''Blómstrvalla saga'' ('the saga of Flower-Plains') is a medieval Icelandic
romance saga
The ''riddarasögur'' (literally 'sagas of knights', also known in English as 'chivalric sagas', 'romance-sagas', 'knights' sagas', 'sagas of chivalry') are Norse prose sagas of the romance genre. Starting in the thirteenth century with Norse tr ...
.
Synopsis
Kalinke and Mitchell summarise the saga thus:
According to the introduction, the tale was told in German at the wedding of the daughter of King Hákon the Old of Norway to Hermann, son of the
Emperor Friðrekr. The saga relates how two brothers, Etgarðr and Áki, sons of Duke Áki of Fricilia, become separated while hunting in the forest one day, when a flying dragon abducts Etgarðr. They are reunited many adventures later when they ride against each other in disguise on a plain called Blomstrvellir, the setting of daily jousts for the sake of love and riches. The saga concludes with a mass wedding that unites the various male and female principals from Blomstrvellir.
Among other sources, the saga drew on ''
Þiðreks saga af Bern''.
Manuscripts
Kalinke and Mitchell identified the following manuscripts of the saga:
[Marianne E. Kalinke and P. M. Mitchell, ''Bibliography of Old Norse–Icelandic Romances'', Islandica, 44 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1985), p. 28.]
*
Arnamagnæan Institute
The Arnamagnæan Institute ( da, Den Arnamagnæanske Samling, formerly ''Det Arnamagnæanske Institut'') is a teaching and research institute established in 1956 to further the study of the manuscripts in the Arnamagnæan Manuscript Collection, th ...
, Copenhagen: AM 522, 4° (17th c); AM 523, 4° (late 17th c); AM 527, 4° (17th c); AM 576b, 4° (ca. 1700), resume
and excerpt from ch. 1; Rask 32 (late 18th c).
*
Royal Library, Copenhagen: NKS 1144, fol. (18th c), resume and excerpt from ch. 1; NKS 1695, 4° (late 18th c.).
*
The British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...
, London: *Add. 11,136, 4° (ca. 1800).
*
National Library, Reykjavik
Landsbókasafn Íslands – Háskólabókasafn ( Icelandic: ; English: ''The National and University Library of Iceland'') is the national library of Iceland which also functions as the university library of the University of Iceland. The librar ...
: Lbs 354, 4° (18th c); Lbs 644, 4° (ca. 1730-40); Lbs 677, 4° (1817); Lbs 1172, 4° (18th c) ; Lbs 1493, 4° (1880-1905); Lbs 1507, 4° (late 19th c); Lbs 1637, 4° (ca. 1780); Lbs 1767, 4° (1857-63); Lbs 4655, 4° (1860-67); Lbs 680, 8° (1804), Lbs 2421, 8° (ca. 1750); JS 631, 4° (17th-19th c); IB 144, 4° (late 18th c); IB 165, 4° (1778); IB 184, 4° (ca. 1800); IB 228, 4° (ca. 1750); IB 233, 4° (18th c); IB 134, 8° (1856-57), defective; IB 207, 8° (1824); IB 260, 8° (ca. 1824-27); IBR 97, 4° (1763-66).
*
Stofnun Árna Magnússonar,
Reykjavík: HI 15, 4° (1825).
* University Library, Oslo: UB 1158, 8° (late 19th-early 20th c.).
*
Royal Library, Stockholm
The National Library of Sweden ( sv, Kungliga biblioteket, ''KB'', meaning "the Royal Library") is Sweden's national library. It collects and preserves all domestic printed and audio-visual materials in Swedish, as well as content with Swedish ...
: Papp. fol. nr 50 (1683); Papp. fol. nr 56 (ca. 1685); Papp. 4:o nr 5 (ca. 1650).
* University Library, Uppsala: R:699, 4° (1661).
Editions and translations
* Hagen, Friedrich Heinrich von der. "Die Blomsturvalla-Saga, im Auszuge und über sie." In ''Sammlung fur altdeutsche Literatur und Kunst''. Eds. F. H. v. d. Hagen et al. I/1. Breslau: Johann Friedrich Kornd. Ä., 1812. pp. 80–91.
* Hagen, Friedrich Heinrich von der, ed. "Blomsturvalla saga." In ''Altnordische Sagen und Lieder welche zum Fabelkreis des Heldenbuchs und der Nibelungen gehoren''. Breslau: Stadt- und Universitats-Buchdruckerei bei Gras und Barth,
814
__NOTOC__
Year 814 ( DCCCXIV) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Byzantine Empire
* April 13 – Byzantine–Bulgarian Wars: Over the winter Krum, rul ...
* Mobius, Theodor, ed.
Blomstrvallasaga'. Leipzig: Breitkopf & Haertel, 1855. Based on MSS AM 522, 4°; AM 523, 4°.
* Palmi Palsson, ed. ''Blomstrvalla saga''. Reykjavik: Sigfús Eymundsson, 1882. Pp. 54. Based on MSS AM 522, 4°; AM 523,4°.
* Hugus, Frank. "''Blómstrvalla saga'': A Critical Edition of an Original Icelandic Romance." Diss. Univ. of Chicago, 1972.
* Mariano González Campo,
Literatura y ficción en la Islandia tardomedieval estudio comparativo de dos versiones de la "Blómstrvalla saga" según los manuscritos AM 522 4º y AM 523 4º y edición biblingüe (islandés-castellano) con traducción desde una perspectiva antropológico-literaria" (unpublished PhD thesis, Universidad de Valladolid. Facultad de Traducción e Interpretación, 2016)
References
{{Chivalric sagas
Chivalric sagas
Icelandic literature
Old Norse literature