Icelandic historian, poet, and statesman Snorri Sturluson.

Snorri Sturluson

(1179 - 1241)

Descended from Egill Skallagrímsson, a tenth-century poet and hero of the Egils Saga, Snorri Sturluson was an Icelandic historian, poet, and statesman. He began amassing power and land after marrying an heiress in 1199, serving as the “lawspeaker” of the high Icelandic court intermittently from 1215 to 1232. His work the Prose Edda is one of his best-known literary works and one of Germanic mythology’s central texts. It draws upon the oral tradition of the Viking era to narrate the Norse creation myth and tell stories of epic battles between gods, elves, and dwarves. Its influence is evident in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and Richard Wagner’s Ring Cycle.

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Voices In Time

c. 1020 | Iceland

Friend Zone

Snorri Sturluson on a diplomatic failure.More

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