Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1981, Síða 112
once their bane and blessing, derives from a stable cast of characters and
from a limited number of themes that recur in saga after saga with only
minor variation. Since the riddarasogur are derivative, characters as well
as themes are unoriginal. Nonetheless, the authors - that is, translators
or redactors, whatever the case may be - singled out and stressed a
number of motifs in their sources by multiplying their occurrence in the
riddarasogur. The works belonging to the Old Norse-Icelandic matiére de
Bretagne display a penchant for thematic augmentation vis-å-vis their
sources and these Northern extravagations tend to affect the very struc-
ture of the narrative.
In the riddarasogur the knights of the Table Round have an opportuni-
ty to demonstrate their prowess in one dangerous adventure after an-
other and always, it seems, against nominally insurmountable odds. Not
infrequently a knight risks life and limb on behalf of a woman. The very
existence of woman can provoke aggressive behavior necessitating chival-
rous intervention. One motif that recurs in a variety of forms - transplant-
ed from the romans courtois and developed further in the sagas - is the
attempted, successful or foiled abduction of a woman. The motif is most
clearly and fully represented in chapters 49 and 50 of Tristrams saga. An
Irish nobleman, who has long loved Isond, arrives one day at King Mar-
kis’ court bearing a harp. At the king’s request the Irishman entertains
the court by performing on his harp, but only after having extracted from
the king a promise: in return for his performance the knight would re-
ceive whatever he might request. Markis readily agrees without giving
thought to the consequences of such a hasty promise. King Markis’ im-
petuous pledge - a variant of which is King Arthur’s rash promise in Mottuls
saga - results in the temporary loss of his wife. When the knight reveals
that only Isond can satisfy him, Markis wants to renege his promise, but
is reminded that a king who repudiates an oath has no right to rule. The
only way out of the dilemma is to resort to arms, yet Markis finds no
support among his retainers. Not the sacredness of a royal oath prevents
them from siding with the king, but a healthy respect for the Irishman’s
superior physical strength: pvl at pat vissu allir, at hann var grimmr madr
ok hinn hardasti l våpnaskiptum ok til allskonar atgerdar (ch. 50, p. 105
‘for they all knew that he was a fierce man, bold in battie and skilied in
the use of arms and diverse accomplishments’). Markis - who, like King
Arthur, does not engage in combat - has no choice but to surrender Isond
to the unbidden guest who rides off with her. The abduction of Isond
gives Tristram, who had been absent from the court at the time of the
incident, an opportunity to demonstrate not so much his prowess but
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