Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1981, Side 55
considerable. In Erex saga the queen is also depicted as a paragon of
royal virtue. When she is to give a verdict regarding the fate of Malpirant,
the knight who had dishonored her indirectly by insulting two of her
subjects, her decision to grant mercy becomes in effect a miniature
sermon:
Sannliga ertu dauda verdr fyrir j^å skomm er J>inn dvergr
gerdi minni mey ok minum riddara, ok ert ongrar miskunnar
verdr fyrir oss, en af |>v{ at J^at er mestr sigr, at sigra reidi
sjålfs sins, en hjålpa overdugum j^eim er })arf, på stattu upp,
riddari, med Joinni fylgd, ok skaltu vera hér velkominn. (20:3-8)
(You are truly deserving of death because of that disgrace which
your dwarf inflicted on my lady in waiting and on my knight, and
you are not deserving of any mercy as far as we are concerned. But
conquering one’s own anger and helping miserable wretches in
need is the greatest victory; therefore, stand up, knight, you and
your party - you shall be welcome here.)
The moral considerations expressed by the queen and King Arthur in
Erex saga are part of a pattern of interpolated didactic comments voiced
by various characters in the romance.
Tristrams saga, in which Arthur’s court plays no role whatever, none-
theless depicts the king as a most forceful personality, as a ruler who
accepts challenges, and as a great fighter. Arthur appears in a role ordi-
narily assigned to his knights in Arthurian romance. Two episodes in
Tristrams saga that belong to the realm of historiography rather than
romance are reserved for the exploits of King Arthur. We are told in
Tristrams saga that the episodes in question have only a tenuous connec-
tion with the Tristan story and might be considered intrusions by the
reader (chs. 71 and 78). Joseph Bédier thought that Thomas’ source for
the Arthurian episodes in the French Tristan had been Wace’s Geste as
Bretons41 and suggested that Thomas introduced the Arthurian material
as a chronological reference for Tristan’s adventures. Accordingly, Tris-
41 Le roman de Tristan par Thomas. Poéme du XIV siécle (Paris: Librairie de Firmin
Didot, 1902), I, pp. 289-90; 308-09.
41