''Katrínar saga'' is an Old Norse-Icelandic
saints' saga that tells the story of
St Catherine of Alexandria
Catherine of Alexandria, also spelled Katherine, was, according to tradition, a Christian saint and virgin, who was martyred in the early 4th century at the hands of the emperor Maxentius. According to her hagiography, she was both a princess a ...
. It survives in four manuscripts from the 14th to 15th centuries, but is only extant in full in Stock. Perg. fol. 2.
Cormack notes that the cult of Catherine came to
Iceland
Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...
relatively late, was not firmly established until the thirteenth century, and was most popular in south-west Iceland.
A text called Katrinar Saga is preserved in the manuscript AM 180b fol. This however, is not the legend of St Catherine but instead a translation of ''Sanctae Catharinae Virginis et Martyris Translatio et Miracula Rotomagensia'' which is an account of the translation of Catherine's relics and the associated miracles in eleventh century
Rouen
Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine, in northwestern France. It is in the prefecture of Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one ...
.
Catherine also appears in two fourteenth century
Old Norse-Icelandic poems: ''Kátrínardrápa'' by Kálfr Hallson and ''Heilagra meyja drápa'' (stanzas 22-24).
Bibliography
A comprehensive bibliography can be found in Wolf's ''The Legends of the Saints in Old Norse-Icelandic Prose''.
Manuscripts
* AM 233a fol.
* AM 238 fol. II
* AM 667 4to II
* 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 ...
)
* Stock. Perg. fol no. 2
Editions
*
*
*
*
odern Icelandic edition
References
{{Saints' sagas
Sagas of saints