Snorri Sturluson
Icelandic chieftain, poet and author of the Prose Edda
- Born
- 1179, Hvammur, Iceland
- Died
- 1241, killed at Reykholt
- Works
- Prose Edda; Heimskringla
- Office
- Lawspeaker of the Althing, 1215–18 and 1222–32
- Killed on orders of
- King Haakon IV of Norway
The Icelandic chieftain whose Prose Edda (c. 1220) is the fullest surviving account of Norse myth, from Ymir to Ragnarok.
What is Snorri Sturluson known for?
Snorri Sturluson (1179–1241) was an Icelandic chieftain, lawyer, poet and historian. He twice served as lawspeaker of Iceland's assembly, the Althing, and became entangled in the politics of the Norwegian crown. He was killed at his farm at Reykholt in 1241 on the orders of King Haakon IV.
His Prose Edda, written around 1220, is a handbook for poets. To explain the old poetic language, it retells the Norse myths: the creation of the world from the giant Ymir in Ginnungagap, the gods of Asgard, Bifrost, and the end of the world at Ragnarok. His Heimskringla is a history of the kings of Norway.
Snorri wrote as a Christian about two centuries after Iceland's conversion. Scholars value him as the main source for Norse mythology but caution that he systematized scattered older poems, such as the Voluspa, and some details may be his own arrangement.
His Prose Edda is the source for many of the site's Norse stories, including Ymir, Ginnungagap and Skidbladnir.
Mentioned on these pages
- Rabbit holeBifrost
- Rabbit holeGinnungagap
- Rabbit holeSkidbladnir
- Rabbit holeVoluspa
- Rabbit holeYmir
- PassageSkidbladnir, the folding ship (Prose Edda, Gylfaginning 43)
- PersonArthur Gilchrist Brodeur
- PlaceAsgard
- PlaceMidgard
- PlaceTroy
Sources
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, 'Snorri Sturluson'Reference
- Snorri Sturluson, The Prose Edda, trans. Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur (1916), sacred-texts.comPrimary text
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