''Vatnshyrna'' was a major Icelandic

saga Sagas are prose stories and histories, composed in Iceland and to a lesser extent elsewhere in Scandinavia. The most famous saga-genre is the (sagas concerning Icelanders), which feature Viking voyages, migration to Iceland, and feuds between ...

codex destroyed in the

Copenhagen Fire of 1728 The Copenhagen Fire of 1728 was the largest fire in the history of Copenhagen, Denmark. It began on the evening of 20 October 1728 and continued to burn until the morning of the 23rd of October 1728. It destroyed approximately 28% of the city (me ...

. It was copied between 1391 and 1395 by

Magnús Þórhallsson Magnús Þórhallsson was an Icelandic priest who was one of two scribes (the other being Jón Þórðarson) who wrote the manuscript Flateyjarbók for Jón Hákonarson. Magnús was responsible for the second part of the manuscript after Jón Þó ...

for Jón Hákonarson in northern

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

. The codex was first called ''Vatnshyrna'' by Arngrímur Jónsson in his 1609 work, '' Crymogaea'', possibly because it was located at that time at Stóra Vatnshorn. Arngrímur refers to the codex containing the texts of '' Kjalnesinga saga'', '' Þórðar saga hreðu'', and ''

Bárðar saga Snæfellsáss ''Bárðar saga Snæfellsáss'' (14th c. Middle Icelandic: ; Modern Icelandic: ) or ''Bárðar saga Snæfellsáss ok Gests'' is a late sagas of Icelanders, saga of the Icelanders with legendary elements. It falls into two sections, one about Bár ...

''. A large part of the manuscript subsequently became part of Peder Resen's manuscript collection, and in 1675 this portion of the codex passed to Copenhagen University Library. At this point, the manuscript contained the following texts: * '' Flóamanna saga'' * ''

Laxdæla saga ''Laxdæla saga'' (), Old Norse ''Laxdœla saga'' (Old Norse pronunciation ) or ''The Saga of the People of Laxárdalur'', is one of the sagas of Icelanders. Written in the 13th century CE, it tells of people in the Breiðafjörður area in weste ...

'' * '' Hænsna-Þóris saga'' * ''

Vatnsdæla saga ''Vatnsdæla saga'' ( Icelandic: ; ; Old Norse: ''Vatnsdœla saga'') is one of the sagas of Icelanders. The saga follows several generations of a family originating in Norway and settling in the north of Iceland until the arrival of Christianity i ...

'' * ''

Eyrbyggja saga ''Eyrbyggja saga'' (; ) is one of the Icelanders' sagas; its title can be translated as ''The Saga of the People of Eyri.'' It was written by an anonymous writer, who describes a long-standing feud between Snorri Goði and Arnkel Goði, two stron ...

'' * '' Kjalnesinga saga'' * '' Króka-Refs saga'' * '' Stjörnu-Odda draumr'' * ''

Bergbúa þáttr ''Bergbúa þáttr'' ('The Tale of the Mountain-Dweller') is a short medieval Icelandic tale (þáttr). It tells of Þórðr and his companion who get lost on their way to church one winter and take refuge in a cave. Once inside, after they have s ...

'' * ''

Kumlbúa þáttr ''Kumlbúa þáttr'' (the tale of the cairn-dweller) is a short medieval Icelandic tale (þáttr) set at the end of the twelfth century or the beginning of the thirteenth. It tells the story of Þorsteinn Þorvarðsson who stumbles upon a burial c ...

'' * ''

Draumr Þorsteins Síðu-Hallssonar ''Draumr Þorsteins Síðu-Hallssonar'' (''The Dream of Þorsteinn Son of Síðu-Hallr'') is a very short ''þáttr'' which tells how Torstein Side-Hallsson (''Þorsteins Síðu-Hallssonar'') was visited in dreams by three women who warned him that ...

'' Although destroyed in the fire, copies of all these texts, apart from ''Króka-Refs'' ''saga'', had been made by Árni Magnússon and Ásgeir Jónsson.

Margaret Clunies Ross Margaret Beryl Clunies Ross (born 24 April 1942) is a medievalist who was until her retirement in 2009 the McCaughey Professor of English Language and Early English Literature and Director of the Centre for Medieval Studies at the University of S ...

has suggested that the manuscript's contents represent the compiler's "taste for the marvellous and the supernatural". A related codex, ''Pseudo-Vatnshyrna'', which was compiled in the same area and at the same time (c. 1390) as ''Vatnshyrna'' survives as fragments in AM 445b 4to, AM 445c 4to and AM 564a 4to. It contained at least the following texts: * ''

Landnámabók (, "Book of Settlements"), often shortened to , is a medieval Icelandic written work which describes in considerable detail the settlement () of Iceland by the Norse in the 9th and 10th centuries CE. is divided into five parts and ov ...

'' ('' Melabók'' text) * ''

'' * '' Flóamanna saga'' * ''

'' * ''

'' * '' Þórðar saga hreðu'' * ''

'' * ''

Gísla saga ''Gísla saga Súrssonar'' (, ''The saga of Gísli the Outlaw'') is one of the sagas of Icelanders. It tells the story of Gísli, a tragic hero who must kill one of his brothers-in-law to avenge another brother-in-law. Gisli is forced to stay on th ...

'' * ''

Víga-Glúms saga ''Víga-Glúms saga'' (Modern Icelandic pronunciation: ) is one of the Sagas of Icelanders. It takes place mostly in and around Eyjafjörður in North Iceland, and recounts the life and fall of Glúmr Eyjólfsson, a powerful man whose nickname, '' ...

'' * '' Harðar saga ok Hólmverja''

References

External links

* {{Cite web, title = The Saga Heritage: Árni Magnússon and the Collecting of Icelandic Manuscripts., url = http://web.uvic.ca/~becktrus/assets/text/jonsson_02.php, website = web.uvic.ca, accessdate = 2015-06-14, archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20140118081440/http://web.uvic.ca/~becktrus/assets/text/jonsson_02.php, archivedate = 2014-01-18 14th-century books Icelandic manuscripts