference to his youth, we might as well have before us King
Arthur. If indeed Tristrams saga was the first of the translated romances,
then it should not surprise us to find echoes of Brother Robert’s work in
other riddarasogur as well. The characterization of another king - an
interpolation, as is the case in Mottuls saga - may also owe some of its
features to the portrait of Kanelangres in Tristrams saga. Ironically
enough, it is Klamadius, the oppressor and would-be suitor of Blankiflur,
Parceval’s beloved, who merits an eulogy in Parcevals saga once he has
surrendered himself to Arthur’s power and been accepted as a full-
fledged member of the court. In Chrétien’s Perceval, Clamadeus is quick-
ly dispensed with, for we learn only that he remained with the king for
the rest of his life (vv. 2908-09). The saga, on the contrary, amplifies the
information presented in the French romance by explaining why Klama-
dius became such a respected member of King Arthur’s court:
[Hann] var vel låtinn at ollum riddaraskap, rtkuliga ok virdu-
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