Hövisk litteratur och förändringar i det fornsvenska textlandskapet

Sammanfattning: This thesis aims to shed light on the presence of the Old Swedish courtly literature in the changing profane textual landscape of medieval Sweden to better understand the function and significance of this literature. The point of departure for this study are the three verse romances collectively known as the Eufemiavisor and their properties in their capacity as courtly literature. The material consists of 31 profane literary works and 26 manuscripts produced between 1300 and 1529. The study draws on polysystem theory (Even-Zohar 1990) and makes use of notions and approaches from various fields of textual scholarship such as philology and the history of literature.The study is divided into three main parts. The first part focuses on the work perspective and structures the development of the Old Swedish profane textual landscape into four stages: introduction and establishment; diversification and expansion; politicizing and centralisation; and further development and administration of literary traditions. The second part, which analyses the use of a courtly repertoire in the corpus, uses these stages to interpret the results. The courtly repertoire is defined as a set of properties manifested in the Eufemiavisor. The properties included in the analysis are a courtly vocabulary, certain expressions, the form Knittelvers, adventure as a theme, and the intratextual temporal and spatial settings. The analysis shows that certain parts of the repertoire quickly become obsolete while others (such as a core vocabulary and the Knittelvers) remain productive until the end of the Middle Ages but gradually transform into stereotypes or evolve to become useful outside of a courtly literary context. The third part focuses on the manuscript perspective. A network analysis of the texts’ appearances in manuscripts shows that even though the Eufemiavisor had a central position, the rhyme chronicle Erikskrönikan could be considered the central node connecting various interests and textual orientations, keeping the chronicle relevant throughout the Middle Ages. The analysis of the transmission of the Eufemiavisor reveals their dynamic and multifunctional nature. Of the three romances, Hertig Fredrik av Normandie is perhaps the most nuanced, a factor that may have contributed to it being the most copied as well as the longest-lasting of the Eufemiavisor.The results suggest a gradual move of the courtly repertoire from a central position towards a peripheral position in the literary system as a consequence of a growing system, new interests, and new groups governing the system. By the end of the Middle Ages, the function of the courtly repertoire appears to have become one of preservation of traditional literary taste.