Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1981, Qupperneq 58

Arthur is depicted as conquering hero as is consistent with the Arthurian
section of Breta sogur. Moreover, instead of restoring the expropriated
territories to their rightful owners - as the account in Tristrams saga
intimates - Arthur’s victory over the giant in Breta sogur enables him to
further his own plans for aggrandizement. He sends word to all the
victims that they can collect their beards either by winning them from him
through combat or else by becoming his liegemen and paying tribute.
Needless to say, no one dåres challenge Arthur. The other episode in
Breta sogur differs from the analogous accounts in Tristrams saga as also
in Geoffrey’s Historia in that the author does not go into the particulars
relating to the young woman’s death, despite otherwise providing ampie
details relative to the incident.47
King Arthur seems possessed of a split personality in the riddarasogur.
On the one hånd Tristrams saga depicts the quasi-historical Arthur, the
Arthur of action, the slayer of giants, who accepts challenges and avenges
misdeeds. This is the Arthur of Wace, of Geoffrey of Monmouth, the
Arthur of Breta sogur. Nonetheless, Tristrams saga dismisses the king as
a mere digression: he appears for chronological reasons, as a background
for the actions of the protagonist. The Arthur of romance becomes, on
the other hånd, “eine bloBe Statistenfigur, die durch ihren Hof den Mit-
telpunkt abgibt fur alle nach und nach erfundenen und ersonnenen aben-
teuerlichen Begebenheiten, die den Inhalt dieser Romane bilden.”48 This
Arthur gets angry, swears mighty oaths, sets out on a pilgrimage to
observe the workings of a magic spring, and is entertained by the reports
of adventures encountered by his knights. King Arthur is surrounded by
the trappings of a magnificent court, and lauded for every virtue imagin-
able. In short, Arthur is the embodiment of royal perfection. Yet the
very work that bestows the most lavish praise on the legendary ruler, that
commences by placing before our eyes an ideal reign - Mottuls saga -
destroys that very ideal through its plot. The tale that shows Arthurian
justice in action - Januals Ijod - is also the tale in which a knight who is
innocent stands accused before the king because of the imperfection of
the persons associated with Arthur’s court. The hero is rescued from the
duplicity of Arthur’s court by a power higher than Arthur’s. The one saga
that entertains didactic considerations regarding royal conduct and that
could be interpreted as an attempt to instruct - Erex saga - differs so
47 Hauksbok, 292:5 ff.; AM 573 4to, 57v.
48 Wendelin Foerster, Kristian von Troyes Wdrterbuch zu seinen såmtlichen Werken.
Romanische Bibliothek, XXI (Halle/Saale: Niemeyer, 1914), p. 14*.
44