Karlamagnús saga
The Karlamagnús saga, Karlamagnussaga or Karlamagnus-saga ("saga of Charlemagne") was a late 13th century Norse prose compilation and adaptation, made for Haakon V of Norway, of the Old French chansons de geste of the Matter of France dealing with Charlemagne and his paladins.[1] In some cases, the Karlamagnús saga remains the only source for otherwise-lost Old French epics.[2]
The vast work is divided into 10 chapters, or "branches". Among its many tales, the work includes the following[3]:
- a version of the tale of Dame Olive et Landri - the author says the text is based on an English version; it is an adaptación of the French cha son de geste Doon de la Roche[4] a work also known in medieval Spain under the title Historia de Enrique, Fi de Oliva[5]
- King Agolant - a version of Agolant tale from the Historia Caroli Magni;
- Otuel - a version of the French poem Otinel;
- Af Runzival Bardaga - a version of The Song of Roland textually close (although with a few notable differences) to the Oxford manuscript;
- the story of Basin - no French version of this tale is extant[6]
The saga was translated into Swedish verse in the fourteenth century as Karl Magnus.[7]
See also
References
- Holmes, Jr, Urban Tigner [U.T.]. A History of Old French Literature from the Origins to 1300. New York: F.S. Crofts, 1938.
- Crosland, Jesse. The Old French Epic. New York: Haskell House, 1951.
- ^ Holmes, 85.
- ^ Crossland, 268.
- ^ Crossland, 268-9.
- ^ Paul Meyer & Gédéon Huet, eds. Dono de la Roche, Paris : Champion, 1921
- ^ J. M. Fradejas Rueda, "Historia de Enrique, Fi de Oliva. Análisis de un relato caballeresco del siglo XIV. London: Department of Hispanic Studies - Queen Mary College -University of London, 2003
- ^ Homes, 85.
- ^ Massimiliano Bampi, ‘In Praise of the Copy: Karl Magnus in 15th-Century Sweden’, in Lärdomber oc skämptan: Medieval Swedish Literature Reconsidered, ed, by Massimiliano Bampi and Fulvio Ferrari, Samlingar utgivna av Svenska fornskriftsällskapet, serie 3: Smärre texter och undersökningar 5 (Uppsala: Svenska fornskriftsällskapet, 2008).