Snorri Sturluson

Who is Snorri Sturluson?

Snorri Sturluson was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician of the Sturlung Age, widely regarded as the most important prose writer of medieval Iceland. Born into the powerful Sturlungar clan, he was raised at Oddi, a leading center of learning, and grew into one of the wealthiest and most influential chieftains (goðar) in Iceland, serving twice as lawspeaker of the Althing, the national assembly. He is credited as the author of the Prose Edda (Snorra Edda), a handbook of Norse mythology and skaldic poetics that remains the single most important source for understanding pre-Christian Scandinavian myth, and of Heimskringla, a monumental cycle of sagas chronicling the kings of Norway from legendary times through the twelfth century. Many scholars also attribute Egils saga to him. Deeply entangled in Iceland's internal power struggles and in tense relations with the Norwegian crown, Snorri was killed at his estate in Reykholt in 1241 on the orders of his former son-in-law, acting under pressure from King Håkon IV of Norway. His literary works remain foundational to the study of Old Norse language, mythology, and history.

Sources: Sturlunga saga (13th-century Icelandic compilation) · Snorri Sturluson, Prose Edda (Snorra Edda) · Snorri Sturluson, Heimskringla