View source for Bush, Stephen H. & Henning Larsen. The Duel of King Louis and Gormont

* '''Author''': Bush, Stephen H. & Henning Larsen
* '''Title''': The Duel of King Louis and Gormont
* '''Published in''': ''Modern Language Notes'' 45/5
* '''Year''': 1930
* '''Pages''': 1-88
* '''E-text''': [http://www.jstor.org/stable/2913014 jstor.org]
* '''Reference''': Bush, Stephen H. & Henning Larsen. "The Duel of King Louis and Gormont." ''Modern Language Notes'' 45/5 (1930): 281-88.
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* '''Key words''': textual relations, motives (rittengsl, minni)


==Annotation== 

A passage from the fragment Gormont et Isembart describes a duel between two adversaries, King Louis and Gormont, in which King Louis uses his spear to cleave Gormont to the waist. The portrayal of weaponry and warfare in the chansons de geste is in general realistic, and spears are nowhere else used to hew down an enemy in the manner of a sword. Bush and Larsen argue that the weapon in question seems to be a Scandinavian höggspjót – a hewing spear – and compare descriptions of spears in a number of sagas, including Thorolf’s kesja at the Battle of Vínheiði, identified as being of the type known was brynþvari. This might in turn lend support to the argument that the duel episode is borrowed from a Scandinavian source.

==Lýsing==

Kafli úr handritabroti af Gormont et Isembart lýsir einvígi tveggja manna, Louis konungs og Gormonts, en því lýkur þannig að konungur klýfur Gormont í herðar niður með spjóti sínu. Lýsingar á vopnum og hernaði í chansons de geste eru almennt raunsæislegar og spjót eru hvergi annars staðar notuð eins og sverð til að höggva andstæðing með. Bush og Larsen halda því fram að vopnið sem hér um ræðir sé norrænt höggspjót og bera því til staðfestingar saman lýsingar á spjótum í fjölda fornsagna, þar á meðal lýsinguna á kesju Þórólfs í orustunni á Vínheiði, en hún er talinn samræma því vopni sem þekkt er undir nafninu brynþvari. Þetta kann að styðja þá tilgátu að einvígislýsingin í Gormont et Isembart sé byggð á norrænum heimildum.

==See also==


==References== 
[[Egla,_53|Chapter 53]]: '''Kesju''': "... the passage from the ''Egils Saga'' describing Thorolf's ''kesja'' (...) goes back to events of 925 and treats of the same general period as ''Gormont et Isembart'', the same type of Viking warfare, and implies moreover that the weapon is of a well-known type." (p. 287)

==Links==

* ''Written by:''  Katelin Parsons
* ''Icelandic translation:'' Jón Karl Helgason

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