Tristrams saga revisited

Sammendrag

Although the riddarasögur are assumed to have been composed around the middle of the thirteenth century, their manuscript situation does not allow us to infer the exact time and circumstances of their emergence. Yet, the prologues and epilogues of a few sagas of chivalry provide us with a point of reference - most famously in Tristrams saga ok Ísöndar. Due to the dating of its composition to 1226 in the prologue to the saga, it has often been suggested to be the first riddarasaga composed in thirteenth-century Norway. This paper argues that Tristrams saga does not necessarily represent the first instance of Norse romance translation, even if its dating to 1226 is accurate. By means of a lexical analysis, the author illustrates the Norse translators' familiarity with the new concept of chivalry and shows that the use of loanwords in different riddarasögur speaks against the temporal primacy of Tristrams saga.