SNORRI STURLUSON 1179 - 1241 Icelandic Historian Snorri Sturluson was a poet and historian, born in Oddi, Iceland. Snorri acquired a deep knowledge of Icelandic tradition and a European breadth of outlook. His main works were the Prose Edda, a handbook on poetics, and Heimskringla, a series of sagas of the Norwegian kings down to 1177. Snorri also retold old Norse myths within stories of his own creation. His genius was his ability to present historical facts with the immediacy of drama. 1215 he was elected lawspeaker, or president of the Icelandic high court. He became involved in a plan for the king of Norway Haakon IV to rule Iceland, but when the plan failed he fled to Norway. After his return to Iceland against the wish of Haakon, the king took revenge and had him murdered. |
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