The man who preserved Norse myth was killed on a Norwegian king's secret order
Much of what we know about Odin, Thor and the old poetic arts comes through Snorri Sturluson, the Icelandic chieftain credited with the Prose Edda and Heimskringla. He twice held Iceland's only public office, courted Norway's king, then defied him. In 1241 raiders acting on a royal letter cornered him in his cellar.
Born in 1179 into the powerful Sturlungar clan, Snorri was fostered from about age three at Oddi by Jón Loftsson, a relative of Norway's royal house. The arrangement settled a lawsuit after a chieftain's wife lunged at Snorri's father with a knife, reportedly hoping to leave him one-eyed like Odin. At Oddi he received a first-rate education and never went back to his parents' home.
He won fame as a poet and worked as a lawyer. At Reykholt, where he managed an estate from 1206, he built an outdoor bath fed by hot springs, Snorralaug, whose remains survive. He became lawspeaker of the Althing in 1215 and again from 1222 to 1232. A visit to Norway in 1218 brought gifts, a knightly title and an oath of loyalty to the young King Hákon, who hoped Snorri would steer Iceland toward union with Norway.
Instead Snorri became embroiled in clan feuds, raising forces against his own brother and nephew, then disbanding them on the eve of battle. Back in Norway in 1237 he sided with Jarl Skúli, the king's rival. Ordered to stay put, he sailed home in 1239 with words, roughly I will go home, that became an Icelandic proverb. The king sent a secret letter to the chieftain Gissur, who led seventy men to Reykholt in autumn 1241. Snorri got a warning written in cipher runes but could not read it.
The killing was unpopular in both countries, yet by 1262 the Althing had accepted Norwegian rule. His histories shed light on northern Europe where records are scarce, including relations between England and Scandinavia and an early account of Vinland. Halvdan Koht ranked them above anything else from the medieval period, while Gwyn Jones observed that Snorri was never servile to fact.
Source: Snorri Sturluson
