![Edda](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/11/Edda.jpg)
Snorri Sturluson (
Old Norse
Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlemen ...
: ; ; 1179 – 22 September 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was elected twice as
lawspeaker
A lawspeaker or lawman ( Swedish: ''lagman'', Old Swedish: ''laghmaþer'' or ''laghman'', Danish: ''lovsigemand'', Norwegian: ''lagmann'', Icelandic: , Faroese: '' løgmaður'', Finnish: ''laamanni'', kl, inatsitinuk) is a unique Scandina ...
of the Icelandic parliament, the
Althing
The Alþingi (''general meeting'' in Icelandic, , anglicised as ' or ') is the supreme national parliament of Iceland. It is one of the oldest surviving parliaments in the world. The Althing was founded in 930 at (" thing fields" or "assemb ...
. He is commonly thought to have authored or compiled portions of the ''
Prose Edda
The ''Prose Edda'', also known as the ''Younger Edda'', ''Snorri's Edda'' ( is, Snorra Edda) or, historically, simply as ''Edda'', is an Old Norse textbook written in Iceland during the early 13th century. The work is often assumed to have been t ...
'', which is a major source for what is today known as
Norse mythology, and ''
Heimskringla
''Heimskringla'' () is the best known of the Old Norse kings' sagas. It was written in Old Norse in Iceland by the poet and historian Snorre Sturlason (1178/79–1241) 1230. The name ''Heimskringla'' was first used in the 17th century, derive ...
'', a history of the
Norwegian
Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to:
*Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe
* Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway
* Demographics of Norway
*The Norwegian language, including ...
kings that begins with legendary material in ''
Ynglinga saga
''Ynglinga saga'' ( ) is a Kings' saga, originally written in Old Norse by the Icelandic poet and historian Snorri Sturluson about 1225. It is the first section of his ''Heimskringla''. It was first translated into English and published in 184 ...
'' and moves through to early medieval
Scandinavian history
The history of Scandinavia is the history of the geographical region of Scandinavia and its peoples. The region is located in Northern Europe, and consists of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Finland and Iceland are at times, especially in English- ...
. For stylistic and methodological reasons, Snorri is often taken to be the author of ''
Egil's saga
''Egill's Saga'' or ''Egil's saga'' ( non, Egils saga ; ) is an Icelandic saga (family saga) on the lives of the clan of Egill Skallagrímsson (Anglicised as Egill Skallagrimsson), an Icelandic farmer, viking and skald. The saga spans the years ...
''. He was assassinated in 1241 by men claiming to be agents of the King of Norway.
Biography
Early life
Snorri Sturluson was born in (commonly transliterated as Hvamm or Hvammr) as a member of the wealthy and powerful
Sturlungar clan of the
Icelandic Commonwealth
The Icelandic Commonwealth, also known as the Icelandic Free State, was the political unit existing in Iceland between the establishment of the Althing in 930 and the pledge of fealty to the Norwegian king with the Old Covenant in 1262. With ...
, in AD 1179. His parents were ''Sturla Þórðarson the Elder'' of ''Hvammur'' and his second wife, ''Guðný Böðvarsdóttir''. He had two older brothers, ''Þórðr'' (b. 1165) and ''
Sighvatr Sturluson
Sighvatr Sturluson (Old Norse: ; given name also ''Sigvatr'' ; Modern Icelandic: ''Sighvatur Sturluson'' ; c. 1170 – 1238) was a skaldic poet, '' goði'' and member of the Icelandic Sturlungar clan. His parents were Sturla Þórðarson of ...
'' (b. 1170), two sisters (''Helga'' and ''Vigdís'') and nine
half-siblings
A sibling is a relative that shares at least one parent with the subject. A male sibling is a brother and a female sibling is a sister. A person with no siblings is an only child.
While some circumstances can cause siblings to be raised separa ...
. Snorri was raised from the age of three (or four) by
Jón Loftsson
Jón Loftsson (1124–1197; Modern Icelandic: ; Old Norse: ) was chieftain of Oddi at Rangárvellir in the south part of Iceland.
Jón Loftsson was a member of the Oddaverjar family clan. His parents were Loftur Sæmundsson and Þóra M ...
, a relative of the Norwegian royal family, in
Oddi
Oddi ( Icelandic: ) is a small village and church at Rangárvellir in Rangárvallasýsla, Iceland. Oddi at Rangárvellir was a cultural and learning center in South Iceland during the Middle Ages. There has been a church at Oddi since the introdu ...
, Iceland.
As Sturla was trying to settle a lawsuit with the priest and chieftain (''Goðorðsmaðr''), ''Páll Sölvason'', Páll's wife (''Þorbjörg Bjarnardóttir'') lunged suddenly at him with a knife—intending, she said, to make him like his one-eyed hero
Odin. Before the knife could strike its target, though, bystanders deflected the blow so it hit his cheek instead. The resulting settlement would have beggared Páll, but Jón Loftsson intervened in the Althing to mitigate the judgment and, to compensate Sturla, offered to raise and educate Snorri.
Thus Snorri received an excellent education and forged connections he might not otherwise have been able to. He attended the school of
Sæmundr fróði
Sæmundr Sigfússon, better known as Sæmundr fróði (''Sæmundr the Learned''; 1056–1133), was an Icelandic priest and scholar.
Biography
Sæmundr is known to have studied abroad. Previously it has generally been held that he studied in Fra ...
, grandfather of ''Jón Loftsson'', at Oddi, and never returned to his parents' home. His father died in 1183 and his mother (as his guardian) soon squandered Snorri's share of the inheritance. Jón Loftsson died in 1197. The two families then arranged a marriage in 1199 between Snorri and ''Herdís'', the daughter of ''Bersi Vermundarson''. From her father, Snorri inherited an estate at Borg, as well as a chieftainship, and soon acquired more property and additional chieftainships.
![Snorri's Bathhouse at Reykholt](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/Snorri%27s_Bathhouse_at_Reykholt.jpg)
Snorri and Herdís were together for four years at Borg. They had at least two children, ''Hallbera'' and ''Jón''. Unfortunately, the marriage succumbed to Snorri's philandering, and in 1206, he settled ''without'' Herdís in
Reykholt as the manager of an estate. He also made significant improvements to the estate, including a hot outdoor bath (a ''Snorralaug''). The bath and the buildings have been preserved to some extent. During his initial years at Reykholt he fathered another five children, with three different women: Guðrún Hreinsdóttir, Oddný, and Þuríður Hallsdóttir.
National life
![Hvammur Skeggi Valley](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/Hvammur_Skeggi_Valley.jpg)
Snorri quickly became known as a poet, but was also a lawyer. In 1215, he became
lawspeaker
A lawspeaker or lawman ( Swedish: ''lagman'', Old Swedish: ''laghmaþer'' or ''laghman'', Danish: ''lovsigemand'', Norwegian: ''lagmann'', Icelandic: , Faroese: '' løgmaður'', Finnish: ''laamanni'', kl, inatsitinuk) is a unique Scandina ...
of the
Althing
The Alþingi (''general meeting'' in Icelandic, , anglicised as ' or ') is the supreme national parliament of Iceland. It is one of the oldest surviving parliaments in the world. The Althing was founded in 930 at (" thing fields" or "assemb ...
, the only public office of the Icelandic commonwealth and a position of high respect. In the summer of 1218, he left the lawspeaker position and sailed to
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...
, by royal invitation. There he became well acquainted with the teen-aged King
Hákon Hákonarson and his co-regent,
Jarl Skúli. He spent the winter as house-guest of the jarl. They showered gifts upon him, including the ship in which he sailed, and he in return wrote poetry about them. In the summer of 1219 he met his Swedish colleague, the
lawspeaker
A lawspeaker or lawman ( Swedish: ''lagman'', Old Swedish: ''laghmaþer'' or ''laghman'', Danish: ''lovsigemand'', Norwegian: ''lagmann'', Icelandic: , Faroese: '' løgmaður'', Finnish: ''laamanni'', kl, inatsitinuk) is a unique Scandina ...
Eskil Magnusson
Eskil Magnusson (c. 1175 – c. 1227) was a nobleman and lawspeaker (''Lagman'') of Västergötland. He is the first attested legal official in what is now Sweden about whom we have any extensive information.
Biography
He was a member of the Bje ...
, and his wife,
Kristina Nilsdotter Blake, in
Skara
Skara is a locality and the seat of Skara Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden with 18,580 inhabitants in 2013. Despite its small size, it is one of the oldest cities in Sweden, and has a long educational and ecclesiastical history. O ...
. They were both related to royalty and probably gave Snorri an insight into the history of
Sweden.
Snorri was mainly interested in history and culture. The Norwegian regents, however, cultivated Snorri, made him a ''
skutilsvein'', a senior title roughly equivalent to
knight
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...
, and received an oath of loyalty. The king hoped to extend his realm to Iceland, which he could do by a resolution of the
Althing
The Alþingi (''general meeting'' in Icelandic, , anglicised as ' or ') is the supreme national parliament of Iceland. It is one of the oldest surviving parliaments in the world. The Althing was founded in 930 at (" thing fields" or "assemb ...
, of which Snorri had been a key member.
In 1220, Snorri returned to Iceland and by 1222 was back as lawspeaker of the Althing, which he held this time until 1232. The basis of his election was entirely his fame as a poet. Politically he was the king's spokesman, supporting union with Norway, a platform that acquired him enemies among the chiefs. In 1224, Snorri married Hallveig Ormsdottir (c. 1199–1241), a granddaughter of Jón Loftsson, now a widow of great means with two young sons, and made a contract of joint property ownership (or ''helmingafélag'') with her. Their children did not survive to adulthood, but Hallveig's sons and seven of Snorri's children did live to adulthood.
Snorri was the most powerful
chieftain
A tribal chief or chieftain is the leader of a tribal society or chiefdom.
Tribe
The concept of tribe is a broadly applied concept, based on tribal concepts of societies of western Afroeurasia.
Tribal societies are sometimes categorized a ...
in Iceland during the years 1224–1230.
Failure in Iceland
Many of the other chiefs found his position as royal office-holder contrary to their interests, especially the other
Sturlungar
The Sturlungs ( Icelandic: ) were a powerful family clan in 13th century Iceland, in the time of the Icelandic Commonwealth. Their story is partly told in ''Sturlunga saga'', and members of the clan were significant participants in the civil war ...
. Snorri's strategy seems to have been to consolidate power over them, at which point he could offer Iceland to the king. His first moves were civic. On the death in 1222 of Sæmundur, son of Jón Loftsson, he became a suitor for the hand of his daughter, Sólveig. Herdís' silent vote did nothing for his suit. His nephew, Sturla Sighvatsson, Snorri's political opponent, stepped in to marry her in 1223, the year before Snorri met Hallveig.
A period of clan feuding followed. Snorri, perhaps, perceived that only resolute,
saga-like actions could achieve his objective, but if so he proved unwilling or incapable of carrying them out. He raised an armed party under another nephew, Böðvar Þórðarson, and another under his son, Órækja, with the intent of executing a first strike against his brother Sighvatur and Sturla Sighvatsson. On the eve of battle he dismissed those forces and offered terms to his brother.
Sighvatur and Sturla with a force of 1000 men drove Snorri into the countryside, where he sought refuge among the other chiefs. Órækja undertook
guerrilla operations in the fjords of western Iceland and the war was on.
Haakon IV made an effort to intervene from afar, inviting all the chiefs of Iceland to a peace conference in Norway. This maneuver was transparent to Sighvatur, who understood, as apparently Snorri did not, what could happen to the chiefs in Norway. Instead of killing his opponents he began to insist that they take the king up on his offer.
This was Órækja's fate, who was captured by Sturla during an ostensible peace negotiation at Reykjaholt, and also of Þorleifur Þórðarson, a cousin of Snorri's, who came to his assistance with 800 men and was deserted by Snorri on the battlefield in a flare-up over the chain of command. In 1237, Snorri thought it best to join the king.
The end of Snorri and the Commonwealth
The reign of
Haakon IV
Haakon IV Haakonsson ( – 16 December 1263; Old Norse: ''Hákon Hákonarson'' ; Norwegian: ''Håkon Håkonsson''), sometimes called Haakon the Old in contrast to his namesake son, was King of Norway from 1217 to 1263. His reign lasted for 46 y ...
(Hákon Hákonarson),
King of Norway
The Norwegian monarch is the head of state of Norway, which is a constitutional and hereditary monarchy with a parliamentary system. The Norwegian monarchy can trace its line back to the reign of Harald Fairhair and the previous petty kingd ...
, was troubled by civil war relating to questions of succession and was at various times divided into quasi-independent regions under rival contenders. There were always plots against the king and questions of loyalty but he nevertheless managed to build up the Norwegian state from what it had been.
When Snorri arrived in Norway for the second time, it was clear to the king that he was no longer a reliable agent. The conflict between Haakon and Skúli was beginning to escalate into civil war. Snorri stayed with the
jarl
Jarl is a rank of the nobility in Scandinavia. In Old Norse, it meant "chieftain", particularly a chieftain set to rule a territory in a king's stead. ''Jarl'' could also mean a sovereign prince. For example, the rulers of several of the petty k ...
, or
chieftain
A tribal chief or chieftain is the leader of a tribal society or chiefdom.
Tribe
The concept of tribe is a broadly applied concept, based on tribal concepts of societies of western Afroeurasia.
Tribal societies are sometimes categorized a ...
, and his son and the jarl made him a jarl hoping to command his allegiance. In August 1238, Sighvatur and four of his sons (Sturla, Markús, Kolbeinn, and Þórður Krókur, the latter two being executed after the battle), were killed at the
Battle of Örlygsstaðir
The Battle of Örlygsstaðir was a historic battle fought by the Sturlungar against the Ásbirningar and the Haukdælir clans in northern Iceland. The battle was part of the civil war that was taking place in Iceland at the time between various ...
in Iceland against
Gissur Þorvaldsson
Gissur Thorvaldsson (1208 – 12 January 1268; Modern Icelandic: ; Old Norse: ) was a medieval Icelandic chieftain or ''goði'' of the Haukdælir family clan, and great-grandson of Jón Loftsson.
Gissur played a major role in the period ...
and Kolbein the Young, chiefs whom they had provoked. Snorri, Órækja, and Þorleifur requested permission to return home. As the king now could not predict Snorri's behavior, permission was denied. He was explicitly ordered to remain in Norway on the basis of his honorary rank. Skúli on the other hand gave permission and helped them book passage.
Snorri must have had his own ideas about the king's position and the validity of his orders, but at any rate he chose to disobey them; his words according to ''Sturlunga saga'', 'út vil ek' (literally 'out want I', but idiomatically 'I will go home'), have become proverbial in Icelandic. He returned to Iceland in 1239.
The king was distracted by the necessity to confront Skúli, who declared himself king in 1239. He was defeated militarily and killed in 1240. Meanwhile, Snorri resumed his chieftainship and made a bid to crush Gissur by prosecuting him in court for the deaths of Sigvat and Sturla. A meeting of the Althing was arranged for the summer of 1241 but Gissur and Kolbein arrived with several hundred men. Snorri and 120 men formed around a church. Gissur chose to pay fines rather than to attack.
Meanwhile, in 1240, after the jarl's defeat, but before his removal from the scene, Haakon sent two agents to Gissur bearing a secret letter with orders to kill or capture Snorri. Gissur was being invited now to join the unionist movement, which he could accept or refuse, just as he pleased. His initial bid to take Snorri at the Althing failed.
Hallveig died of natural causes. When the family bickered over the inheritance, Hallveig's sons, Klaeing and Orm, asked assistance from their uncle Gissur. Holding a meeting with them and Kolbein the Younger, Gissur brought out the letter. Orm refused. Shortly after, Snorri received a letter in
cipher runes
Cipher runes, or cryptic runes, are the cryptographical replacement of the letters of the runic alphabet.
Preservation
The knowledge of cipher runes was best preserved in Iceland, and during the 17th–18th centuries, Icelandic scholars produce ...
warning him of the plot, but he could not understand them.
[Enoksen, Lars Magnar (1998). ''Runor: historia, tydning, tolkning''. Lund: Historiska Media. . p. 88.]
Gissur led seventy men on a daring raid to his house, achieving complete surprise. Snorri Sturluson was assassinated in his house at
Reykholt in autumn of 1241. It is not clear that he was given the option of surrender. He fled to the cellar. There, Símon knútur asked
Arni the Bitter to strike him. Then Snorri said: ''Eigi skal höggva!''—"Do not strike!" Símon answered: "Högg þú!" — "You strike now!" Snorri replied: ''Eigi skal höggva!''—"Do not strike!" and these were his last words.
This act was not popular in either Iceland or Norway. To diminish the odium, the king insisted that if Snorri had submitted, he would have been spared. The fact that he could make such an argument reveals how far his influence in Iceland had come. Haakon went on suborning the chiefs of Iceland. In 1262, the Althing ratified union with Norway and royal authority was instituted in Iceland. Each member swore an oath of personal loyalty to the king, a practice which continued as each new king came to the throne, until absolute and hereditary monarchy was formally accepted by the Icelanders in 1662.
Legacy
Snorri Sturluson's writings provide information and indications concerning persons and events influencing the peoples inhabiting North Europe during periods for which relevant information is scarce: thus, for example, he can be used to illuminate relations between England and Scandinavia during the 10th and 11th centuries. Snorri is considered a figure of enduring importance in this regard,
Halvdan Koht
Halvdan Koht (7 July 1873 – 12 December 1965) was a Norwegian historian and politician representing the Labour Party.
Born in the north of Norway to a fairly distinguished family, he soon became interested in politics and history. Star ...
describing his work as "surpassing anything else that the Middle Ages have left us of historical literature". He also provided an early account of the discovery of
Vinland
Vinland, Vineland, or Winland ( non, Vínland ᚠᛁᚾᛚᛅᚾᛏ) was an area of coastal North America explored by Vikings. Leif Erikson landed there around 1000 AD, nearly five centuries before the voyages of Christopher Columbus and John ...
.
To an extent, the legacy of Snorri Sturluson also played a role in politics long after his death. His writings could be used in support of the claims of later Norwegian kings concerning the venerability and extent of their rule. Later, ''Heimskringla'' factored in establishing a national identity during the
Norwegian romantic nationalism
Norwegian romantic nationalism ( no, Nasjonalromantikken) was a movement in Norway between 1840 and 1867 in art, literature, and popular culture that emphasized the aesthetics of Norwegian nature and the uniqueness of the Norwegian national ident ...
in mid-19th century.
Icelandic perception of Snorri in the 20th century and to date has been colored by the historical views adopted when they sought to
sever their ties with Denmark, any revision of which still has strong nationalistic sentiments to contend with. To serve such views, Snorri and other leading Icelanders of his time are sometimes judged with some
presentism, on the basis of concepts that came into vogue only centuries later, such as
state
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* ''Our S ...
,
independence
Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...
,
sovereignty
Sovereignty is the defining authority within individual consciousness, social construct, or territory. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within the state, as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the perso ...
, and
nation
A nation is a community of people formed on the basis of a combination of shared features such as language, history, ethnicity, culture and/or society. A nation is thus the collective Identity (social science), identity of a group of people unde ...
.
Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo (; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator, as well as a key figure in Spanish-language and international literature. His best-known b ...
and
María Kodama studied and translated the ''
Gylfaginning
''Gylfaginning'' (Old Norse: 'The Beguiling of Gylfi' or 'The Deluding of Gylfi'; c. 20,000 words; 13th century Old Norse pronunciation ) is the first part of the 13th century ''Prose Edda'' after the Prologue. The ''Gylfaginning'' deals with t ...
'' to
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
, providing a biographic account of Snorri at the prologue.
"Nine worlds I remember", one of the epigraphs to chapter IV of
Carl Sagan's ''
Cosmos
The cosmos (, ) is another name for the Universe. Using the word ''cosmos'' implies viewing the universe as a complex and orderly system or entity.
The cosmos, and understandings of the reasons for its existence and significance, are studied in ...
'', is a quotation from Snorri's ''
Edda
"Edda" (; Old Norse ''Edda'', plural ''Eddur'') is an Old Norse term that has been attributed by modern scholars to the collective of two Medieval Icelandic literary works: what is now known as the ''Prose Edda'' and an older collection of poems ...
''.
Memorials
* Snorres gate, a street in the district of
St. Hanshaugen in Oslo, was named in his honor during 1896. There's also ''Snorrabraut'', a thoroughfare in Eastern Central Reykjavik, Iceland, dating from the 1940s.
* A statue of Snorri Sturluson, by
Gustav Vigeland
Gustav Vigeland (11 April 1869 – 12 March 1943), born as Adolf Gustav Thorsen, was a Norwegian sculptor. Gustav Vigeland occupies a special position among Norwegian sculptors, both in the power of his creative imagination and in his product ...
, is located at Reykholt. The Norwegian Government donated the statue to the Icelandic nation in 1947.
[''Island - Snorre-monumentet på Reykholt''](_blank)
(Kjelda nr. 3 2007, Fylkesarkivet i Sogn og Fjordane) The original intention of donating it on the 700th anniversary of Snorri's death, was precluded by
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
. A copy of the Reykholt statue was unveiled in
Bergen, Norway during 1948.
* A model of the Reykholt statue appeared on an Icelandic commemorative postage stamp in 1941.
* The 700th anniversary of his death was also recognized by the issue of a set of six Norwegian commemorative postage stamps during 1941. Each stamp featured illustrations from ''Heimskringla'' by Norwegian artist
Harald Damsleth.
* Snorrastofa Cultural / Research Centre in
Reykholt was established on September 6, 1988 with opening ceremonies attended by
Vigdís Finnbogadóttir
Vigdís Finnbogadóttir (; born 15 April 1930) is an Icelandic politician who served as the fourth president of Iceland from 1980 to 1996. She was the world's first woman who was democratically elected as president. With a presidency of exact ...
, President of Iceland and King
Olav V of Norway
Olav V (; born Prince Alexander of Denmark; 2 July 1903 – 17 January 1991) was the King of Norway from 1957 until his death in 1991.
Olav was the only child of King Haakon VII of Norway and Maud of Wales. He became heir apparent to the Nor ...
.
''The History of Snorrastofa'' ((Snorrastofa Cultural and Medieval Centre))
See also
* Sauðafell Raid
Notes
References
Sources
*
* Brown, Nancy Marie (2012) ''Song of the Vikings: Snorri and the Making of Norse Myths'' (St. Martin's Press)
Further reading
In Norwegian
* Finn Hødnebø (Ed) ''Snorres Kongsoger'' (Utgivelsesår: 2003)
External links
Prose Edda
Heimskringla
Snorrastofa Official Website
Snorrastofa in Reykholt
*
*
*
Icelandic Medieval Manuscripts
site maintained by Unnur Valgeirsdóttir at the University of Iceland
The University of Iceland ( is, Háskóli Íslands ) is a public research university in Reykjavík, Iceland and the country's oldest and largest institution of higher education. Founded in 1911, it has grown steadily from a small civil servants' s ...
.
Snorri Sturluson
article by Jónas Kristjánsson at snorrastofa.is
illustrations from Snorri Sturluson’s works. Clicking on the thumbnail will give you the full image and information concerning it.
{{Authority control
1179 births
1241 deaths
Icelandic writers
13th-century writers
Scandinavian folklore
Sources of Norse mythology
Sturlungar family clan
Lawspeakers
Icelandic poets
13th-century Icelandic people
12th-century Icelandic people
Icelandic historians
Icelandic Christians
Skalds
13th-century Icelandic poets
Mythographers
People murdered in Iceland