Page:History of the Literature of the Scandinavian North.djvu/339

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THE MIDDLE AGE.
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ing style. It is generally supposed to have been written or at least finished about the year 1320, and its main contents relate to the son of the Swedish king Duke Erik. The style of the chronicle seems to suggest that the author was an eyewitness to the events described, and this gives it some historical value. This also applies to the majority of the other poetical productions of the same kind, particularly to the "Karlskrönike" and to the "Sturekrönike," which treat of the history of Sweden during the reigns of Karl Knutsson and Sture. We might also mention a few bishop-chronicles written in verse, and a number of didactic poems and legends, which do not, however, contain any matter of interest. In addition to the above mentioned Eufemia songs, there are also several other romances of chivalry composed in verse, such as the "Konung Alexander," thought to have been translated from Latin prose about the close of the fourteenth century. The first poem in dramatic form, which Sweden can boast, is a translation from the Latin, entitled "De uno peccatore, qui promeruit gratiam.[1]

  1. Svenska Medeltidens Rim-Kröniker, edited by G. E. Klemming, I-III, Stockholm, 1865-67. Flores og Blantzeflor, edited by G. E. Klemming, Stockholm, 1844. Herr Iwan Lejon-Riddaren, edited by Liffman and Stephens, Stockholm, 1849. Hertig Fredrik af Normandie, edited by J. A. Ahlstrand, Stockholm, 1853. Konung Alexander, edited by G. E. Klemming, Stockholm, 1862.