Sagas, Romance and Ideology in Late Medieval Iceland Jhanna Katrn Fririksdttir The rni Magnsson Institute for

Icelandic Studies, Reykjavk, Iceland The fourteenth century was a period of considerable social change in Iceland, which went from being a self-governing Commonwealth to becoming a part of the Norwegian monarchy. A new ruling class, which received its mandate from the king rather than retainers, cultivated a new taste in literature, influenced by foreign trends. This class subscribed to a royal and courtly ideology, which promoted the adoption of previously unfamiliar modes of normative behaviour. Icelanders had known romance texts through translations for over half a century, but during this period, the genre rose to prominence and soon generated indigenous imitations, competing with a strong native literary tradition in terms of innovation and popularity. This paper will explore the connections between indigenous and imported literature from the perspective of one text, Hrlfs saga Gautrekssonar, a saga written in a native mode, dealing with legendary Scandinavian material such as vikings and berserkers rather than knights and damsels, yet to some extent inflected by foreign material. The saga, highly popular in the medieval period, is preserved in two redactions; I will argue that the longer version, which was reworked from the shorter one at some point in the fourteenth century, betrays a stronger courtly ideology, showing the impact of romance on a traditionally Icelandic text. On the other hand, this saga, strongly featuring a Scandinavian shield-maiden figure, also affected the development of the romance genre in Iceland, which used features of this character to create a distinctly Icelandic romance heroine, who in turn became highly popular in the Icelandic romances. Thus in the dynamic literary milieu of late medieval Iceland, native literature was not just a recipient of influence from romance, but the reverse was also true. The interaction between native and foreign narratives and the fluidity of genres allowed authors and audiences to promote and respond to the ideas and ideology brought via romance in more than one mode.