Eufemiavisorna

The Eufemiavisorna are a group of medieval romances translated into medieval Swedish: Herr Ivan lejonriddaren (1303), Hertig Fredrik av Normandie (1301 or 1308), and Flores och Blanzeflor (probably 1312). They are known in Swedish (and generally in English) as the Eufemiavisorna, 'the Euphemia poems' (or, without the definite article, the Eufemiavisor) or, less commonly, Eufemiaromanerna, 'the Euphemia romances'; they are known in Norwegian (bokmål) as the Eufemiavisene. The romances are an early example of the poetic form known as Knittelvers. They are one of the first major works of literature in Swedish.

The Eufemiavisorna are named after Norway's Queen Euphemia of Rügen (1270–1312): in the fullest manuscript attestations, there is a colophon at the end of each romance indicating that she commissioned the translations. The oldest complete manuscripts were written in the early 1400s, but there is a fragment of Flores and Blanzeflor written in the 1300s. Although it is possible that the romances were translated first into Norwegian and from Norwegian into Swedish, it is most likely that they were translated directly into Swedish.

According to Peter Andreas Munch's generally accepted theory, the translation of Chrétien de Troyes's Ywain as Herr Ivan lejonriddaren celebrated the betrothal of Euphemia's daughter Ingeborg's abortive betrothal to Magnus Birgerson in 1302. The translation of the anonymous Old French Floris and Blancheflour as Flores och Blanzeflor marked Ingeborg's successful marriage in 1312 to Eric, Duke of Södermanland. The reason for the translation of Hertig Fredrik av Normandie (1301 or 1308) is not known, and it may not originally have belonged to the Eufemiavisorna. No direct source for this romance survives, but it is thought to be based on a Middle German version of an Old French Breton lai. The translations are thought to represent Euphemia's effort to bring Continental courtly culture to the royal court of Sweden.

The Eufemiavisorna were translated into Danish at the beginning of the sixteenth century; there are two other independent Danish versions of Ywain.

Editions

The Eufemiavisorna were first printed in Swedish by the Svenska fornskriftsällskapet in 1844-53; a new critical edition of Flores and Blanzeflor was published in 1921; of Hertig Fredrik av Normandie in 1927; and Herr Ivan lejonriddaren in 1930:

• Flores och Blanzeflor: Kritisk upplaga, ed. by Emil Olson, Samlingar utgivna af Svenska fornskriftsällskapet, 157 (Lund: Berlingska Boktryckeriet, 1921); Flores och Blanzeflor: Kritisk upplaga, ed. by Emil Olson, rev. edn by Carl Ivar Ståhle, Samlingar utgivna af Svenska fornskriftsällskapet, 214 (Lund: Carl Bloms, 1956).
• Hertig Fredrik av Normandie: Kritisk upplaga på grundval av Codex Verelianus, ed. by Erik Noreen, Samlingar utgivna av Svenska fornskriftsällskapet, 163 (Uppsala: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1927).
• Herr Ivan: Kritisk upplaga, ed. by Erik Noreen, Samlingar utgivna av Svenska fornskriftsällskapet, 164-66 (Uppsala: Almqvist & Wiksells boktryckeri-a.-b., 1931)

Sources

• Svensk uppslagsbok. Malmö 1931.
• forskning.no, 4. mars 2011 «Lærte av franske riddere»