ABSTRACT
The Saga of Grettir the Strong is usually counted as the last of the great Sagas of Icelanders. Scholars had commonly thought the saga was composed in the middle decades of the fourteenth century but recent arguments suggest the later date of 1400. This would make it contemporary with Geoffrey Chaucer and the literature of Renaissance Europe. The saga’s author is fully aware of the entire saga tradition and makes direct references to several. The fi nal section of the saga is set in Byzantium, in which Grettir’s halfbrother, Þorsteinn drómundr ‘Galley’, avenges his killing and becomes the lover of the courtly and romantic Spes. Here is evidence of the author’s acquaintance with the full fl ourish of continental romance, given that the story is based on that of Tristan when, disguised as a leper, he rescues Iseult (see Thomas of Britain’s Tristan, Early Chivalry). Intriguingly, in addition, there is also a close similarity with Beowulf in two chapters. Had the author, or an author before him, seen a manuscript of Beowulf ?
