Snorri sturluson biography of christopher

Who doesn't love a good story, right? This applies to Snorri’s Edda; Skáldskaparmál, Gylfaginning and Háttatal, King of Norway stories (Heimskringla) and Egil’s story.

Nevertheless, he was for a time the most powerful man in the country, because he posessed other talents much better for profit.

Iceland Snorri's domain

After a fierce political conflict in the 1940s, Snorri returned to Norway in 1237.

Indeed, Sturluson was what Brown calls a "wily political power player," but he was also, at heart, a bard who loved nothing more than telling a good tale.

For the first few years, Guðrún Hreinsdóttir, his mistress, lived with him, and their daughter Ingibjörg.

Although there is still debate about his role in the ending of the Icelandic Commonwealth, there is no debate about his literary genius. At the same time, his brother Sighvatur and Sighvat’s sons, Sturla, were in fierce opposition to Snorri.

You'll get access to exclusive content and early access. Lewis, on the other hand, thought that the great bard Shakespeare himself was superior. You can become a PATRON here or via our Patreon page. His support for the Norwegian crown, however, ultimately led to his assassination in 1241.

Legacy

Snorri Sturluson's literary works have left an enduring mark on Icelandic and Norwegian literature.

Her relatives were involved in a great deal of controversy around 1180 – Deildartungumál, which led to Snorri Sturluson being adopted in Oddi at Rangárvellir in southern Iceland from the age of three.

The two founded a book club dedicated to the study of Norse mythology, starting with the works of Snorri Sturluson. He composed panegyrics for Norwegian kings, allying himself with the ruling monarchy.

“I had this book written” says Snorri in one of Heimskringla’s forewords, thus indicating that he read for it – edited it – rather than wrote it himself. Snorri Sturluson’s story is discussed in a special exhibition organized by Snorrastofa in Reykholt.

Snorri’s saga — exhibition

Origin and childhood

Snorri Sturluson was born on the farm of the settler Auður the Deepminded, Hvammur in the Dales, in 1179.

He tried to make peace with Þorvaldur Gissurarson Haukdælar’s chief – and in the next few months Gissur Þorvaldsson got to marrie Snorri’s daughter Ingibjörg. In Oddi, a school was held in the twelfth century by Sæmundur and his descendants – and in that school Snorri is believed to have attended classical education as well as studied folklore, genealogy and jurisprudence.

Snorri travels around the West and beyond…

With the support of the people of Oddi, Snorri gained influence and power in the South as well as in the West at an early age.

He is credited with many of the most magnificent literary works of the Middle Ages in Iceland: Snorri’s – Edda, Heimskringla – the story of the kings of Norway and Egil’s saga. He makes her kingdom—Helheim—appear as a shameful place for the dead while minimizing her power as a ruling monarch.

The list goes on and on, as Sturluson has minimized or edited powerful female figures in his compilation of Norse sagas.

Imagine if we knew more about the role of Idunn as a life-giver, a sacred deity whose magical apples are sadly more known than she is, or if we knew more about Gullveig, whose thrice death and rebirth sparked the Æsir–Vanir war.

As Auður Magnúsdóttir writes in her 2017 article in the journal The Northern World, "women seldom figure as political agents in the saga..."

This reduction of female figures helped ensure that these tales reflected the patriarchal view of the society Sturluson was writing in.

Regardless of his methods, Sturluson compiled the Eddas – a collection of sagas, myths, and legends in both poetry and prose – as well as the Heimskringla – a biography of all the Viking kings who ruled during the Viking Age (c. Snorri expanded the saga to include accounts of kings before and after Olaf, establishing a dominant narrative of Norwegian history that influenced the country into the 20th century.

Political Influence

Beyond his literary contributions, Snorri played a significant role in Icelandic and Norwegian politics.