The first known Old Norse translations of European romances occurred under the patronage of king
Hákon Hákonarson of Norway, and seem to have been part of a programme of Europeanisation. The earliest dated work is a 1226 translation by one
Brother Robert of
Tristan by
Thomas of Britain. The Old Norse work,
Tristrams saga ok Ísöndar, is especially valuable since the original Old French poem is only preserved in fragments.
Elis saga ok Rósamundu, a translation of
Elie de Saint Gille, is similarly attributed to an Abbot Robert, presumably the same man having been promoted within his order. King Hákon also commissioned
Möttuls saga, an adaptation of
Le mantel mautaillé,
Ívens saga, a reworking of
Chrétien de Troyes's
Yvain and
Strengleikar, a collection of ballads principally by
Marie de France. Works in similar style, which may also have been commissioned by King Hákon, are
Parcevals saga,
Valvens þáttr and
Erex saga, all derived from the works of Chrétien de Troyes.
Karlamagnús saga is a compilation of more disparate origin, dealing with
Charlemagne and his twelve paladins and drawing on historiographical material as well as chansons de geste. Other works believed to derive from French originals are
Bevers saga,
Flóres saga ok Blankiflúr,
Flóvents saga and
Partalopa saga. Pseudo-historical works translated from Latin are
Alexanders saga (a translation of
Alexandreis),
Amícus saga ok Amilíus (based on
Vincent of Beauvais's
Speculum historiale),
Breta sögur (a translation of
Historia Regum Britanniae), and
Trójumanna saga (a translation of
De excidio Troiae). Also pseudo-historical,
Þiðreks saga af Bern is unusual in having been translated from German. These Old Norse translations have been characterised by Margaret Clunies Ross thus: :The Old Norse term
riddarasaga ... covers what were a number of genres in Latin, French and Anglo-Norman, but common to all of them are their courtly setting, their interest in kingship, and their concerns with the ethics of chivalry and courtly love. It seems, however, from a comparison between the French originals and the Old Norse translations of courtly romances, such as Chrétien de Troyes'
Erec et Enide (
Erex saga),
Yvain (
Ívens saga) and
Perceval (
Parcevals saga and
Velvens þáttr), that the translators who supplied King Hákon's court and others in Norway and Iceland who enjoyed such sagas offered an independent rewriting of their sources. It is notable that they did not convey a number of key aspects of Chrétien's somewhat ironic perspective on courtly society. This may well be because most of the translators were probably clerics, but it is also likely to reflect traditional Norse tastes and narrative conventions. In particular, most elements of explicit eroticism have been deleted from the
riddarasögur, as have much comedy and irony in the treatment of the protagonists' behaviour. Instead, the narratives are largely exemplary and didactic, in large part because the Scandinavian translators refrained from using two essential narrative devices of their sources, namely the internal monologue, which conveyed the private thoughts and feelings of the characters, and the intrusive involvement of the narrator, which was a vehicle for conveying a nuanced and often ironic point of view. ==Original compositions==