Snorri Sturluson
Encyclopedia
Snorri Sturluson was an Iceland
ic historian, poet, and politician. He was twice elected lawspeaker
at the Icelandic parliament, the Althing
. He was the author of the Prose Edda
or Younger Edda, which consists of Gylfaginning
("the fooling of Gylfi"), a narrative of Norse mythology
, the Skáldskaparmál
, a book of poetic language, and the Háttatal
, a list of verse forms. He was also the author of the Heimskringla
, a history of the Norwegian
kings that begins with legendary material in Ynglinga saga
and moves through to early medieval Scandinavia
n history. For stylistic and methodological reasons, Snorri is often taken to be the author of Egil's saga.
As a historian and mythographer, Snorri is remarkable for proposing the theory (in the Prose Edda) that mythological gods begin as human war leaders and kings whose funeral sites develop cults (see euhemerism). As people call upon the dead war leader as they go to battle, or the dead king as they face tribal hardship, they begin to venerate the figure. Eventually, the king or warrior is remembered only as a god. He also proposed that as tribes defeat others, they explain their victory by proposing that their own gods were in battle with the gods of the others.
, in 1179. His parents were Sturla Þórðarson of Hvamm and Guðný Böðvarsdóttir. He had two older brothers, Þórðr
Sturluson (the oldest) and Sighvatr Sturluson
.
By a quirk of circumstance he was raised from the age of three (or four) by Jón Loftsson
, a relative of the Norwegian royal family, in Oddi
, Iceland. As Sturla was trying to settle a lawsuit with Father Páll Sölvason, the latter's wife lunged suddenly at him with a knife, intending, she said, to make him like his hero Odin
(who was one-eyed), but bystanders deflected the blow to the cheek. The resulting settlement would have beggared Páll. Jón Loftsson intervened in the Althing to mitigate the judgement and to compensate Sturla, offered to raise and educate Snorri.
Snorri therefore received an education and made connections that he might not otherwise have made. He attended the school of Sæmundr fróði
, grandfather of Jón Loftsson, at Oddi, and never returned to his parents' home. His father died in 1183 and his mother as guardian soon wasted 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 first daughter of Bersi. From her father, Snorri inherited an estate at Borg and a chieftainship. He soon acquired more property and chieftainships.
Snorri and Herdís were together for four years at Borg. They had a few children. The marriage succumbed to Snorri's philandering, and in 1206 he settled in Reykholt
as manager of an estate there, but without Herdís. He made significant improvements to the estate, including a hot outdoor bath (Snorralaug). The bath and the buildings have been preserved to some extent. During the initial years at Reykholt he had several more children by different women: Gudrun, Oddny, and Thuridur.
of the Althing
, 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
, 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
Eskil Magnusson
, and his wife, Kristina Nilsdotter Blake, in Skara
. 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
, 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
, 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. Personally in 1224 he took up residence with Hallveig Ormsdottir, a granddaughter of Loftsson, now a widow of great means, and formed a common-law relationship that lasted the rest of his life. She was a much younger woman. Although they were fond of each other they had no children together, concentrating instead on raising the children they had had with others. Five of Snorri's children survived to adulthood.
A period of clan feuding followed. Snorri perceived that only resolute, saga-like actions could achieve his objective, but 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 Sighvatson. 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.
(Hákon Hákonarson), King of Norway, was troubled by civil war relating to questions of succession and was at various times divided into quasi-independent regions under contenders. There were always plots against the king and questions of loyalty; nevertheless, he 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 and his son and the jarl made him a jarl hoping to command his allegiance. In August 1238, Sigvat 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
in Iceland against Gissur Þorvaldsson
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, returning 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
warning him of the plot, but he could not understand them.
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 ever given a chance to avail himself of the "capture" option. 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 accepted by the Icelanders in 1662.
, on the basis of concepts that only came into vogue centuries later, such as state
, independence
, sovereignty
, and nation
. Snorri’s enduring importance lies in the fact that without his writings, our possibilities for perceiving the views and thoughts of pagan North Europeans, and even of Germanic and other peoples in general, would be considerably more limited than they admittedly are. His writings also provide information and indications concerning persons and events influencing the peoples inhabiting Scandinavia, England, Scotland, Ireland, and other regions, in obscure periods on which information is scarce.
Snorri is referenced in Jules Verne's novel A Journey to the Center of the Earth, in which a German professor discovers a slip of paper from a fictitious scientist, hidden inside a manuscript written by Sturlson, that eventually leads him to embark on an expedition into Earth's interior.
In 1941, the 700th anniversary of his death was celebrated by the issue of a set of six commemorative postage stamps showing events in the life of Snorri.
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
ic historian, poet, and politician. He was twice elected lawspeaker
Lawspeaker
A lawspeaker is a unique Scandinavian legal office. It has its basis in a common Germanic oral tradition, where wise men were asked to recite the law, but it was only in Scandinavia that the function evolved into an office...
at the Icelandic parliament, the Althing
Althing
The Alþingi, anglicised variously as Althing or Althingi, is the national parliament of Iceland. The Althingi is the oldest parliamentary institution in the world still extant...
. He was the author of the Prose Edda
Prose Edda
The Prose Edda, also known as the Younger Edda, Snorri's Edda or simply Edda, is an Icelandic collection of four sections interspersed with excerpts from earlier skaldic and Eddic poetry containing tales from Nordic mythology...
or Younger Edda, which consists of Gylfaginning
Gylfaginning
Gylfaginning, or the Tricking of Gylfi , is the first part of Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda after Prologue. The Gylfaginning deals with the creation and destruction of the world of the Norse gods, and many other aspects of Norse mythology...
("the fooling of Gylfi"), a narrative of Norse mythology
Norse mythology
Norse mythology, a subset of Germanic mythology, is the overall term for the myths, legends and beliefs about supernatural beings of Norse pagans. It flourished prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia, during the Early Middle Ages, and passed into Nordic folklore, with some aspects surviving...
, the Skáldskaparmál
Skáldskaparmál
The second part of Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda the Skáldskaparmál or "language of poetry" is effectively a dialogue between the Norse god of the sea, Ægir and Bragi, the god of poetry, in which both Norse mythology and discourse on the nature of poetry are intertwined...
, a book of poetic language, and the Háttatal
Háttatal
The Háttatal is the last section of the Prose Edda composed by the Icelandic poet, politician, and historian Snorri Sturluson. Using, for the most part, his own compositions, it exemplifies the types of verse forms used in Old Norse poetry...
, a list of verse forms. He was also the author of the Heimskringla
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 Snorri Sturluson ca. 1230...
, a history of the Norwegian
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
kings that begins with legendary material in Ynglinga saga
Ynglinga saga
Ynglinga saga is a legendary saga, originally written in Old Norse by the Icelandic poet Snorri Sturluson about 1225. It was first translated into English and published in 1844....
and moves through to early medieval Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
n history. For stylistic and methodological reasons, Snorri is often taken to be the author of Egil's saga.
As a historian and mythographer, Snorri is remarkable for proposing the theory (in the Prose Edda) that mythological gods begin as human war leaders and kings whose funeral sites develop cults (see euhemerism). As people call upon the dead war leader as they go to battle, or the dead king as they face tribal hardship, they begin to venerate the figure. Eventually, the king or warrior is remembered only as a god. He also proposed that as tribes defeat others, they explain their victory by proposing that their own gods were in battle with the gods of the others.
Early biography
Snorri Sturluson was born at Hvammr into the wealthy and powerful Sturlungar family of the Icelandic CommonwealthIcelandic Commonwealth
The Icelandic Commonwealth, Icelandic Free State, or Republic of Iceland was the state existing in Iceland between the establishment of the Althing in 930 and the pledge of fealty to the Norwegian king in 1262...
, in 1179. His parents were Sturla Þórðarson of Hvamm and Guðný Böðvarsdóttir. He had two older brothers, Þórðr
Þórðr
Þórðr may refer to:*Þórðr Kolbeinsson*Þórðr Sjáreksson*Þórðr Sturluson, brother of Snorri Sturluson...
Sturluson (the oldest) and Sighvatr Sturluson
Sighvatr Sturluson
Sighvatr Sturluson was a skaldic poet, goði and member of the Icelandic Sturlungar clan. His parents were Sturla Þórðarson of Hvammr and Guðný Böðvarsdóttir. His younger brother, the famous poet and historian Snorri Sturluson, grew up away from home, in Oddi, while Sighvatr and his elder brother...
.
By a quirk of circumstance he was raised from the age of three (or four) by Jón Loftsson
Jón Loftsson
Jón Loftsson was chieftain at Oddi in the county of Rangá in the south part of Iceland, and of the Oddaverjar family clan. He was one of the most popular chieftains and politician of his age in the country. He participated in the so-called Staðarmál, in 1179, against the Roman-Catholic Church and...
, a relative of the Norwegian royal family, in Oddi
Oddi
Oddi at Rangárvellir was a center of learning in South Iceland during the Middle Ages.For centuries it was the central home of the powerful family, Oddaverjar. The two best known leaders in Oddi were Sæmundur Sigfússon the Learned and his grandson Jón Loftsson . The famous historian Snorri...
, Iceland. As Sturla was trying to settle a lawsuit with Father Páll Sölvason, the latter's wife lunged suddenly at him with a knife, intending, she said, to make him like his hero Odin
Odin
Odin is a major god in Norse mythology and the ruler of Asgard. Homologous with the Anglo-Saxon "Wōden" and the Old High German "Wotan", the name is descended from Proto-Germanic "*Wodanaz" or "*Wōđanaz"....
(who was one-eyed), but bystanders deflected the blow to the cheek. The resulting settlement would have beggared Páll. Jón Loftsson intervened in the Althing to mitigate the judgement and to compensate Sturla, offered to raise and educate Snorri.
Snorri therefore received an education and made connections that he might not otherwise have made. He attended the school of Sæmundr fróði
Sæmundr fróði
Sæmundr Sigfússon was an Icelandic priest and scholar. Sæmundr is known to have studied abroad. Previously it has generally been held that he studied in France, but modern scholars rather believe his studies were carried out in Franconia. In Iceland he founded a long-lived school at Oddi...
, grandfather of Jón Loftsson, at Oddi, and never returned to his parents' home. His father died in 1183 and his mother as guardian soon wasted 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 first daughter of Bersi. From her father, Snorri inherited an estate at Borg and a chieftainship. He soon acquired more property and chieftainships.
Snorri and Herdís were together for four years at Borg. They had a few children. The marriage succumbed to Snorri's philandering, and in 1206 he settled in Reykholt
Reykholt
There are two villages with this name in Iceland:-Reykholt :The village is situated in the valley of the river Reykjadalsá, called Reykholtsdalur....
as manager of an estate there, but without Herdís. He made significant improvements to the estate, including a hot outdoor bath (Snorralaug). The bath and the buildings have been preserved to some extent. During the initial years at Reykholt he had several more children by different women: Gudrun, Oddny, and Thuridur.
National life
Snorri quickly became known as a poet, but was also a successful lawyer. In 1215 he became lawspeakerLawspeaker
A lawspeaker is a unique Scandinavian legal office. It has its basis in a common Germanic oral tradition, where wise men were asked to recite the law, but it was only in Scandinavia that the function evolved into an office...
of the Althing
Althing
The Alþingi, anglicised variously as Althing or Althingi, is the national parliament of Iceland. The Althingi is the oldest parliamentary institution in the world still extant...
, 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
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, by royal invitation. There he became well acquainted with the teen-aged King Hákon Hákonarson
Haakon IV of Norway
Haakon Haakonarson , also called Haakon the Old, was king of Norway from 1217 to 1263. Under his rule, medieval Norway reached its peak....
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
Lawspeaker
A lawspeaker is a unique Scandinavian legal office. It has its basis in a common Germanic oral tradition, where wise men were asked to recite the law, but it was only in Scandinavia that the function evolved into an office...
Eskil Magnusson
Eskil Magnusson
-Biography:He was the son of Magnus Minniskiöld, and the elder brother of Birger Jarl, one of the most powerful men of his time in Scandinavia.Due to the location of his jurisdiction and his marriage to Kristina, the widow of the Norwegian earl Hakon the Mad , Eskil had good contacts in Norway and...
, and his wife, Kristina Nilsdotter Blake, in Skara
Skara
Skara is a locality and the seat of Skara Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden with 18595 inhabitants in 2005. Despite its small size, it has a long educational and ecclesiastical history. One of Sweden's oldest high schools, Katedralskolan , is situated in Skara...
. They were both related to royalty and probably gave Snorri an insight into the history of Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
.
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
Knight
A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....
, 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
Althing
The Alþingi, anglicised variously as Althing or Althingi, is the national parliament of Iceland. The Althingi is the oldest parliamentary institution in the world still extant...
, 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. Personally in 1224 he took up residence with Hallveig Ormsdottir, a granddaughter of Loftsson, now a widow of great means, and formed a common-law relationship that lasted the rest of his life. She was a much younger woman. Although they were fond of each other they had no children together, concentrating instead on raising the children they had had with others. Five of Snorri's children survived to adulthood.
Failure in Iceland
Many of the other chiefs found his position as royal office-holder contrary to their interests, especially the other Sturlungar. Snorri's strategy was 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 Sighvatson, Snorri's political opponent, stepped in to marry her in 1223, the year before Snorri met Hallveig.A period of clan feuding followed. Snorri perceived that only resolute, saga-like actions could achieve his objective, but 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 Sighvatson. 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 IVHaakon IV of Norway
Haakon Haakonarson , also called Haakon the Old, was king of Norway from 1217 to 1263. Under his rule, medieval Norway reached its peak....
(Hákon Hákonarson), King of Norway, was troubled by civil war relating to questions of succession and was at various times divided into quasi-independent regions under contenders. There were always plots against the king and questions of loyalty; nevertheless, he 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 and his son and the jarl made him a jarl hoping to command his allegiance. In August 1238, Sigvat 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
Battle of Örlygsstaðir
The Battle of Örlygsstaðir was a historic battle fought by the Sturlungar against 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 powerful clans , and was the largest battle in the history of...
in Iceland against Gissur Þorvaldsson
Gissur Þorvaldsson
Gissur Thorvaldsson was a medieval Icelandic chieftain or goði of the Haukdælir family clan, and great-grandson of Jón Loftsson....
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, returning 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
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 and the 18th centuries, Icelandic scholars produced several treatises on the subject...
warning him of the plot, but he could not understand them.
Gissur led seventy men on a daring raid to his house, achieving complete surprise. Snorri Sturluson was assassinated in his house at Reykholt
Reykholt
There are two villages with this name in Iceland:-Reykholt :The village is situated in the valley of the river Reykjadalsá, called Reykholtsdalur....
in autumn of 1241. It is not clear that he was ever given a chance to avail himself of the "capture" option. He fled to the cellar. There Símon knútur asked Arni the Bitter
Árni beiskur
Árni beiskur was an Icelander. He was a follower of Gissur Þorvaldsson who undertook the task of killing Snorri Sturluson.Íslendinga saga reports the event in an almost newspaper style:...
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 accepted by the Icelanders in 1662.
Legacy
In a way, Snorri made a comeback into politics long after his death. His writings could be used in support of the claims of later kings concerning the venerability and extent of their rule. Later, “Heimskringla” became important for Norwegian national independence and identity. The Icelanders’ perception of Snorri in the 20th century and to date has been coloured by the historical views adopted when they wanted 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 presentismPresentism (literary and historical analysis)
Presentism is a mode of literary or historical analysis in which present-day ideas and perspectives are anachronistically introduced into depictions or interpretations of the past...
, on the basis of concepts that only came into vogue centuries later, such as state
Sovereign state
A sovereign state, or simply, state, is a state with a defined territory on which it exercises internal and external sovereignty, a permanent population, a government, and the capacity to enter into relations with other sovereign states. It is also normally understood to be a state which is neither...
, independence
Independence
Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state in which its residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory....
, sovereignty
Sovereignty
Sovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a geographic area, such as a territory. It can be found in a power to rule and make law that rests on a political fact for which no purely legal explanation can be provided...
, and nation
Nation
A nation may refer to a community of people who share a common language, culture, ethnicity, descent, and/or history. In this definition, a nation has no physical borders. However, it can also refer to people who share a common territory and government irrespective of their ethnic make-up...
. Snorri’s enduring importance lies in the fact that without his writings, our possibilities for perceiving the views and thoughts of pagan North Europeans, and even of Germanic and other peoples in general, would be considerably more limited than they admittedly are. His writings also provide information and indications concerning persons and events influencing the peoples inhabiting Scandinavia, England, Scotland, Ireland, and other regions, in obscure periods on which information is scarce.
Snorri is referenced in Jules Verne's novel A Journey to the Center of the Earth, in which a German professor discovers a slip of paper from a fictitious scientist, hidden inside a manuscript written by Sturlson, that eventually leads him to embark on an expedition into Earth's interior.
In 1941, the 700th anniversary of his death was celebrated by the issue of a set of six commemorative postage stamps showing events in the life of Snorri.
External links
- Prose Edda
- Heimskringla
- Icelandic Medieval Manuscripts, site maintained by Unnur Valgeirsdóttir at the University of IcelandUniversity of IcelandThe University of Iceland 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' school to a modern comprehensive university, providing instruction for about...
. - Snorri Sturluson, article by Jónas Kristjánsson at snorrastofa.is.
- The Women in Snorri's Life.
- Snorri Sturluson in The Catholic Encyclopedia
- Thor Heyerdahl, "The Azerbaijan Connection: Challenging Euro-Centric Theories of Migration," Azerbaijan International, Vol. 3:1 (Spring 1995), pp. 60-61.