Epic heroes and Nordic knights: The chivalric sagas of medieval Iceland

Davide Salmoiraghi discusses how the matter of Troy and its heroes reached the northernmost edges of the medieval world, and how it influenced and was addressed in the composition of the so-called ‘original’ riddarasögur (chivalric sagas). In Iceland, the appeal of Homeric epics started in the 13th century with the composition of a ‘saga of the Trojans’ (Trojumanna saga). Based on Latin and French sources, its authors sung – in prose – the deeds of the Greek and Trojan heroes in the chivalric mode that was fashionable at the time. The successful blend of Classical and knightly characteristics soon spurred the composition of original chivalric sagas, where oftentimes the wandering heroes pay respect to their prestigious forerunners at Troy. Chief among them is Hector of Troy, ‘the best knight that ever was,’ according to these sagas, and a true paragon of heroism for all Norse knights. Going beyond the tradition that ranked him among the Nine Worthies, the Norse ‘obsession’ with Hector of Troy culminated in the 15th-century Ectors saga (the Saga of Ector): the story of a fictitious descendant of the Trojan hero who revives the adventures of old in a distinctly Arthurian narrative.

This talk addresses the far-reaching appeal of the Classics in the ‘Dark Ages’ and the productivity of their reception(s) in the Old Norse cultural system, demonstrating their successful fruition in Iceland despite the chronological and geographical detachment of the Ultima Thule from the epos of the Mediterranean.