Tamás Reinicke “WITH UNLEARNED TONGUES IN THE WILDERNESS OF THE WORLD”: EUROPEAN OTHERNESS IN THE ICELANDIC RIDDARASǪGUR MA Thesis in Comparative History, with a specialization in Late Antique, Medieval, and Renaissance Studies. Central European University Budapest June 2020 CEU eTD Collection “WITH UNLEARNED TONGUES IN THE WILDERNESS OF THE WORLD”: EUROPEAN OTHERNESS IN THE ICELANDIC RIDDARASǪGUR by Tamás Reinicke (Hungary) Thesis submitted to the Department of Medieval Studies, Central European University, Budapest, in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Master of Arts degree in Comparative History, with a specialization in Late Antique, Medieval, and Renaissance Studies. Accepted in conformance with the standards of the CEU. ____________________________________________ Chair, Examination Committee ____________________________________________ Thesis Supervisor ____________________________________________ Examiner ____________________________________________ Examiner CEU eTD Collection Budapest June 2020 “WITH UNLEARNED TONGUES IN THE WILDERNESS OF THE WORLD”: EUROPEAN OTHERNESS IN THE ICELANDIC RIDDARASǪGUR by Tamás Reinicke (Hungary) Thesis submitted to the Department of Medieval Studies, Central European University, Budapest, in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Master of Arts degree in Comparative History, with a specialization in Late Antique, Medieval, and Renaissance Studies. Accepted in conformance with the standards of the CEU. ____________________________________________ External Reader CEU eTD Collection Budapest June 2020 “WITH UNLEARNED TONGUES IN THE WILDERNESS OF THE WORLD”: EUROPEAN OTHERNESS IN THE ICELANDIC RIDDARASǪGUR by Tamás Reinicke (Hungary) Thesis submitted to the Department of Medieval Studies, Central European University, Budapest, in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Master of Arts degree in Comparative History, with a specialization in Late Antique, Medieval, and Renaissance Studies. Accepted in conformance with the standards of the CEU. ____________________________________________ External Supervisor CEU eTD Collection Budapest June 2020 I, the undersigned, Tamás Reinicke, candidate for the MA degree in Comparative History, with a specialization in Late Antique, Medieval, and Renaissance Studies declare herewith that the present thesis is exclusively my own work, based on my research and only such external information as properly credited in notes and bibliography. I declare that no unidentified and illegitimate use was made of the work of others, and no part of the thesis infringes on any person’s or institution’s copyright. I also declare that no part of the thesis has been submitted in this form to any other institution of higher education for an academic degree. Budapest, 1 June 2020 _____________________ Signature CEU eTD Collection Abstract The fourteenth century saw the emergence of a new literary genre in Iceland. The indigenous riddarasǫgur (chivalric sagas) adapted their setting, themes, and topoi from European romance literature, seemingly completely superseding those appearing in earlier Icelandic works. The riddarasǫgur introduced chivalric literature to an environment where it had no precursor and no social basis, yet it quickly spread and acquired immense popularity that persisted for centuries. The sudden shift in the interest of saga authors and compilers is usually explained with the necessity to adjust and reformulate Icelandic identity after the widescale political and social changes that began in the late thirteenth century. This thesis uses four of the riddarasǫgur, all belonging to the subgroup known as meykongr (maiden-king) sagas, to examine the ways European identities were perceived, received, and adapted in late medieval Iceland. I investigate the textual presence of Otherness in order to explore this interaction of identities and the subsequent results. Alterity being a key element to the identity-building process, I analyze the forms it takes and the groups that represent it in these sagas, from the repulsive and monstrous to the familiar but foreign to the close but marginal. CEU eTD Collection i Acknowledgements This paper has been written amid unusual circumstances. I was certainly not the only one affected by them, nor have I been among those that bore their brunt. Nonetheless, I have faced difficulties and challenges the likes of which I had not encountered before. It is these difficulties and challenges that I could not possibly have overcome without the ever-present help of my supervisor, Zsuzsanna Reed. She was always available to provide guidance, inspiration, and encouragement, for which I wish to express my immense gratitude. While it may sound cliché that without her support this thesis would not have been completed, in this case it could not be more true. I would also like to thank Alaric Hall for taking the role of external reader for this paper. Last but not least, I thank my family and friends for their love and patience expressed towards me in this difficult period. CEU eTD Collection ii Table of contents Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 1 The Beginning in the End – The Birth of the Riddarasǫgur ................................................. 1 The Icelandic Other – Found Not in Iceland ......................................................................... 4 On the Source Material .......................................................................................................... 7 Chapter 1: The Riddarasǫgur Among the Icelandic Sagas ..................................................... 10 Saga Typology – Story Brethren .......................................................................................... 10 Origin and Authorship ......................................................................................................... 12 Historiography – Emergence from Obscurity ...................................................................... 14 Open Avenues of Research .................................................................................................. 16 Chapter 2: Monstrous Others – Berserkir and Blámenn .......................................................... 18 Berserkir – The Monsterized Northmen .............................................................................. 19 Of the Warriors of the North ............................................................................................ 19 From Enemy to Monster .................................................................................................. 20 Blámenn – The Ethnic Monsters .......................................................................................... 21 Beast of a Different Color ................................................................................................ 23 Chapter 3: Familiar Others – Europe and Chivalry ................................................................. 26 An Island No More .............................................................................................................. 26 The Scandinavian Lord ........................................................................................................ 27 The Icelandic Knight ............................................................................................................ 29 Riders Without God or Horses ............................................................................................. 31 CEU eTD Collection Shedding the Knightly Garment .......................................................................................... 35 Chapter 4: Close Others – On Vikings and Women ................................................................ 38 Vikings – Re-contextualizing Former Customs ................................................................... 39 Distancing in the Baltic .................................................................................................... 40 Gamekeepers Turned Poachers ........................................................................................ 41 iii Women – The Closest of All Others .................................................................................... 43 Female Otherness in the North ........................................................................................ 43 Love Is Blind – This One More than Most ...................................................................... 45 Towers and Tartaría ........................................................................................................ 49 Not-So-Taming the Not-So-Shrew .................................................................................. 50 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 53 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................ 56 Primary Sources ................................................................................................................... 56 Secondary Sources ............................................................................................................... 57 CEU eTD Collection iv A Note on Orthography, Language, and Names There is no single, universally accepted orthographic tradition when it comes to normalizing Old Norse texts. The use of ö, ǫ, and occasionally ø compete even