Mountains, Caves, and Snowstorms: The "Lai of Two Lovers" in Anglo-Norman and Old Norse

with the first 169 lines also found in MS S, Paris, Bibliothque nationale de France, nouv.acq.fr.1104. 1 The differences between these two redactions have been much discussed, but the relationship between the Anglo-Norman text and its translation into Old Norse has received almost no attention.Nevertheless, the lai plays an important role in the Old Norse text known as Strengleikar (Songs for Stringed Instruments).This collection brings together translations of eleven of Marie's Lais, ten of the anonymous lais, and four of unknown origin. 2 It is now largely contained within one manuscript, Uppsala University Library, de la Gardie 4-7.This manuscript dates to the second half of the thirteenth century and was likely produced in Bergen or the surrounding area.Fragments of the text were also found inside the lining of a bishop's mitre in Sklholt, Iceland, and are now kept in the Arnamagnaean Collection in Copenhagen as AM 666 b 4to. 3 A full translation of Deus Amanz is found in the Uppsala manuscript, where it is named Tveggia elscandi (Two Lovers). 4 A second text of the same name also appears in the Sklholt fragments, but it is incomplete because the corners of the parchment were cut off to fit it inside the mitre.The relationship between the two Norse lais is therefore uncertain.Although this second Tveggia elscandi shares a name with the text in the Uppsala manuscript (and thus with Marie's Deus Amanz), it is not a variation in the manner of MS S and MS H.It differs in both setting and some details of the plot and seems, rather, to be a creative retelling of Marie's tale.The two lais sit in dialogue in the Strengleikar collection, where they offer a uniquely Norse investigation of landscape, memory, and the genesis of literary texts.In so doing, they engage with some of the central themes of Deus Amanz while adapting those themes for a new, Nordic audience.