Food and Feast in the Arthurian World

In the riddarasögur, feasts and celebrations at court are largely ritualized. Dates, places, speeches and type of festive activities seem to correspond to a codified description. One of the recurring elements of this ritual is the so-called instrumentarium, the list of musical instruments performed at court. This motive has been studied in French and Occitan literature by musicologist and linguist Pierre Bec1. In the present study, I shall study the resurgence of this motive in three translated works : Breta Sögur, Strengleikar and Karlamagnússaga.