Hrólfs Rímur Gautrekssonar

The Rímur of Hrólfr Gautreksson

Abstract

Hrólfs rímur Gautrekssonar are rímur (a metrical romance) in five fits, 263 stanzas in total, based on the second half of the legendary saga Hrólfs saga Gautrekssonar. These late medieval rímur are set in England and Ireland and relate the adventures of Hrólfur Gautreksson, king of Sweden, and his companions, especially Þórir ‘Iron-shield’. The rímur, a versification of the saga, are only preserved in one manuscript, AM 146 a 8vo, a slightly defective paper codex written in Flatey in Breiðafjörður in the first half of the seventeenth century. Five post-medieval ballads of the same story are extant, which suggests that the story of Hrólfr and his friends and foes was extremely popular in Iceland both in verse and prose form throughout the ages. This anonymous metrical romance, which probably follows Hrólfs saga’s shorter redaction, is here dated to ca. 1500 on linguistic grounds. This article discusses its manuscript preservation, metre, style, language, and content, and situates it within the wider literary and socio-historical context in Northwest Iceland in the late medieval period. Finally, the article presents a diplomatic edition of the rímur.