The Swedish 14th century romance Hærra Ivan presents an ideal noble world by portraying courtly manners, feasts, and battles, including scenes that are not present in the French Yvain by Chrétien de Troyes. This article focuses on the portrayal of elegant clothes made from expensive fabrics and the usage of fabrics in furnishing homes. Here the author often expands on the original, and also tends to define the materials used as expensive and rich (kostelik, rik, dyr) – while the terms have the wider meaning of ’valuable, spendid’ they are also closely associated with the amount of money one would have to pay for the item in question. Some of the materials are, in fact, so expensive that it is doubtful whether they were in use even among royalty at the time. In presenting these rich items, the author suggests how the nobility should aspire to the correct forms of consumption to display their nobility and wealth, and uphold their social standing.
The book Arthur in Northern Translations is a compilation of some of the articles presented at two conferences organized by the Nordic Branch of the Arthurian Society.