The Eufemiavisorna are a group of three medieval romances translated into medieval Swedish: Herr Ivan lejonriddaren, Hertig Fredrik av Normandie, and Flores och Blanzeflor. They are known in Swedish as the Eufemiavisorna, 'the Euphemia poems' or, less commonly, Eufemiaromanerna, 'the Euphemia romances'; they are known in Norwegian as the Eufemiavisene and in Danish as Eufemiaviserne. The romances are an early example of the poetic form known as Knittelvers; are the first known Scandinavian renderings of Continental Europeanchivalric romancein 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 : 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.
''Herra Ivan''
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,
''Hertig Fredrik''
The reason for the 3,310-line translation of Hertig Fredrik av Normandie 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, at the instance of Emperor Otto. This information is generally accepted by scholars, although no German text is known'.
''Flores och Blanzeflor''
The translation of the anonymous Old FrenchFloris and Blancheflour as the 2,192-line Flores och Blanzeflor seems to have been composed in 1312 and in Munch's theory may have marked Ingeborg's successful marriage in 1312 to Eric, Duke of Södermanland. The translation is based on the Norwegian translation of the French.
Danish translation
The Eufemiavisorna were translated into Danish in the last quarter of the fifteenth century; there are two other independent Danish versions of Ywain.
Form
According to Gösta Holm, 'The style, rhyme technique, and vocabulary of the Eufemiavisorna are to a great extent influenced by German patterns; the translator must have been acquainted with the culture of the South. Thus, French originals have had a surprisingly insignificant influence on the form of the Eufemiavisorna.'
Manuscripts
The Danish translations of the Swedish Eufemiavisorna derive from lost manuscripts closer to the archetypes than our surviving Swedish ones, and therefore have an independent text-critical value for reconstructing the Swedish translations. Swedish versions:
The 1504 and 1509 Danish printings of Flores are based on a lost manuscript
Editions
The Eufemiavisorna were first printed in Swedish by the Svenska fornskriftsällskapet in 1844-53; a new critical edition of Flores and Blanzeflor was published in 1921; of Hertig Fredrik av Normandie in 1927; and Herr Ivan lejonriddaren in 1930:
Flores och Blanzeflor: Kritisk upplaga, ed. by Emil Olson, Samlingar utgivna af Svenska fornskriftsällskapet, 157 ; Flores och Blanzeflor: Kritisk upplaga, ed. by Emil Olson, rev. edn by Carl Ivar Ståhle, Samlingar utgivna af Svenska fornskriftsällskapet, 214.
Hertig Fredrik av Normandie: Kritisk upplaga på grundval av Codex Verelianus, ed. by Erik Noreen, Samlingar utgivna av Svenska fornskriftsällskapet, 163 .
Herr Ivan: Kritisk upplaga, ed. by Erik Noreen, Samlingar utgivna av Svenska fornskriftsällskapet, 164-66
