Saints' sagas explained
Saints' sagas (Old Norse heilagra manna sögur) are a genre of Old Norse sagas comprising the prose hagiography of medieval western Scandinavia.
The corpus of such sagas and their manuscript attestations was surveyed by Ole Widding, Hans Bekker-Nielsen, L. K. Shook in 1963.[1] Their work revealed over 100 different saints' lives, mostly based on Latin sources. Few are of Icelandic saints, with only Jón Ögmundarson (d. 1121), Þorlákr Þórhallsson (d. 1193), and Guðmundr Arason (d. 1237) being candidates.[2]
In the words of Jonas Wellendorf:
While the sagas of the Icelanders might be the unique contribution to world literature that clearly demarcates Old Norse-Icelandic literature from other literary traditions in the Middle Ages, and indeed other periods as well, the lives of saints connect the very same literature with the rest of Western Europe.
These sagas are preserved in many medieval manuscripts. Two notable collections are Kirkjubæjarbók, which is exclusively concerned with female saints, and Codex Scardensis which gathers together lives of the apostles.
List of Sagas
The following list of sagas is taken from Wolf's The legends of the saints in Old Norse-Icelandic prose.[3] The corresponding saints are listed in parentheses after the saga titles. Material relating to saints which is incorporated into other sagas is listed separately, below.
Saints' lives incorporated into other texts
Maríu saga
Other texts
- Gereon (a passion of this saint is included in Máritíuss saga)
- Gregory Thaumaturgus (incorporated into the Old Norwegian version of Barlaams saga ok Jósafats as Af Gregor Thaumarturgus)
- Hippolytus (A legend of this saint is incorporated into Lárentíuss saga erkidjákns)
- Leonard of Noblac a short legend of this saint is included in a prayer to Saint Margaret of Antioch)
- Pantaleon (two fragments dated to 1200–1300) may represent a legend of this saint) (Wolf 310–302)
- Pelagia (incorporated into the Old Norwegian version of Barlaams saga ok Jósafats as Af Pelagíu)
- Salinus (the passion and miracles of this saint are included in Karlamagnúss saga)
- Sixtus II (incorporated into Lárentíuss saga erkidjákns)
- Stephen of Grandmont (incorporated in Maríu saga as Af Stephano)
- Thais (incorporated into the Old Norwegian version of Barlaams saga ok Jósafats as Af Thais)
- A passion of Tiburtius and Valerian is included in Cecilíu saga
- There are Old Norwegian and Old Icelandic translations of Gregory the Great's Dialogues (Díalógar (Viðrœður) Gregors páfa)
Wolf's list notes that the Old Norse-Icelandic tales of Charlemagne, Canute of Denmark and Canute Lavard are secular works and therefore cannot be considered as saints' lives.
Editions
Further reading
- Collings, Lucy Grace (1969) The Codex Scardensis: studies in Icelandic hagiography; doctoral dissertation, Cornell University, 1969
- Codex Scardensis; edited by D. Slay. (Early Icelandic Manuscripts in Facsimile; vol. 2.) Copenhagen: Rosenkilde and Bagger, 1960 (includes "Postola sögur")
Notes and References
- Widding . Ole . Bekker-Nielsen . Hans . Shook . L. K. . 1963 . The Lives of the Saints in Old Norse Prose: a Handlist . Mediaeval Studies . 25 . 294–337 . 10.1484/J.MS.2.306819 .
- 'Saints' Lives', in Medieval Scandinavia: An Encyclopedia, ed. by Phillip Pulsiano (New York: Garland, 1993).
- Book: Wolf, Kirsten. The legends of the saints in Old Norse-Icelandic prose. University of Toronto Press. 2013. 9781442646216. Toronto, Buffalo, London. .
