Konráðs saga keisarasonar is a medieval Icelandic romance saga. In the assessment of its editor Otto J. Zitzelsberger, it is 'a fine specimin of an early indigenous riddarasaga that combines elements from native tradition with newer and more fashionable ones from the Continent'. He dates it to the early fourteenth century.
Kalinke and Mitchell summarise the saga thus:
With his foster-brother Róðbert (the son of an earl), Konráðr (son of the emperor of Saxland) who is outstanding in every respect except that he has not learned foreign languages, journeys to Miklagarðr to woo Mathilda, daughter of the king of Grikkland. Róðbert, who is skilled in foreign languages, is to speak for Konráðr, but impersonates him and sues for Mathilda's hand. Konráðr learns of the betrayal and with the advice of Mathilda—who has vowed to marry only the son of the emperor of Saxland—he embarks upon a series of dangerous exploits designed to convince the king of Grikkland of his identity. Finally, he succeeds in obtaining Mathilda as his bride.
The 2013 survey by Alaric Hall identified the following manuscripts of the saga (giving the sigla used in Zitzelsberger's edition):
A (Holm perg 7 4to)B (Holm perg 7 fol)b (AM 118a/119a 8vo)D (AM 180b fol)E (Holm perg 6 4to)F (AM 567 4to)AM 179 folAM 181f folAM 524 4toAM 529 4toAM 585e 4toBöðvar Kvaran MS V 4toFiske F75A125 8voHolm papp 46 folIB 102 8voIB 224 8voIB 277 4toIBR 42 8voIBR 43 8voIBR 5-6 folIBR 59 4toJohns Hopkins 9 4toJS 407 8voJS 623 4toJS 632 4toJS 635 4toJS 8 folKall 614 4toLbs 1217 4toLbs 1509 4toLbs 152 4toLbs 1654 4toLbs 1687 8voLbs 1785 4toLbs 2115 4toLbs 2462 4toLbs 272 folLbs 3121 4toLbs 3933 8voLbs 3944 4toLbs 4825 4toLbs 679 4toLbs 998 4toNks 3051 4toOslo fol 3562:13Rask 31 4toWinnipeg, Elizabeth Dafoe Library, ISDA JB3 6 8voWinnipeg, Elizabeth Dafoe Library, ISDA JB6 1 4toEditions and translations
[Gunnlaugur Þórðarson (ed.)]. 1859. Konráðs saga keisarasonar, er for til Ormalands. Copenhagen: Pall Sveinsson.Cederschiöld, Gustaf (ed.). 1884. Fornsögur Suðrlanda. Lund: Gleerup.Riddarasögur, ed. by Bjarni Vilhjálmsson, 6 vols (Reykjavík: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan, 1949-1951), III 269-344. (Normalised version of Cederschiöld's text.)Hunt, Jennifer Margaret. "The Major Text of Konráðs saga keisarasonar with a Thesaurus of Word Forms." M. Phil. Thesis, Univ. of London, 1972. (based on Stockholm Perg. 4:o nr 7; Perg. fol. nr 7; Perg. 4:o nr 6.)Zitzelsberger, Otto, 'Konráðs saga keisarasonar', Seminar for Germanic Philology Yearbook (1980), 38-67 (translation)Zitzelsberger, Otto J. (ed.). 1987. Konráðs saga keisarasonar. American University Studies, Series I: Germanic Languages and Literature, 63. New York: Lang.
