SNORRI GOÐI AND WILLIAM MARSHAL

Abstract

This article deals with the personalities of Snorri goði and William Marshal as described by two great literary works, Eyrbyggja saga and L'Histoire de Guillaume le Maréchal, both believed to have been written between 1220 and 1250 by two unknown narrators. Concentrating upon the destiny of these two heroes and the ethics praised through these two works, this study aims to illustrate the value of a comparative approach focusing on the concept of human ideals in two different environments: feudal Europe and Iceland, during the same period, when, in the first part of the 13th century, a French speaking poet chose to narrate the life of William Marshal while a Scandinavian narrator decided to write about Snorri goði, giving them literary fame and delivering two models of conduct to history.

Notes

1. In spite of this fact, it should not constitute a particular problem here as the narrating author is in the first line someone who is thinking, analyzing and judging from within his time frame, and his work is less reflecting the ideals his ancestors held in mind rather than those which are guiding himself. This study is thus dealing with the mentality of the 13th century in two different cultural fields.

2. Georges Duby, Guillaume le Maréchal ou Le meilleur chevalier du monde, Collection Folio/Histoire, Fayard (Paris, 1984).

3. Kristel Skorge Steen and Tor Einar Fagerland, Politisk mentalitet i middelalderen, Det europeiske menneske. Individidoppfatninger fra middelalderen til i dag, Sverre Bagge (red.), Ad Notam Gyldendal AS (Oslo, 1998), pp. 78–105. Original quotation (p. 89): “Man måtte altså ha suksess i sine foretagender”.

4. Jean Flori, La notion de Chevalerie dans les Chansons de Geste du XIIe siècle. Etude historique du vocabulaire, Le Moyen Age, n∘ 2, t. LXXXI (4 ^e série, t. XXX), 1975, pp. 211–244; Jean Flori, La notion de Chevalerie dans les Chansons de Geste du XIIe siècle. Etude historique du vocabulaire (suite et fin), Le Moyen Age, n° 3–4, t. LXXXI (4 ^e série, t. XXX), 1975, pp. 407–445; Jean Flori, Chevaliers et chevalerie au Moyen Age, Hachette Littératures (Paris, 1998); Constance Brittain Bouchard: Strong of Body, Brave and Noble. Chivalry and Society in Medieval France, Cornell University Press (Ithaca and London, 1998).

5. Theodore M. Andersson, The Icelandic Family Saga. An Analytic Reading, Harvard University Press (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1967); Jean‐Pierre Mabire, La composition de la “Eyrbyggja saga”, Association des Publications de la Faculté des Lettres et Sciences Humaines de l'Université de Caen (1971); Helgi Þorláksson, Snorri goði og Snorri Sturluson, Skírnir, 166.2 (1992), pp. 295–320; Elin Bára Magnúsdóttir, Et samfunn preget av kaos. Presentasjon av Snorri goði og sagaens samfunn i Eyrbyggja saga, Nordica Bergensia, 23 (2000), pp. 139–164.

6. Arne Odd Johnsen, Les relations intellectuelles entre la France et la Norvège (1150–1214), Le Moyen Age, n° 1–2, t. LVII, (4 ^e série, t. VI), 1951, pp. 247–268; Lars Lönnroth, Tesen om de två kulturerna, Scripta Islandica, Årbok 15 (1964), pp. 1–97; Lars Lönnroth, Kroppen som själens spegel – ett motiv i de isländska sagorna, Lychnos (1964), pp. 24–61; Lars Lönnroth, European Sources of Icelandic Saga‐Writing. An Essay Based on Previous Studies (Stockholm, 1965); Lars Lönnroth, Det litterära porträttet i latinsk historiografi och isländsk sagaskriving – en komparativ studie, Acta Philologica Scandinavia, vol. 27, Munksgaard (Copenhagen, 1969), pp. 68–117; Mattias Tveitane, Europeisk påvirkning på den norrøne sagalitteraturen. Noen synspunkter, Edda, vol. LXIX, 1969, pp. 73–95; Paul Schach, Some Observations on the Influence of Tristams saga ok Isöndar on Old Icelandic Literature, Old Norse Literature and Mythology. A Symposium, ed. Edgar C. Polomé, University of Texas Press (Austin and London, 1969), pp. 81–129; Knud Togeby, L'influence de la littérature française sur les littératures scandinaves au Moyen Age, Grundriß der romanischen Literaturen des Mittelalters, vol. I, Généralités, B, ch. VI, éd. C. Winter (Heidelberg, 1972), pp. 333–395.

7. I should also like to refer – although not being directly relevant for my present study – to the following works: Joachim Bumke, Höfische Kultur. Literatur und Gesellschaft im hohen Mittelalter, dtv (München, 1986); Erich Auerbach, Mimesis. Dargestellte Wirklichkeit in der abendländischen Kultur, Francke (Bern, 1946); Herman Bengtsson, Den höviska kulturen i Norden. En konsthistorisk undersöking, Kungl. Vitterhets Historie och Antikvitets Akademiens Handlingar, Antikvariska serien 43, Almqvist & Wiksell (Stockholm, 1999).

8. This refers mainly to the works by: Jacques Le Goff (sous la direction de), L'homme médiéval, L'Univers historique, Seuil, éd. française (Paris, 1989); Aaron J. Gurevich, Persona. Towards the History of the Concept of Personality in the Middle Ages, Culture and History, Scandinavian University Press (Oslo, 1994), pp. 11–24; Aaron J. Gurevich, The Origins of European Individualism, translated from Russian by Katharine Judelson, Blackwell (Oxford, Cambridge, 1995); Sverre Bagge, Kingship and Individuality in Medieval Historiography, Culture and History, Scandinavian University Press (Oslo, 1994), pp. 25–41; Sverre Bagge (red.), Det europeiske menneske. Individidoppfatninger fra middelalderen til i dag, Ad Notam Gyldendal (Oslo, 1998).

9. Jón Viðar Sigurðsson, Chieftains and Power in the Icelandic Commonwealth, The Viking Collection, vol. 12, Odense University Press (1999). Throughout this book, the author studies the power of the chieftains – and its different aspects – from the Saga Age up to the end of the Commonwealth and confirms the local authority of the chieftains already in the Saga Age though he records the concentration of power of the later time.

10. Andersson, op. cit. (1967), p. 161.

11. Editions used for this study: Eyrbyggja saga, Einar Ól. Sveinsson og Matthías Þórðarson gáfu út, Íslenzk Fornrit, vol. IV (Reykjavík, 1935), pp. 3–184; L'Histoire de Guillaume le Maréchal, édition et présentation (et traduction abrégée) Paul Meyer, pour la Société de L'Histoire de France (Paris, 3 volumes, 1891, 1894 et 1901). All quotations given are taken from these editions. References will be stated abridged as follows: (The two heroes – a physical portrait) Eyrbyggja saga, ch. XV; L'Histoire de Guillaume le Maréchal, verse 715–736.

12. Eyrbyggja saga, ch. LXV.

13. Duby, op. cit. (1984), pp. 36–37: “En ce temps s'attachait au noir, obstinément, l'idée de péché, de misère.” All English translations are my own if not stated otherwise.

14. Lönnroth, op. cit. (1969), pp. 93–94 in particular. The same topic is being treated by Lönnroth in another article, op. cit. (Lychnos, 1964), pp. 33–34 in particular.

15. L'Histoire de Guillaume le Maréchal, quoted from the passage describing the hero's physics: verse 715–736.

16. Lars Lönnroth, Njáls saga. A critical introduction, University of California Press (Berkeley, Los Angeles, London, 1976), “The travel pattern”, pp. 71–76.

17. Eyrbyggja saga, ch. XIII: “höfðu menn þat mjök at hlátri um búnað hans”.

18. L'Histoire de Guillaume le Maréchal, verse 780: “gaste‐viande” (lit. “waste of meat”).

19. Eyrbyggja saga, ch. XV: “hann var hógværr hversdagliga; fann lítt á honum, hvárt honum þótti vel eða illa”; L'Histoire de Guillaume le Maréchal, verse 802: “duz” and “deboneire”.

20. Eyrbyggja saga, ch. XV: “hann gerðisk þá höfðingi mikill, en ríki hans var mjök öfundsamt”.

21. L'Histoire de Guillaume le Maréchal, verse 1665: “molt fu del vengier angoissos”.

22. Duby, op. cit. (1984), pp. 97–98: “de la familiarité de son oncle, cet événement fortuit le transférait dans la familiarité du souverain”.

23. In particular, William is accused of using contemptible tricks in order to win in tournaments and to be the lover of young King Henry's wife. He will have to live several months in exile before being declared innocent of the charges. Later, King John will suspect him of disloyalty. On his deathbed, the prince will finally praise William's loyalty and choose him for taking in charge his young son Henry. L'Histoire de Guillaume le Maréchal, verse 5127–5254, 6459–6580, 13028, 13384 and 15167–15190.

24. L'Histoire de Guillaume le Maréchal, verse 14102: “bien vit ses avantaiges”.

25. L'Histoire de Guillaume le Maréchal, verse 18483–18488.

26. Lönnroth, op. cit. (1976), p. 63. Lönnroth is specifying ten roles or personality profiles in the sagas, for one of which – speaking of the “Wise Counselor” in general terms – he emphasizes the mysterious aspect, quoting among others the case of Snorri.

27. Eyrbyggja saga, ch. XV: “hann var [...] forspár um marga hluti”.

28. L'Histoire de Guillaume le Maréchal, verse 17098.

29. Eyrbyggja saga, ch. XXVIII: “var Snorri goði ráðagørðarmaðr meiri og vitari, en Styrr atgöngumeiri”.

30. Eyrbyggja saga, ch. XXVIII: “var þat mál manna, at hvárrtveggja þótti vaxa af þessum tengðum”.

31. Duby, op. cit. (1984), pp. 153–155.

32. Eyrbyggja saga, ch. LXV: “Þat b▒tti um vinsældir, at hann batt tengðir við in mestu stórmenni í Breiðafirði ok viðar annars staðar”.

33. L'Histoire de Guillaume le Maréchal, verse 13338–13339: “Qui trop perechos ne fu unques/De son pru & de s'enor faire”.

34. L'Histoire de Guillaume le Maréchal, verse 14930–14932: “a treis filz de contes/Dona les treis bien enpleiées; /Ne furent pas desparagiées.”

35. Duby, op. cit. (1984), pp. 164–167. Duby is here treating the marriage politics of the great lineages (including that of William): In marrying off their children they intended to assure support and preserve peace. Daughters were given to the highest‐ranking husband available, but for sons the privilege to marry was reserved to the eldest who was to succeed his father, while the younger ones usually had to remain ordinary knights.

36. L'Histoire de Guillaume le Maréchal, verse 13347–13348: “Bien fu seanz li marïages, /Si en fu bel a lor lingnages.”

37. The importance of William's exceptional longevity for his career is notably emphasized by Duby, op. cit. (1984), pp. 185–186.

38. Eyrbyggja saga, ch. LVI.

39. Laxdœla saga, ch. LVI.

40. Helgi Þorláksson, op. cit. (1992), p. 298.

41. Eyrbyggja saga, ch. LVI: “Þetta sumar tók Þorsteinn ór Hafsfjarðarey Rauðmelingagoðorð ór Þórnessþingi, því at hann þóttisk þar aflavani orðit hafa fyrir Snorrungum; tóku þeir frændr þá upp þing í Straumfirði ok heldu þat lengi síðan.”

42. Eyrbyggja saga, ch. LIX‐LXII. About the importance of resolving conflicts for a chieftain: “Heraðshöfðingi alludes to the authority of the chieftains, notably to the part they play in the resolution of conflicts” in the introduction of part “The social power of the chieftains” and the chapter “Chieftains and the resolution of conflicts”: Jón Viðar Sigurðsson, op. cit. (1999), pp. 151–185 (quotation p. 151).

43. Eyrbyggja saga, ch. LXV: “En er Snorri tók at eldask, þá tóku at vaxa vinsældir hans, ok bar þat til þess, at þá fækkuðusk öfundarmenn hans.”

44. Andersson, op. cit. (1967), p. 161.

45. L'Histoire de Guillaume le Maréchal, verse 19169–19196; Duby, op. cit. (1984), pp. 40–46.

46. Einar Ól. Sveinsson, Eyrbyggja sagas kilder, Scripta Islandica, Årsbok 19 (1968), pp. 3–18; Mabire, op. cit. (1971), pp. 31–40.

47. Sophie A. Krijn, Snorri goði, Neophilologus, 12 (1927), pp. 284–291.

48. Helgi Þorláksson, op. cit. (1992), pp. 301–302 in particular.

49. Elin Bára Magnúsdóttir, op. cit. (2000), p. 163 and p. 164: “en uvanlig helt i en uvanlig islendingesaga.”

50. L'Histoire de Guillaume le Maréchal, verse 15687–15696.

51. L'Histoire de Guillaume le Maréchal, verse 19107–19164.

52. Duby, op. cit. (1984), pp. 185–186.

53. Brittain Bouchard, op. cit. (1998), pp. 103–144 (citation: pp. 143–144).

54. As Jean Flori puts it: “Du XIe au XVe siècle, la chevalerie a élaboré sous diverses influences un code de conduite que l'on peut appeler l'éthique chevaleresque. (From the 11th century up to the 15th century, the chivalry has, under different influences, elaborated a code of behaviors that we can call the chivalric ethics.)”. Flori, op. cit. (1998), p. 153.

55. After having shown the complexity of the chivalric ethics – meaning that it was also inherently contradictory – Constance Brittain Bouchard concluded “it should not be surprising that for a large number of young knights of the High Middle Ages, the only answer was to renounce it all and join a monastery, where the answers were in some ways harsher but at least there were fewer questions”. Brittain Bouchard, op. cit. (1998), pp. 175–176.

56. After studying some 25 works from the medieval French speaking domain (from 1300–1500) during my maîtrise (master) and Diplôme d'Etudes Approfondies and doctorate, I can attest the extreme valorization of the chivalry and its ethics. And “bon chevalier” – expressing the necessary qualities of a good warrior, but also referring implicitly more and more clearly during the 13th century to a substantial code of behavior – is one of the most frequent qualities included in eulogies and portraits and qualifying the princes themselves. I refer in particular to my doctoral thesis: La description des hommes dans quelques œuvres à caractère historique au XIIIe siècle: étude comparative de l'idéal humain, domaine européen et domaine scandinave, ANRT (Lille, 2004), pp. 53–59, pp. 168–215 and pp. 458–473.

57. Flori, op. cit. (1998), pp. 153–176 and pp. 224–266.

58. M. C. van den Toorn, Ethics and Moral in Icelandic Saga Literature, Van Gorcum, Hak & Prakke (Assen, 1955), p. 135.

59. And more precisely “the old kernel 1–80, the interpolations known as the Ódin‐exempla, and the Loddfáfnismál”, van den Toorn, op. cit. (1955), p. 23. Also ch. IV: “Hávamál ethics in the saga”, pp. 49–84.

60. van den Toorn, op. cit. (1955), p. 147.

61. Eyrbyggja saga, ch. XXXVII. Apropos this praising epitath, it is important to note, as Vésteinn Ólason does, that it is not included in all the Eyrbyggja saga's manuscripts and could be a passage supplied by a later scribe: Vésteinn Ólason, Dialogues with the Viking Age. Narration and Representation in the Sagas of Icelanders, Heimskringla (Reykjavík, 1998), pp. 103–104. Anyhow, as he is depicted through the saga, Arnkell has obviously the author's sympathy.

62. G. M. Spiegel, Romancing the Past. The Rise of Vernacular Prose Historiography in Thirteenth‐Century France, University of California Press (Berkeley, Los Angeles, London, 1993), pp. 14–15.

63. Duby, op. cit. (1984), p. 48: “[…] s'il paraissait nécessaire, après 1219, d'insister autant sur la loyauté de Guillaume […] n'était‐ce pas qu'il était urgent d'étouffer des rumeurs de félonie?” (“[…] if it appeared so necessary, after 1219, to insist so much upon William's loyalty […] wasn't it so that it was urgent to hush up some rumours of treason?”

64. Jón Viðar Sigurðsson, op. cit. (1999), pp. 208–209.

65. Several scholars believed that Eyrbyggja saga was written in the Sturlungar's circle. Among them: Mabire, op. cit. (1971), pp. 42–43; Preben Meulengracht Sørensen, Saga og samfund. En indføring i oldislandsk litteratur, Berlingske Forlag (København, 1977), pp. 82–83. And as for the Sturlungar, Snorri goði and Egill Skallagrímsson alike were indeed great ancestors.

66. Flori, op. cit. (1998), pp. 11–28 (Ch. I: “Terreau romain et semences germaniques III^e–VI^e siècle)”.

67. Gurevich, op. cit. (1995), p. 251.