Novel
The Saga of Tristram and Ísönd
Tristrams saga ok Ísöndar
Brother Robert · 1226
Synopsis
The Breton prince Kanelangres, come to England, falls in love with Blensinbil, sister of King Markis. Their son Tristram, carried off as a child by Norwegian merchants, eventually reaches his uncle's court, where he distinguishes himself by killing the Irish champion Mórhold. Later, he goes to Ireland, where Ísönd's mother prepares a love potion; during the crossing that takes them back towards England, Tristram and Ísönd drink it by mistake, and a bond stronger than the duties of each arises between them.
Context
The prologue states that the text was put into Old Norse in 1226, on the order of King Hákon, by Brother Robert. It is an abridged adaptation of the Tristan of Thomas of Britain, a twelfth-century Anglo-Norman poem of which only fragments remain: the dialogues are shortened and the interior monologues removed, but the ornate style uses alliteration, rhyme and parallelism. The complete text survives only in an Icelandic paper manuscript of the seventeenth century, alongside fragments from the fifteenth. It inspired an Icelandic version in the fourteenth century and ballads in Iceland, Denmark and the Faroes.
Who it is for
A prose romance, shorter than its model and turned towards action; readable in French in the Pléiade.
Prizes and reception
The only complete witness of the courtly branch of the legend, that of Thomas, and the first romance of chivalry rendered into Old Norse.