The Flateyjarbók is a colossal medieval Icelandic manuscript, comprising 225 written and illustrated vellum leaves. It contains mostly sagas of the Norse kings as found in the Heimskringla, specifically the sagas about Olaf Tryggvason, St. Olaf, Sverre, Hákon the Old.... 1/
.... Magnus the Good, and Harald Hardrada. But they appear here expanded with additional material not found elsewhere (some of it being very old) along with other unique differences. Most—but not all—of the additional material is placed within the royal sagas. 2/
Additionally, the manuscript contains the only copy of the eddic poem Hyndluljóð, a unique set of annals from creation to 1394, and many short tales not otherwise preserved such as Nornagests þáttr ("the Story of Norna Gest”). 3/
Especially important is the Grœnlendinga saga ("History of the Greenlanders"), giving an account of the Vinland colony with some differences from the account contained in Eiríks saga rauða ("History of Eirík the Red"). 4/
Here also are preserved the only Icelandic versions of the Orkneyinga saga("History of the Orkney Islanders") and Færeyinga saga ("History of the Faroe Islanders").
From internal evidence the book was being written in 1387 and was completed in 1394 or very soon after. 5/
From internal evidence the book was being written in 1387 and was completed in 1394 or very soon after. 5/
The manuscript is No.1005 fol. in the Royal Collection in the Royal Library of Copenhagen. This is the dedication copy of the facsimile produced as apart of the Corpus Codicum Islandicorum Medii Aevi in Copenhagen in 1930, with 448 pages of photolithographed facsimile plates. 6/
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