''Margrétar saga'' is an Old Norse-Icelandic saints' saga that tells the story of

St Margaret of Antioch Margaret, known as Margaret of Antioch in the West, and as Saint Marina the Great Martyr ( grc-gre, Ἁγία Μαρίνα) in the East, is celebrated as a saint on 20 July in the Western Rite Orthodoxy, Roman Catholic Church and Anglicanism, o ...

. There are three versions of the saga based on at least two translations, and it is extant in more medieval and post-reformation copies than any other saint's legend. Its popularity appears in part to be due to the text's use in childbirth contexts, which was a uniquely Icelandic development of a popular European tradition. The date of the legend's first translation into Old-Norse Icelandic is unknown, but based on the dating of its earliest manuscripts it is taken to have occurred some time before 1300. There is no date or location for the origin for the veneration of Margaret in

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

. However, Cormack notes that the first Icelander named Margrét is recorded in

Landnámabók (, "Book of Settlements"), often shortened to , is a medieval Icelandic written work which describes in considerable detail the settlement () of Iceland by the Norse in the 9th and 10th centuries CE. is divided into five parts and over ...

as dying in 1216, and that images of Margaret in the diocese of

Hólar Hólar (; also Hólar í Hjaltadal ) is a small community in the Skagafjörður district of northern Iceland. Location Hólar is in the Hjaltadalur valley, some from the national capital of Reykjavík. It has a population of around 100. It is th ...

pre-date the dedications to Margaret in Skálholt.

Bibliography

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

Editions

''Margrétar saga I''

* Haugen, Odd Einar (1994) “Margrétar saga”, in ''Norrøne tekster i utval,'' ed. Odd Einar Haugen,Oslo: Ad Notam Gyldendal, pp. 266–77 * Rasmussen, Peter (1977) “Tekstforholdene i ''Margrétar saga''”, 3 vols. Specialeafhandling til magisterkonferens i nordisk filologi, University of Copenhagen, vol. 3, pp. 1–10 * Unger, C.R. (1877) ''Heilagra manna søgur'', vol. 1, pp. 474–81 * Wolf, Kirsten (2003) ''Heilagra meyja sögur'', pp. 42–9 odern Icelandic Edition

''Margrétar saga II''

* Rasmussen, Peter (1977) “Tekstforholdene i ''Margrétar saga''”, 3 vols. Specialeafhandling til magisterkonferens i nordisk filologi, University of Copenhagen, vol. 3, pp. 19–27 * Wolf, Kirsten (2011) ''A Female Legendary from Iceland'', pp. 67–78 * Wolf, Kirsten (2010) "Margrétar saga II", ''Gripla'', 21, pp. 61–104

''Margrétar saga III''

* Rasmussen, Peter (1977) “Tekstforholdene i ''Margrétar saga''”, 3 vols. Specialeafhandling til magisterkonferens i nordisk filologi, University of Copenhagen, vol. 3, pp. 29–48

References