''Fagrskinna'' (

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

: ; ; trans. "Fair Leather" from the type of

parchment Parchment is a writing material made from specially prepared Tanning (leather), untanned skins of animals—primarily sheep, calves and goats. It has been used as a writing medium in West Asia and Europe for more than two millennia. By AD 400 ...

) is one of the

kings' sagas Kings' sagas (, , ) are Old Norse sagas which principally tell of the lives of semi-legendary and legendary (mythological, fictional) Nordic kings, also known as saga kings. They were composed during the twelfth through the fourteenth centuries, ...

, written around 1220. It is assumed to be a source for what is known as the '' Heimskringla'', containing histories of Norwegian kings from the 9th to 12th centuries, as well as skaldic verse.

Description

''Fagrskinna'' is one of the

, written around 1220. It takes its name from one of the manuscripts in which it was preserved, ''Fagrskinna'' meaning 'Fair Leather', i.e., 'Fair Parchment'. ''Fagrskinna'' proper was destroyed by fire, but copies of it and another

vellum Vellum is prepared animal skin or membrane, typically used as writing material. It is often distinguished from parchment, either by being made from calfskin (rather than the skin of other animals), or simply by being of a higher quality. Vellu ...

have been preserved. An immediate source for the '' Heimskringla'' of

Snorri Sturluson Snorri Sturluson ( ; ; 1179 – 22 September 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was elected twice as lawspeaker of the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He is commonly thought to have authored or compiled portions of th ...

, ''Fagrskinna'' is a central text in the genre of kings' sagas. It contains a vernacular history of Norway from the ninth to the twelfth centuries, from the career of Halfdan the Black to the Battle of Re in 1177, and includes extensive citation of skaldic verses, some of them preserved nowhere else. It has a heavy emphasis on battles, such as the Battle of Hjörungavágr and the Battle of Svolder. The book is often thought to have been written in Norway, either by an Icelander or a Norwegian. Apart from making use of skaldic poetry and oral tradition, the author drew extensively on written texts of the kings' sagas. The following sources have been proposed as having been the most decisive: # a lost work by the Icelandic priest Sæmundr fróði Sigfússon (1056-1133) # a lost version of ''Ágrip af Nóregs konunga sögum'' (''c''. 1190) # a lost synoptic work about the earliest Norwegian kings (''c''. 1200–1220) # a lost version of the '' Jómsvíkinga saga'' (''c''. 1200) # ''Hlaðajarla saga'' (''c''. 1200) # '' Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar'' from a version by Oddr Snorrason (''c''. 1190) # a lost version of '' Óláfs saga helga'' # ''Knúts saga ríka'' (after 1200) # '' Morkinskinna'' (''c''. 1220) # the lost '' Hryggjarstykki'' (''c''. 1150)

Editions and translations

* * * * , based primarily on Einarsson's 1984 edition

References

Sources

* * * * * *{{citation, author-link = Carl L. Thunberg, last = Thunberg , first = Carl L. , title=Särkland och dess källmaterial , publisher=Göteborgs universitet CLTS , year=2011 , isbn=978-91-981859-3-5 , pages=59–67 1220s books Icelandic manuscripts Kings' sagas