Anonymous, Strengleikar [Stringed Instruments]

Aðalheiður Guðmundsdóttir (University of Iceland)

Ed. by Ármann Jakobsson, University of Iceland
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.3.4: Icelandic Writing and Culture.
Vol. editors: Ármann Jakobsson (University of Iceland), Kjerstin Moody (Gustavus Adolphus College), Sven Hakon Rossel (Universitat Wien), Herbert Rowland (Purdue University), Jakob Stougaard-Nielsen (University College London)

Dates

First circulation or publication c. 1250

Places

Norway (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Story Collection

Resources

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The

Strengleikar

are a collection of chivalric romances that were translated from one or more collections of French poems (

lais

) at the instigation of King Hákon

gamli

Hákonarson (King Hákon the Old) of Norway, who reigned from 1217 to 1263. King Hákon commissioned the translation of works that would give his subjects an insight into the magnificent world of chivalry and show them the proper way for knights to behave in the courts of kings. The first chivalric romance to be translated at King Hákon’s order was possibly

Tristrams saga ok Ísöndar,

the prologue to which states that Brother Robert translated it in 1226. Other romances translated at the order of King Hákon include, at least,

Elis saga ok Rósamundu

(which according to the epilogue was translated by Robert the…

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1798 words

Citation: Guðmundsdóttir, Aðalheiður. "Strengleikar". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 12 December 2022 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=40713, accessed 25 April 2024.]

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