In the previous chapter I considered some of thedifferent textual versions of Nítíða saga as preserved in manuscriptform – versions of a romance that was created,enjoyed, and re-created both in the Middle Ages andin later centuries. With the context of itsmanuscript variation in mind, I will now consideranother contextual aspect, that is, its intertextualrelationships with other Icelandic romances. As anoriginally medieval Icelandic romance, Nítíða saga was not composedin isolation, and as I will demonstrate in thischapter, it was in dialogue not only with the widerromance genre in general, but also with otherindividual texts in particular, which, both on theirown and together in groups of texts containingsimilar themes and stories, were equally valued bymedieval and early modern Icelanders. It is some ofthese intertextual relationships on which thischapter focuses, in order to understand better howNítíða saga may havebeen viewed and valued in relation to other popular,secular texts available in Iceland.

It would be too great a task to enumerate and analysean exhaustive list of intertextual connections inNítíða sagaconsidering the richly diverse literary context fromwhich it emerged. To begin to appreciate thecomplexity of the relationships among Nítíða saga and otherromances – and to understand the differentapproaches one might take in analysing theseconnections – we can consider the number of motifsshared by Nítíða sagaand Icelandic romances, as listed in Inger Boberg’sMotif-Index of EarlyIcelandic Literature, as well as themanuscripts in which romances co-occur in Kalinkeand Mitchell’s Bibliography ofOld Norse–Icelandic Romances. The scopeof this chapter is restricted to two main casestudies that highlight the relationship betweenNítíða saga and twoIcelandic romances, Nikulássaga leikara and Clári saga. These casestudies will demonstrate not only some of thesimilarities and differences between these texts,but also the dialogue into which the author ofNítíða saga mayconsciously have entered with them.Alongside thesetwo case studies, I will begin the chapter bytouching upon some of Nítíðasaga’s more general relationships withother romances by discussing one of its mostimportant motifs – the náttúrusteinar (magical stones) andtheir use – in order to situate the text in itswider context of romances, which often employsimilar strategies to negotiate and fulfil the normsof the genre.