Eufemiavisorna

The Eufemiavisorna are a group of three 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; are the first known Scandinavian renderings of Continental European chivalric romance in verse; and are one of the first major works of literature in Swedish.

Scandinavian translations of Continental European romance began with prose translations in the Norwegian court. The Eufemiavisorna represent a further stage of adaptation of Romance, using verse. They 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 translations are thought to represent Euphemia's effort to bring Continental courtly culture to the royal court of Sweden.

It is not known who translated the poems, but scholarly consensus supports the idea that there was one, clerical translator, intimately familiar with German Knittel forms.

According to Peter Andreas Munch's generally accepted theory, the translation of Chrétien de Troyes's Yvain as Herr Ivan lejonriddaren celebrated the betrothal of Euphemia's daughter Ingeborg's abortive betrothal to Magnus Birgerson in 1302. Herr Ivan is 6,645 lines and, in the assessment of Gösta Holm,

The reason for the 3,310-line translation of Hertig Fredrik av Normandie (1308) is not known, and it may not originally have belonged to the Eufemiavisorna. 'On the whole, it is more artistic than its Swedish forerunner, Herr Ivan.' No direct source for this romance survives, but 'the end of the poem states that it was first translated aff walsko j tytzt mall ("from French into German"), at the instance of Emperor Otto. This information is generally accepted by scholars, although no German text is known'.

...
Wikipedia