Þjalar-Jóns saga

Þjalar-Jóns saga ('the saga of Þjálar-Jón' or 'Jón of the file'), also known as Saga Jóns Svipdagssonar ok Eireks forvitna ('the saga of Jón Svipdagsson and Eirekur the Curious') is a medieval Icelandic saga defined variously as a romance-saga[1] and a legendary saga.[2] The earliest manuscript, Holm. perg. 6 4to, dates from around the first quarter of the fifteenth century, and the saga is thought to be from the fourteenth century.[3]

The saga is particularly noteworthy because chapter 3 contains skaldic verse, which ‘is surely unique among fornaldarsögur and riddarasögur’, and also contains one of the only riddles attested in Old Norse outside Heiðreks saga.[4]

Summary and riddle

Kalinke and Mitchell summarise the saga thus:

Eirekr, son of King Vilhjalmr of Vallandi, falls in love with a maiden whose image Gestr, a mysterious stranger at his father's court, has shown to him. Together, Eirekr and Gestr embark on a search for the maiden. Gestr is in reality Jon, son of Earl Svipdagr, whom Earl Róðbert has slain. The earl plans to marry Marsilia, Jon's sister—the maiden for whom Eirekr is searching. Jon and Eirekr succeed in rescuing Marsilia and her mother from captivity. Eirekr marries Marsilia and succeeds his father as king, while Jon marries the daughter of the king of Holmgaard.[5]

A fuller summary is provided by White.[6]

The Earl Róðbert, who is the villain of the saga, also features as a villain in Konráðs saga keisarasonar, making the sagas an interesting example of intertextual relationships within the romance-saga corpus.[7]

As edited by White[8] and translated by Lavender,[9] the riddle included in the saga runs:

“Ek vilda reyna svinnu þína, Gestr, því settumst ek í sæti þitt; eða hvat heitir hringrinn?” Gestr svarar: “Af sindri ok seimi var sægrími gjörr, eða hvat er þetta?” Konungsson svarar: “Þat er sindr harðast, er leikr um hjarta manns, hugarangr allmikit, en rautt gull er seimr, en lýsigull er sægrími; en hringrinn er gjörr í minning þess manns, er hugarangr hefir haft, at hann skuli því oftar minnast sinna harma, er hann sér hann fyrir augum sér, ok kalla ek hann Gáinn.”
‘I wanted to put your nature to the test, Gestur, and for that reason I sat in your chair. So what’s the ring called?’ Gestur answers: ‘From iron-slag and gilt thread Sægrímir was made. So what is it?’ The prince answers: ‘The hardest of iron-slags is that which plays upon the heart of a man, in other words great sorrow. Gilt thread is red gold, and Sægrímir is white gold. And the ring has been made as a memento for the man who has experienced great sorrow, so that he shall often think upon his sorrows when he looks at it, and I name it Gáinn.’

Lavender suggests that the riddle is in fact in some variety of eddaic verse.[10]

Manuscripts

The Stories for All Time project[11] and Philip Lavender[12] list the following 47 surviving manuscripts of the saga:

Editions and translations

References

  1. ↑ Marianne E. Kalinke and P. M. Mitchell, Bibliography of Old Norse–Icelandic Romances, Islandica, 44 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1985), pp. 132-34.
  2. ↑ 'Þjalar-Jóns saga', in Stories for All Time: The Icelandic Fornaldarsögur, ed. by Matthew James Driscoll and others (Copenhagen: University of Copenhagen, Department of Nordic research, n.d.), http://www.fasnl.ku.dk/bibl/bibl.aspx?sid=jss&view=manuscript.
  3. ↑ ‘Þjalar-Jóns saga’, trans. by Philip Lavender, Leeds Studies in English, n.s. 46 (2015), 73-113 (p. 73).
  4. ↑ ‘Þjalar-Jóns saga’, trans. by Philip Lavender, Leeds Studies in English, n.s. 46 (2015), 73-113 (p. 79).
  5. ↑ Marianne E. Kalinke and P. M. Mitchell, Bibliography of Old Norse–Icelandic Romances, Islandica, 44 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1985), p. 132.
  6. ↑ Cecilia White, ‘Þjalar-Jóns saga: The Icelandic Text with an English Translation, Introduction and Notes’ (unpublished MA Thesis, University of Iceland, 2016), pp. 4-6. http://skemman.is/en/item/view/1946/25725.
  7. ↑ ‘Þjalar-Jóns saga’, trans. by Philip Lavender, Leeds Studies in English, n.s. 46 (2015), 73-113 (p. 76).
  8. ↑ Cecilia White, ‘Þjalar-Jóns saga: The Icelandic Text with an English Translation, Introduction and Notes’ (unpublished MA Thesis, University of Iceland, 2016), p. 37. http://skemman.is/en/item/view/1946/25725.
  9. ↑ ‘Þjalar-Jóns saga’, trans. by Philip Lavender, Leeds Studies in English, n.s. 46 (2015), 73-113 (p. 88).
  10. ↑ ‘Þjalar-Jóns saga’, trans. by Philip Lavender, Leeds Studies in English, n.s. 46 (2015), 73-113 (p. 88 n. 34).
  11. ↑ 'Þjalar-Jóns saga', in Stories for All Time: The Icelandic Fornaldarsögur, ed. by Matthew James Driscoll and others (Copenhagen: University of Copenhagen, Department of Nordic research, n.d.), http://www.fasnl.ku.dk/bibl/bibl.aspx?sid=jss&view=manuscript.
  12. ↑ ‘Þjalar-Jóns saga’, trans. by Philip Lavender, Leeds Studies in English, n.s. 46 (2015), 73-113 (p. 79).
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