Strengleikar (English: Stringed Instruments) is a collection of twenty-one Old Norse prose tales based on the Old French Lais of Marie de France. It is one of the literary works commissioned by King Haakon IV of Norway (r. 1217-1263) for the Norwegian court, and is counted among the Old Norse Chivalric sagas.Marianne E. Kalinke and P. M. Mitchell, Bibliography of Old Norse–Icelandic Romances, Islandica, 44 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1985), p. 105. The collection is anonymous. It has been attributed to Brother Robert, a cleric who adapted several French works into Norse under Haakon, the best known of which is Tristrams saga ok Ísöndar (a Norse version of the Tristan and Iseult legend), but there is also reason to think that the collection may be a gathering of the work of several different translators. Unlike many medieval translations, the Strengleikar are generally extremely close in sense to the Old French originals; the text which differs most is Milun, which is abridged to half its original length.

Lais and their sources

The Strengleikar comprise:Marianne E. Kalinke and P. M. Mitchell, Bibliography of Old Norse–Icelandic Romances, Islandica, 44 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1985), p. 105.

Forræða 'prologue' Bisclaretz ljóð (Bisclavret) Chetovel (Chaitivel) Desire (Desiré) Douns ljóð (Doon) Eskja (Le Fresne (lai)) Equitan (Equitan) Geitarlauf (Chevrefoil) Grelent (Graelent) Guiamars ljóð (Guigemar) Guruns ljóð (source unknown) Januals ljóð (Lanval) Jonet (Yonec) Laustik (Laüstic) Leikara ljóð (Lecheor) Milun (Milun) Naboreis (Nabaret) Ricar hinn gamli (source unknown) Strandar ljóð (The Lay of the Beach, a lost work composed by 'The Red Lady of Brittany' for William the Conqueror) Tidorel (Tydorel) Tveggja elskanda ljóð (Les Deux Amants) Tveggia elskanda strengleikr (source unknown)

Marie's lai Eliduc is not found in Scandinavian manuscripts but the motif of a character learning about healing plants by observing weasels appears not only there but in the Icelandic Völsunga saga, which seems to indicate that Eliduc was known in Iceland in some form.Carol J. Clover, ‘Vǫlsunga saga and the Missing Lai of Marie de France’, in Sagnaskemmtun: Studies in Honour of Hermann Pálsson on his 65th Birthday, 26th May 1986, ed. by Rudolf Simek, Jónas Kristjánsson and Hans Bekker-Nielsen, Philologica Germanica, 8 (Vienna: Böhlau, 1986), pp. 79–84.

Bisclaretz ljóð, circulating in Iceland, was much adapted, becoming Tiódels saga. This has not traditionally been counted among the Strengleikar, however.Tiodielis saga, ed. by Tove Hown Ohlsson, Stofnun Árna Magnússonar í íslenskum fræðum. Rit, 72 (Reykjavík: Stofnun Árna Magnússonar í íslenskum fræðum, 2009).

Manuscripts

The principal manuscripts are:Marianne E. Kalinke and P. M. Mitchell, Bibliography of Old Norse–Icelandic Romances, Islandica, 44 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1985), p. 105.

De la Gardie, 4-7, f. 17va-43vb (Carolinabiblioteket, Uppsala). The principal manuscript in which the collection has been preserved, dating from 1250×1270 (defective). AM 666 b 4o, ff. 1r-4v (Den Arnamagnæanske samling, Kongelige biblioteket, Copenhagen). 4 leaves (Grelents saga), originally part of De la Gardie 4-7.Strengleikar: An Old Norse Translation of Twenty-one Old French Lais, ed. and trans. by Robert Cook and Mattias Tveitane, Norrøne tekster, 3 (Oslo: Norsk historisk kjeldeskrift-institutt, 1979), p. ix. Lbs 840 4o, f. 292r-299v (Landsbókasafn Íslands, Reykjavik). Date: 1737 (Gvimars saga).

Other manuscripts include:Marianne E. Kalinke and P. M. Mitchell, Bibliography of Old Norse–Icelandic Romances, Islandica, 44 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1985), p. 105.

Arnamagnaean Institute, Reykjavík: AM 391, fol. (c. 1875) (prologue only); AM 948c, 4° (19th century). Royal Library, Copenhagen: NKS 1832, 4° (late 18th century), fragment (Grelentz saga) Royal Library, Stockholm: Papp. 4:o nr 34 (late 17th century), excerpts

Editions and translations Diplomatic transcription of De la Gardie available at the Medieval Nordic Text Archive. Cook, Robert and Mattias Tveitane (eds. & trs.). Strengleikar. An Old Norse translation of twenty-one Old French lais.. Norsk Historisk Kjeldeskrift-Institutt, Norrøne tekster 3. Oslo: Grieg, 1979. . Edition and English translation. Keyser, R. and C.R. Unger (eds.). Strengleikar, eða Lioðabók. En Samling af romantiske Fortællinger efter bretoniske Folkesange (Lais), oversat fra fransk paa norsk ved Midten af trettende Aarhundrede efter Foranstaltning af Kong Haakon Haakonssön. Christiania: Feilberg og Landmark, 1850. Tveitane, Mattias (ed.). Elis saga, Strengleikar and other Texts. Selskapet til utgivelse av gamle norske håndskrifter (Corpus codicum Norvegicorum medii aevi), Quatro serie 4. Oslo, 1972. Facsimile edition of MSS De la Gardie and AM 666. Strenglege eller Sangenes Bog, oversat fra oldnorsk af H. Winter Hjelm. Kristiania: Feilberg og Landmark, 1850. Rytter, Henrik (tr.). Strengleikar eller songbok. Oslo: Det Norske Samlaget, 1962. Norwegian translation. Aðalheiður Guðmundsdóttir, Strengleikar, Íslensk rit, 14 (Reykjavík : Bókmenntafræðistofnun Háskóla Íslands, 2006). Popular Icelandic edition.

Notes

References Foulet, Lucien. "Les Strengleikar et le Lai du lecheor." Revue des langues romanes 51 (1908): 97-110. Available from Gallica Lacy, Norris J. (ed.). The New Arthurian Encyclopedia. New York: Garland, 1991. . Meissner, Rudolf. Die Strengleikar. Halle: Niemeyer, 1902.

External links Ingvil Brügger Budal, "A Translation of the Fantastic" (Paper preprint from 13th International Saga Conference) Bibliography prepared by Ingvil Brügger Budal, ARLIMA.