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Konungsbók

Manuscript. Iceland. Stofnun Árna Magnússonar í íslenskum fræðum, Reykjavík, GKS 2367 4to. Photo: CC unknown.

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GKS 2367 4to

Findspot: Iceland.

Size: L 189-196 × W 127-130 mm.

Pages: 110.

Dating: 1300-1350.

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Konungsbók Snorra-Eddu (Codex Regius of the Prose Edda, GKS 2367 4to) — an early 14th-century Icelandic vellum codex, the most complete of the principal manuscripts of Snorri Sturluson’s Edda.

The 55 leaves carry Gylfaginning and Bragaræður with their supplementary material, Skáldskaparmál with its þulur, and the full 102-stanza Háttatal — the four-part structure of prologue, mythological survey, treatise on poetic diction, and metrical demonstration in praise of King Hákon Hákonarson and Earl Skúli. The opening leaf is lost, taking with it the beginning of the prologue, and the final folio (53r) carries a stray stanza that belongs earlier in the work. Jómsvíkingadrápa and Málsháttakvæði follow the Edda proper, with the close of Jómsvíkingadrápa missing from the manuscript’s exemplar.

Acquired by Brynjólfur Sveinsson in 1640 and sent to Frederick III of Denmark in 1662 alongside its namesake the Codex Regius of the Poetic Edda.