Fagrskinna is one of the
kings' sagas, 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 have been preserved. An immediate source for the
Heimskringla of
Snorri Sturluson,
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 (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.