THE RELATIONS OF THE NORWEGIAN WITH THE 



ENGLISH CHURCH, 1066-1399, AND THEIR IMPORTANCE 



TO COMPARATIVE LITERATURE. 1 



By Henry Goddard Leach. 



Presented by G. L. Kittredge, March 10, 1909. Received March 10, 1909. 



The relations of England with the Scandinavian countries after the 

 Norman Conquest are obscure and little understood. 



Scandinavia, especially Norway and Iceland, borrowed, translated, 

 and redacted a large body of the common European literature. From 

 whence did it come 1 Some critics have assumed an English liter- 

 ary counting-house for the romances translated in Norway during the 

 reign of Hakon Hakonarson (1217-1263). Finnur J6nsson, writing in 

 1901, favored England. And yet Rudolf Meissner, one of the most 

 recent and voluminous writers on these romances, takes it for granted 

 that not only the romances but foreign culture and " courtesy " in 

 general were imported by Norwegian students from France. 2 



As the translations themselves seem not to reveal the country from 

 which their originals were borrowed, it is pertinent to ask, With what 

 foreign land did Norway at that time stand in intimate relations 1 

 Also, with what foreign country were the producers of literature in 

 Norway in such relations 1 As far as we know, the two classes in 

 Norway who produced literature in the middle ages were the patron 

 aristocracy and the clergy. It is my purpose here to examine the 

 foreign relations of the latter with England. 



The history of the Church in Norway and Iceland is closely identi- 

 fied with that of the literature. For in the North, no less than else- 



1 The following essay is part of a dissertation entitled "The Relations 

 between England and Scandinavia, from 1066 until 1399, in History and 

 Literature," presented to the Faculty of Harvard University, 1908, in part 

 fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. 



2 Die Strengleikar, Halle, 1902, p. 132: "Bekanntschaft mit der franzo- 

 sischen Dichtung vermittelten vor allem die sorgfaltiger gebildeten norwe- 

 gischen Geistlichen, die in Frankreich studiert hatten. Sie brachten die 

 Ideen des Rittertums, der hofischen Bildung (kurteisi) nach dem Norden." 

 Cf. p. 317, note 1. 



