Liepe, Lena. The Knight and the Dragon Slayer.

• Author: Liepe, Lena
• Title: The Knight and the Dragon Slayer: Illuminations in a Fourteenth century Saga Manuscript
• Published in: Ornament and Order. Essays on Viking and Medieval Art for Signe Horn Fuglesang
• Edited by: Margarethe C. Stang and Kristin B. Aavitsland
• Place, Publisher: Trondheim: Tapir Akademisk Forlag
• Year: 2008
• Pages: 179-99
• E-text:
• Reference: Lena, Liepe. "The Knight and the Dragon Slayer. Illuminations in a Fourteenth Century Saga Manuscript." Ornament and Order. Essays on Viking and Medieval Art for Signe Horn Fuglesang, pp. 179–99. Ed. Margarethe C. Stang and Kristin B. Aavitsland. Trondheim: Tapir Akademisk Forlag, 2008.

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• Key words: manuscripts, history of art, religion, philosophy (handrit, listfræði, trúarbrögð, heimspeki)

Annotation

The article is an examination of three illuminated initials in the Njáls saga manuscript AM 133 fol., Kálfalækjarbók, from a textual and iconographical perspective. The author analyzes Christian, chivalric and pre-medieval pictorial traditions in these illuminations. By observing the correlation between the illuminations and Augustine doctrine, along with a pre-Christian Scandinavian mindset, Liepe discovers an extra layer of significance: cultural transition in Medieval Iceland. Although these illuminations seem to represent utterly Christian concepts, like wisdom and courage, fight against evil, charity and forgiveness, as well as chivalric aspects, their iconography is connected to a common imagery established in the Viking Age, such as those seen in depictions of Sigurd, symbolic representation of power and “deceased warriors riding to the battlefields of Valhalla" (p. 194).

Lýsing

Í þessari grein eru þrjár lýsingar á upphafsstöfum í Kálfalækjarbók rannsakaðar með tilliti til textans og íkonógrafíu. Höfundur bendir á það hvernig hefðir riddaramennsku, kristni og heiðni fléttast saman í þessum lýsingum. Liepe kannar sérstaklega tengsl þessara lýsinga við kenningar Ágústínusar kirkjuföður og heiðnar norrænar hugmyndir og uppgötvar óvænta merkingarlega vídd sem snertir árekstur tveggja menningarheima á Íslandi á miðöldum. Þó að þessar lýsingar birti hefðbundin kristileg gildi, svo sem visku og hugrekki, baráttu gegn hinu illa, umhyggju fyrir öðrum og fyrirgefningu, sem og vissar hugmyndir um riddaramennsku, þá á íkonógrafían rætur að rekja til víkingatímans, meðal annars til þess hvernig vald er myndgert, Sigurður Fáfnisbani er sýndur, sem og "reið vopndauðra manna til orrustuvalla Valhallar".

Links

• Written by: Daria Segal
• Icelandic translation: Jón Karl Helgason