Writing and Reading in Medieval Manuscript Culture. The Translation and Transmission of the Story of Elye in Old French and Old Norse Literary Contexts

Pages: 262 p. Illustrations:12 col. Language(s):English, Old French, Old Norse. Publication Year:2014. Brepols. ISBN: 978-2-503-54779-4. Hardback --- SUMMARY This book relates a story about the writing, reading, and reception of one text in three different cultural and political contexts across Europe. The focus is on the story of the Christian knight Elye and his Saracen princess Rosamunde, which was translated into Old Norse in the thirteenth century. This is a study of three of the manuscripts in which the work is preserved: one Old French manuscript from Flanders (BnF, fr. 25516, c. 1280) and two Old Norse manuscripts, one from Norway (DG 47 fol., c. 1270) and one from Iceland (Holm Perg 6 4 to, c. 1400). These manuscripts represent three different rhetorical and communicative situations and show how the writing and reading of the same text was conditioned by the respective cultural and political environment. The book innovatively conveys Old Norse culture as an active respondent, participant, and thus modulator of European literary tendencies. Tracing the translation, transmission, and transformation of the text throughout Europe redefines aspects of the Latin-vernacular nexus in the Middle Ages, and thus presents a new and valuable voice in the discussion of medieval European literary and cultural systems. TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Illustrations Plates Acknowledgements Introduction Chapter 1. Writing and Reading in the Middle Ages Chapter 2. Elye de Saint-Gille in BnF, MS fr. 25516 Chapter 3. Elíss saga in De La Gardie 47 Fol. Chapter 4. Elíss saga in Holm Perg 6 4to Chapter 5. The Transmission and Transformation of a Text-Work: Comparative Analysis of Three Versions Bibliography. …