Kringlublaðið (the Kringla leaf) is a single vellum leaf written around 1260. It is the only surviving leaf of a manuscript called Kringla, which burned in Copenhagen in 1728. The manuscript contained the kings’ sagas known as Heimskringla. Their author was the poet and politician Snorri Sturluson (1178–1241). The leaf was found in the Royal Library in Stockholm and had probably been there since the second half of the 17th century. King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden gave it to the Icelandic nation during a state visit in 1975, to be kept in the National Library. The text on the leaf is from Ólafs saga helga (the Saga of St Olaf).
Stefán Karlsson, manuscript scholar and former Director of the Árni Magnússon Institute, gave a detailed account of the history of the Kringla leaf in an article published in the 2nd volume of the National Library’s yearbook, Árbók Landsbókasafns, in 1977. The article is entitled “Kringum Kringlu” (Around Kringla) and can be read here (in Icelandic).
Click the picture to view the Kringla leaf on the website Handrit.is:
