[3] The book takes its name from the convent of Kirkjubær, which likely held the codex until King Christian III of Denmark dissolved the Icelandic monasteries in the mid sixteenth century.
[6] Wolf suggests that it is likely that the material in the codex was copied from individual lives of saints that were available in Iceland, rather than from another legendary, as the arrangement of the legends appears arbitrary, and is not organised according to the liturgical year.
[10] There is no direct record of the codex belonging to the convent; an inventory of 1397 notes that it held 20 Latin and Norse books.
[11] However, based on its specialised contents referring to female saints, some of whom were known to be venerated by the nuns at Kirkjubær, Wolf considers there to be 'little doubt' that it was written for convent.
There are full-page illustrations of Sts Margaret, Catherine, Cecilia, Dorothy and Agnes, who are distinguished by their attributes.