The Codex Regius is an Icelandic manuscript (See also Codex) which is thought to have been written in the 1270s, but many of the poems and stories contained in it pre-date the conversion of Scandinavia to Christianity in the late tenth century. It was found by the Bishop of Skálholt, Brynjólfur Sveinsson in 1643 and was presented to King Frederick III of Denmark. Snorri Sturluson's Younger Edda (also known as the Prose Edda) makes numerous references to verses contained in it, and most of the Skaldic Poetry in the Elder Edda (also known as The Poetic Edda) comes from the Codex Regius.

Codex Regius was stored on the mainland, at the Royal Library in Copenhagen until the early 1960s, when it was brought back to Reykjavík and is now kept in the Arnamagnæan Institute. Since air travel was not to be entirely trusted at the time with such precious cargo, it was transported by ship, and accompanied by a military escort.