''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 Kirkjubæjarbók (Codex AM 429 12mo) is an Icelandic manuscript produced in around 1500 containing female saints' sagas. It is notable for being the only extant Old-Norse Icelandic legendary which exclusively deals with female saints and for being ...
'' (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.
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.
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''.
Bibliography
A comprehensive bibliography can be found in Wolf's ''The Legends of the Saints in Old Norse-Icelandic Prose''.
Manuscripts
* AM 429 12mo (
Kirkjubæjarbók Kirkjubæjarbók (Codex AM 429 12mo) is an Icelandic manuscript produced in around 1500 containing female saints' sagas. It is notable for being the only extant Old-Norse Icelandic legendary which exclusively deals with female saints and for being ...
)
Editions
*
*
*
*
odern Icelandic edition
Further reading
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dorotheu saga
Sagas of saints