Anonymous, Ívens saga [Saga of Iven]

Sif Ríkharðsdóttir (University of Iceland)
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Ívens saga

, also sometimes spelled

Ívents saga

, is an Old Norse translation of Chrétien de Troyes’

Yvain ou le Chevalier au lion

[Yvain, the Knight of the Lion]. It is generally assumed that the Old French romance was translated into Old Norse in the mid-thirteenth century at the court of King Hákon Hákonarson, who reigned in Norway from 1217 to 1263. The Old French source text is believed to have been composed in the late twelfth century and is considered to exemplify the epitome of the French courtly literary production. It draws on Celtic narrative materials for its content and was tremendously popular in the Middle Ages, with translations appearing in multiple European vernaculars from roughly 1200 onward and into the subsequent centuries. The Old Norse text belongs to what…

1654 words

Citation: Ríkharðsdóttir, Sif. "Ívens saga". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 16 January 2024 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=40934, accessed 06 October 2024.]

40934 Ívens saga 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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