Dórótheu saga explained

Dórótheu saga is an Old Norse-Icelandic saints' saga that recounts the legend of St Dorothy of Caesarea. It is preserved only in the manuscript Kirkjubæjarbók (AM 429 12mo), a codex containing lives of female saints written in Iceland around 1500. This manuscript also contains the only Old Norse-Icelandic poetry written about St Dorothy before 1500 and a Latin prayer to the saint not known from elsewhere in medieval Scandinavia.^[1]

The text of the saga is a very close translation of the Latin text BHL 2324, with occasional differences, some of which are found in BHL 2325d.^[2]

Dorothy also appears in three medieval and early modern Icelandic poems: Dórótheudiktur (ca. 1400–1500), which follows Dórótheu saga in Kirkjubæjarbók; Dórótheukvæði I, attributed to Ólafur Jónsson (1560-1672); Dórótheukvæði II (17th century), a rendering of the Danish ballad Den hellige Dorothea.^[3]

Bibliography

A comprehensive bibliography can be found in Wolf's The Legends of the Saints in Old Norse-Icelandic Prose.^[4]

Manuscripts

• AM 429 12mo (Kirkjubæjarbók)

Editions

• Book: Unger, Carl Richard. Heilagra manna søgur. 1877. 1. Christiania. 322-328. Carl Richard Unger.
• Book: Wolf, Kirsten. The Icelandic Legend of Saint Dorothy. registration. Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies. 1997. Studies and Texts 130. Toronto. 89-103.
• Book: Wolf, Kirsten. A Female Legendary from Iceland: "Kirkjubæjarbók" (AM 429 12mo) in The Arnamagnæan Collection, Copenhagen. Museum Tusculanum Press. 2011. Manuscripta Nordica: Early Nordic Manuscripts in Digital Facsimile 3. Copenhagen. 111–119.
• Book: Wolf, Kirsten. Heilagra meyja sögu. Bókmenntafræðistofnun Háskola Íslands. 2003. Íslensk trúarrit 1. Reykjavík. 18–24. [Modern Icelandic edition]

Further reading

• Wolf. Kirsten. 1996. The Legend of Saint Dorothy: Medieval Vernacular Renderings and their Latin Sources. Analecta Bollandiana. en. 114. 1–2. 41–72. 10.1484/J.ABOL.4.01677. 0003-2468.

Notes and References

1. Book: Wolf, Kirsten. Scandinavia and Christian Europe in the Middle Ages: Papers of the 12th International Saga Conference, Bonn/Germany, 28th July—2nd August 2003. Hausdruckerei der Universität Bonn. 2005. Simek. Rudolf. Bonn. 537. Kirkjubæjarbók: Codex AM 429 12mo.. Meurer. Judith. https://web.archive.org/web/20170407142217/http://www.sagaconference.org/SC12/SC12_Wolf.pdf. 7 April 2017.
2. Book: Wolf, Kirsten. The Legends of the Saints in Old Norse-Icelandic prose. University of Toronto Press. 2013. 9781442646216. Toronto, Buffalo, London. 90.
3. Book: The Saints in Old Norse and Early Modern Icelandic Poetry. Wolf. Kirsten. Van Deusen. Natalie M.. University of Toronto Press. 2017. Toronto, Buffalo, London. 78–81.
4. Book: Wolf, Kirsten. The Legends of the Saints in Old Norse-Icelandic prose. University of Toronto Press. 2013. 9781442646216. Toronto, Buffalo, London. 90–91.