''Adonias saga'' is a medieval Icelandic

romance saga The ''riddarasögur'' (literally 'sagas of knights', also known in English as 'chivalric sagas', 'romance-sagas', 'knights' sagas', 'sagas of chivalry') are Norse prose sagas of the romance genre. Starting in the thirteenth century with Norse tr ...

Synopsis

Kalinke and Mitchell summarise the saga thus:

The crux of the tale is the prophecy that the offspring born to the king and queen of Syria will rule the kingdom after the king's death. An evil duke tries to secure the royal throne for his own progeny and turn the prophecy of royal succession to his own advantage. The king is abducted and secreted in the bed of the duke's daughter, while the duke sleeps with the queen. As prophesied, offspring are born to both king and queen. When the king reveals that he knows about the deception practiced on him, he is attacked by the duke and killed. The queen's son, Constancius, ascends the throne. The greater part of the romance relates the attempts of Adonias, the king's son, to gain the throne of Syria. The romance is characterized by extensive battle accounts.

In the assessment of Otto J. Zitzelsberger, ‘''Adonias saga'', which runs to seventy-one chapters, is unnecessarily prolongued by its unrelenting account of large-scale military preparations and actions as well as duels and other single encounters. It is also overloaded with stock banquets, hunting scenes, and hyperbole associated with the genre to which it belongs'.

Manuscripts

Kalinke and Mitchell identified the following early manuscripts of the saga:Marianne E. Kalinke and P. M. Mitchell, ''Bibliography of Old Norse–Icelandic Romances'', Islandica, 44 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1985), p. . * Arnamagnæean Institute, Copenhagen: AM 567,4° (vellum fragment), I (15th c), 4 leaves; VI, α (15th c), 2 leaves; VI, β (ca. 1400), 1 leaf * AM 570a, 4° (late 15th c), vellum, defective * AM 579, 4° (15th c), vellum, defective * AM 593a, 4° (15th c), vellum * AM 118a, 8° (17th c) *

Royal Library, Copenhagen The Royal Library ( da, Det Kongelige Bibliotek) in Copenhagen is the national library of Denmark and the university library of the University of Copenhagen. It is among the largest libraries in the world and the largest in the Nordic countries ...

: NKS 1265, fol., II, c (15th c), vellum, 1 leaf *

Royal Library, Stockholm The National Library of Sweden ( sv, Kungliga biblioteket, ''KB'', meaning "the Royal Library") is Sweden's national library. It collects and preserves all domestic printed and audio-visual materials in Swedish, as well as content with Swedish ...

: Perg. fol. nr 7 (late 15th c), defective * Papp. 4:o nr 6 (late 17th c) * Papp. 4:o nr 19 (late 17th c ) * Papp. fol. nr 48 (1690), defective

Editions and translations

Agnete Loth Agnete Loth (18 November 1921 – 2 June 1990) was an editor and translator of Old Norse-Icelandic texts. She is notable for editing late medieval romance sagas, which she published in five volumes intended "to provide a long-needed provisional bas ...

(ed.), ''Late Medieval Icelandic Romances'', Editiones Arnamagæanae, series B, 20–24, 5 vols Copenhagen: Munksgaard, 1962–65), III 66-230. he principal scholarly edition.

References

Chivalric sagas Icelandic literature Old Norse literature {{Iceland-saga-stub