The Flatey Book, (in Icelandic the Flateyjarbók 'Flat-island book') is one of the most important medieval Icelandic manuscripts. It is also known as GkS 1005 fol. and Codex Flatöiensis. Sometimes Anglicized as Flateyjarbok. A manuscript (Latin manu scriptus, written by hand), strictly speaking, is any written document that is put down by hand, in contrast to being printed or reproduced some other way. ...

Description

The Flatey Book is the largest and certainly one of the most beautiful of medieval Icelandic manuscripts, comprising 225 velum leaves, carefully written and illustrated. It contains mostly sagas of the Norse kings as found in the Heimskringla, specifically the sagas about Olaf Tryggvason's, St. Olaf, Sverre, Hakon the Old, Magnus the Good, and Harald Hardrada. But they appear here expanded with additional material¹ not found elsewhere (some material being very old) and with other unique differences. Most, but not all, of the additional material is placed within the royal sagas, sometimes interlaced. Also in the manuscript is the only copy of the eddic poem Hyndluljód, a unique set of annals from creation to 1394, and many short tales not otherwise preserved such as Nornagests þáttr ('Tale of Norna Gest'). Heimskringla is the old norse name of a collection of sagas recorded in Iceland around 1225 by the poet and historian Snorri Sturluson (1179-1242). ... Olaf Tryggvason has been elected king, a painting by Peter Nicolai Arbo Olaf Tryggvason (969–September 9? 1000) (Old Norse: Óláfr Tryggvason, Norwegian: Olav Tryggvason) was son of Tryggve Olafsson, king of Viken (Vingulmark and Ranrike), and great-grandson of Harald Fairhair. ... Illustration in wrought-iron of Olavs life on the door of a Stave church in Hardemo, Nerike, where Olav baptized locals during his escape Olav II Haraldsson ( 995 – July 29, 1030), king from 1015–1028, (known during his lifetime as the Stout and after his death as Saint Olav... Sverre Sigurdsson (Old Norse Sverrir Sigurðsson) (c. ... HÃ¥kon IV (1204–December 15, 1263), also called Haakon the Old, was declared to be the son of HÃ¥kon III of Norway, the leader of the Birkebeiner, who had seized control over large parts of Norway in 1202. ... Magnus I (1024 - October 25, 1047) was a King of Norway (1035 - 1047) and king of Denmark (1042 - 1047). ... Harald III Sigurdsson (1015 – 1066), later surnamed Harald Hardrada (Norse: Harald Harðráði, roughly translated as Harald stern council or hard ruler) was the king of Norway from 1046 until 1066. ... The Lay of Hyndla or Hyndluljóð is an Old Norse poem of the same type as those in the Poetic Edda, but in corrupted form, and it is only preserved in Flateyjarbók. ... Events Expulsion of the Jews from France. ... The death of Nornagest, by Gunnar Vidar Forssell Norna-Gests þáttr or the Story of Norna-Gest is a legendary saga about the Norse hero Norna-Gest. ...

Especially important is the Grœnlendinga þáttr ('Tale of the Greenlanders') giving the only full account of the Vinland colony. Related to this is a short tale of Eirík the Red with some differences from the Eiriks saga rauð ('Saga of Eirík the Red'). Here also is preserved the only Icelandic version of the Orkneyinga saga ('Saga of the Orkney Islanders') and Færeyinga saga ('Saga of the Faroe Islanders'). Vinland (pronounced Winland) was the name given to part of North America by the Icelandic Norseman Leif Eiríksson, about year 1000. ... The Saga of Eric the Red is a saga about Eric the Red. ... The Orkneyinga saga (also called the History of the Earls of Orkney) is an unique historical narrative of the history of the Orkney Islands from their capture by the Norwegian king in the 9th century onwards until about 1200 AD. The saga was written around 1200 AD by an unknown...

History

From internal evidence the book was being written in 1387 and was completed in 1394 or very soon after. The first page states that its owner is "Jonn Hakonar son" and that the book was scribed by two priests. One of them, "Jon prestr Þordar son", inscribed the contents from the tale of Eirík the Traveller down to the end of the two Olaf sags and the other, "Magnus prestr Thorhallz sun", inscribed the earlier and later material and also drew the illustrations. Events June 2 - John Holland, a maternal half-brother of Richard II of England, is created Earl of Huntingdon. ... Events Expulsion of the Jews from France. ...

Further material was inserted towards the end of the 15th century. Events and Trends Categories: 1400s ...

The manuscript first received special attention by the learned in 1651 when Bishop Brynjulf Sveinsson of Skalholt, with permission of King Frederick III of Denmark requested that all folk of Iceland who owned old manuscripts to turn them over to the Danish king, either providing the original or a copy, either as a gift or for a price. Jon Torfason, son of Rev. Torfi Finsson, who resided on Flatey ('Flat Island') in Breidafjörd on the west coast of Iceland, was then the owner of book which was already known as the Flateyjarbók. At first Jon refused to release his precious heirloom, the biggest and best book in all of Iceland, and Jon continued to refuse even when Bishop Brynjulf paid him a personal visit and offered him five hundreds of land. But Jon only changed his mind and bestowed it on the Bishop just as the Bishop was leaving the region and in return Jon was exempted from all future ecclesiastical taxes. // Events January 1 - Charles II crowned King of Scotland in Scone. ... Frederick III (March 28, 1609 – February 19, 1670) was King of Denmark and Norway from 1648 until his death. ... Breiðafjörður - as the name indicates - is a rather broad fjord in the west of Iceland. ...

The manuscript was given into the keeping of Thormod Torfæus, in 1662, as a present from Bishop Brynjulf to King Frederick III and placed in the Royal Museum of Copenhagen. (The rest of Bishop Brynjulf's collection was dispersed by his heirs who had no interest in a collection of old mansucripts and most disappeared for ever, though fortunately transcipts to paper had been made from many of them.) In 1971 the Flatey Book and the Codex Regius were repatriated to Iceland as Icelandic national treasures. Events March 18 – Short-timed experiment of the first public buses holding 8 passengers begins in Paris May 3/May 2 - Catherine of Braganza marries Charles II of England – as part of the dowry, Portugal cedes Bombay and Tangier to England May 9 - Samuel Pepys witnessed a Punch and Judy... 1971 is a common year starting on Friday (click for link to calendar). ... The Codex Regius is an Icelandic manuscript (See also Codex) which is thought to have been written in the 1270s, but many of the poems and stories contained in it pre-date the conversion of Scandinavia to Christianity in the late tenth century. ...

Bibliography and External links

• Flateyjarbok: En samling af Norske Konge-saegar, 3 Vols. Ed. Guðbrandur Vigfússon and Unger, C. R. (1860–1868). Christiania [Oslo]: P. T. Mallings forlagsboghandel. Sagnanet: Flateyjarbók (Graphic images of front matter and pp. 1–15.)
• Sagnanet: Table of contents for: GKS 1005 fol
• Det Humanistiske Fakultet: GkS 1005 fol. — "Flateyjarbók" (Some information and an image.)
• The Flatey Book and recently discovered Vatican manuscripts concerning America as early as the tenth century. Ed. and trans. by Anderson, Rasmus B. (1906). London: The Norroena Society. (Facsimiles of Icelandic text, Icelandic transcription, Danish translation, English translation of Vinland material and related material only.)
• Text and English translation by Loptsson of Eireks þáttr rauða ('Tale of Eirík the Red') and Grœnlendinga þáttir ('Tale of the Greenlanders') from the Flatey Book

Note

Note 1: Such as Norna-Gests þáttr ('the Story of Norna-Gest'), Styrbjarnar þáttr Svíakappa ('Tale of Styrbjörn the Swedish Champion'), Hróa þáttr heimska ('The Tale of Roi the Fool') and Völsa þáttr ('the Tale of the Phallos'). The death of Nornagest, by Gunnar Vidar Forssell Norna-Gests þáttr or the Story of Norna-Gest is a legendary saga about the Norse hero Norna-Gest. ... Styrbjarnar þáttr Svíakappa (The Tale of Styrbjörn the Swedish Champion) is a short story, a þáttr on the Swedish pretender Styrbjörn Starke preserved in the Flatey Book (GKS 1005 fol 342-344, ca 1387-1395). ... Hróa þáttr heimska or the Tale of Roi the Fool is an amusing short story from Iceland about a Dane called Hrói the Fool who is helped in a legal dispute by the wise old Swede Þorgnýr the Lawspeaker, and which takes place in the late 10th... Völsa þáttr is a short story which is only extant in the Flatey Book, where it is found in a chapter of Ólofs saga Helga. ...