Editiones Arnamagnæanæ. Series B - 01.10.1983, Page 22

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romance Floire et Blancheflor. The saga was presu-
mably written in Norway between 1220 and 1320 but
apart from a small Norwegian fragment from the
beginning of the 14th century it survives only in
Icelandic MSS from the 15th century.17 A similar,
but more complicated case is presented by the
Nordic versions of Chrétien de Troyes’ Yvain.18 The
hypothesis about Partal. and P & K cannot, however,
be supported by internal evidence in the saga itself
(as in Ivens saga) or by a surviving Norwegian
fragment of the saga (as with Flóres saga ok Blanki-
flúr) or by the existence of a Swedish source for
P & K (as for both Flores og Blanseflor and Ivan
loveridder).
The presupposition is, of course, that the only way
in which an Icelandic author in the 14th century
could have any knowledge of continental literature
was through the medium of Norwegian translations.
Although this belief is shared by most scholars in the
field, it is ill-founded, and in fact quite improbable.19
What remains of Trampe Bodtker’s argumentation
when these criticisms have been taken into account is
the following: There would seem to be sufficient
grounds for assuming that Partal., P&K and E2 all
derive from a lost common source and it can also be
shown to be probable that this lost source, in com-
17 There is no particular reason for believing that P & K was
translated from Swedish. Both Kölbing and Trampe Bodtker
consider that it is most likely to have been composed from
memory. Incidentally, some of the name-forms seem rather to point
towards Germany (Frago <Urraque, the knights Hvidrok and Sort-
rok), see J. Olrik in Danske Folkebeger fra 16. og 17. Aarhundrede
VI (Copenhagen, 1925), p. lxi.
18 Cf. E. F. Halvorsen, ‘Ivens saga’, KLNM 7 (1962), col. 528.
19 Cf. Povl Skárup, ‘Forudsætter Rémundar saga en norron
Lancelots saga kerrumanns?’, Gripla IV (Reykjavík, 1980), pp. 76-
80.
J