Nitida saga

Nitida saga (medieval manuscript spelling) or Nítíða saga (normalised Old Norse and modern Icelandic spelling) is a fictional late medieval Icelandic romance saga thought to have been composed in Iceland in the fourteenth century.[1] This saga is about a maiden-king named Nitida, who rules over France, and who is pursued by kings and princes from such faraway places as Constantinople, India, and a place the saga calls the Land of the Saracens. It is thought to be a direct response to Klári saga: in Klári saga, the main female protagonist, Serena, is brutally punished for her initial refusal to marry the hero Klárus, whereas the heroine of Nitida saga is portrayed much more favourably.[2] Ethnicity, travel, and geography play important roles in the saga, and questions of gender and power, while magic, trickery, and deception are also prominent.[3]

Summary

In the words of Kalinke and Mitchell,

The saga relates the repeated failures of suitors to win the beautiful Queen Nitida of Frakkland as wife. Through sorcery Ingi, son of King Hugon of MiklagarSr, succeeds in abducting Nitida, but on their supposed wedding day she disappears by means of a magic stone. Heiðarlogi and Velogi, sons of King Soldán of Serkland, also journey to Paris to sue for her hand, but they and their armies are destroyed. Livorius, son of King Blebarnius of India, manages to abduct Nitida, but on the supposed wedding day Nitida again disappears by magic, taking Sýjalín, Livorius' sister along. Under the guise of Eskilvarðr, Livorius once more journeys to Paris, and spends the winter with Nitida. In the spring Nitida shows Livorius/Eskilvarðr a magic stone by means of which she is able to monitor events all over the world, and reveals that she has known his identity all along. Livorius marries Nitida and Syjalin marries Ingi, one of Nitida's former suitors.[4]

Manuscripts and editions

The saga survives in 65 known manuscripts, though it is possible that others remain to be identified, particularly in North America.[5]

References

  1. ↑ M. J. Driscoll, ‘Nitida saga’, in Medieval Scandinavia: An Encyclopedia, ed. by Phillip Pulsiano and others (New York: Garland, 1993), p. 432.
  2. ↑ Paul Bibire, 'From Riddarasaga to Lygisaga: The Norse Response to Romance', in Les Sagas de Chevaliers (Riddarasögur): Actes de la Ve Conférence Internationale sur les Sagas Présentés par Régis Boyer (Toulon. Juillet 1982), ed. by Régis Boyer, Serie Civilisations, 10 (Toulon: Presses de l’Université Paris-Sorbonne, 1985), pp. 55-74, at pp. 67, 70.
  3. ↑ Barnes, ‘Margin vs. Centre: Geopolitics in Nitida saga (A Cosmographical Comedy?)’, in The Fantastic in Old Norse/Icelandic Literature: Sagas and the British Isles, Preprint Papers of the Thirteenth International Saga Conference, Durham and York, 6–12 August 2006, ed. by John McKinnell, David Ashurst, and Donata Kick, 2 vols (Durham: CMRS, 2006), i, 104–12, available at http://www.dur.ac.uk/medieval.www/sagaconf/barnes.htm; cf. Geraldine Barnes, 'Travel and translatio studii in the Icelandic Riddarasögur', in Übersetzen im skandinavischen Mittelalter, ed. by Vera Johanterwage and Stephanie Würth, Studia medievalia septentrionalia, 14 (Vienna: Fassbaender, 2007), pp. 123-39.
  4. ↑ Marianne E. Kalinke and P. M. Mitchell, Bibliography of Old Norse–Icelandic Romances, Islandica, 44 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1985), p. 85.
  5. ↑ Sheryl McDonald Werronen, Popular Romance in Iceland: The Women, Worldviews, and Manuscript Witnesses of Nítíða saga (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2016), pp. 25, 28; cf. Marianne E. Kalinke, and P. M. Mitchell, Bibliography of Old Norse-Icelandic Romances, Islandica, 44 (London: Cornell University Press, 1985), pp. 85–86.
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