Snorri Sturluson

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Print edition of the Snorra Edda from 1666
Snorri Sturluson's statue by Gustav Vigeland in Reykholt

Snorri Sturluson / ˈsn̥ɔrrɪ ˈstʰʏrtl̥ʏsɔn / (* 1179 in Hvammur í Dölum ; † September 23, 1241 in Reykholt ) was an Icelandic skald ( poet ) and historian . He was also a major Icelandic politician.

Family and education

Snorri Sturluson's parents were Sturla Þórðarson and Guðný Böðvarsdóttir. With them the family of the Sturlungar was founded. He was raised - according to the custom of the time, similar to the squires of the knights in Central Europe - by a powerful man, Jón Loptsson (1124–1197), who is described as one of the most influential Gods and the brightest men in Iceland. Loftsson came from a powerful family whose lineage stretched back to Hálfdan svarti and lived in Oddi , a cultural center of medieval Iceland. That is why he and his descendants were called Oddaverjar .

In Oddi, Snorri learned to read and write and received lessons in Latin , theology , geography and Icelandic law. In 1199 he married Herdís Bersadóttir († 1233) for the first time. In 1206 they separated and he moved to Reykholt, where he resided for the rest of his life. In his second marriage he married Hallveig Ormsdóttir († 1241) in 1224. Snorri had two older brothers, Þórðr and Sighvatr .

Works

Snorri Sturluson is considered to be the author of the Snorra Edda (also called Prose Edda , imprecise Younger Edda ), (among other things) a textbook for skalds . Only the oldest of the four manuscripts in this work mentions the name of the author. Since it too was not written until about 60 years after his death and the individual manuscripts differ greatly from one another because the textbook was changed by the copyists according to the respective needs of the lesson, it is possible that not all of them, even in the oldest surviving version Parts come from Snorri himself.

The Prose Edda consists of four parts: Prologus and Gylfaginning form an introduction to Norse mythology from a euhemeristic point of view, i. H. the Norse gods are represented as deified heroes or kings. Accordingly, Njörd and Freyr appear as kings succeeding each other on the Swedish throne.

The Skáldskaparmál as poetology provides information about the Skaldic stylistic devices , kenningar and heiti . The last, unfinished part, probably due to Snorri's violent death, is the Háttatal , a verse doctrine .

After all, he is almost certainly the author of many parts of the Heimskringla , a story of the Norwegian kings . Some also suspect, because of some style similarities between the Egils saga and the Heimskringla, that he was also the author of the Egils saga. The arguments for this, however, are extremely weak.

politics

Snorri Sturluson was very successful as a politician, his family, the Sturlungar, one of the most powerful in the country. He himself held the office of law spokesman twice, the most influential position in the Althing , the Icelandic parliament. According to the family of the Sturlungar , which was founded by Snorri's father Sturla, the period from 1180 to 1262 is referred to as the "Sturlung period" in the history of Iceland .

In the summer of 1218, Snorri sailed from Iceland to Norway . Here he visited Jarl Skuli Barðsson during the winter, became his henchman, and in the following summer Eskil Magnusson and his wife Kristina Nilsdóttir Blake in Skara . They were both related to the royal family.

Snorri stayed in Norway for the second time from 1237 to 1239, when Jarl Skuli got involved in a fatal uprising against the Norwegian King Hákon Hákonarson . The Jarl was killed in Bergen in 1240. In 1239, contrary to the king's prohibition, Snorri had left Norway for Iceland. His former son-in-law Gizurr Þorvaldsson killed Snorri and some of his sons on behalf of the king on September 23, 1241 at home in Reykholt . Immediately after the crime, Þorgils Skardi, loyal to the king, took over the position of the most powerful man in Iceland. Later, King Håkon finally appointed the hired murderer Gizurr as the new Jarl in Iceland.

About the name

In Icelandic there are generally no hereditary surnames, only patronymic names, in the form of son of or daughter of after the given name. Therefore, Snorri Sturluson (son of Sturla) should not be abbreviated to "Sturluson", but rather to "Snorri". The name Snorri joins the verb aisl. snarfla ' rattle '. Snorri is still a popular male given name in Iceland today. Hereditary patronyms indicate Danish ancestors, e.g. B. the Briem family.

Others

Snorri had a hot bath built near his house, known today as Snorralaug , which is fed by a hot spring typical of Iceland. The bathing area still exists today and is a tourist attraction.

See also

literature

  • Wolfgang Beck: Snorri Sturluson. The myth of the north . In: Ulrich Müller, Werner Wunderlich (Hrsg.): Medieval Myths Volume 4: Artists, Poets, Scholars . UVK Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Konstanz 2005, ISBN 978-3-8966956-9-7
  • Ivar Eskeland: Snorri Sturluson: A biografi . Grøndahl og Dreyers Forlag, Oslo 1992, ISBN 978-8-2504195-1-3
  • Halvdan Koht: Snorre Sturlason . In: Norsk biografisk Leksikon . Volume 14. Oslo 1962
  • Sverrir Tómasson: Snorri Sturluson . In: Herbert Jankuhn, Heinrich Beck u. a. (Ed.): Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde . Volume 29. Verlag Walter de Gruyter, Berlin, New York 2005, ISBN 978-3-1101836-0-3
  • Lutz Mohr : Faroese history of the Viking Age in the "Heimskringla" in connection with the life and work of the Icelandic Snorri Sturluson (1179–1241). In: Tjaldur ("Oystercatcher"). Association journal of the German-Faroese Circle of Friends (DFF) eV, Düsseldorf / Kiel, vol. 11, issue 16/1998, pp. 42–47
  • Randi Wærdahl: Article “Snorri Sturluson” in: Norsk biografisk leksikon
  • Óskar Gudmundsson: Snorri Sturluson - Homer of the North: a biography . Böhlau, Cologne / Weimar / Vienna 2011, ISBN 978-3-412-20743-4
  • Jan Alexander van Nahl: Snorri Sturluson's mythology and medieval theology . (Supplementary volumes to the Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde 81.) Verlag de Gruyter, Berlin / Boston 2013, ISBN 978-3-11-030691-0
  • Heinrich Beck, Wilhelm Heizmann, Jan Alexander van Nahl (eds.): Snorri Sturluson - historian, poet, politician (supplementary volumes to the Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde 85th) Verlag de Gruyter, Berlin / Boston 2013, ISBN 978-3-11-033631 -3
  • Heinrich Beck: Snorri Sturluson's view of pagan prehistoric times (News of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Philological-Historical Class 1994/1.) Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1994, ISSN 0065-5287
  • Heinrich Beck: Snorri Sturluson. Studies on person and work (News of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, New Series, Humanities and Social Sciences Class 2016/1.) Available electronically at res doctae: http://rep.adw-goe.de , ISBN 978-3- 946048-13-8

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Snorri Sturluson and the Icelandic Sagas on iceland.de


Note: Icelanders are referred to by their first name or first and last name, but not just their surname. Further information can be found under Icelandic personal name .
personal data
SURNAME Snorri Sturluson
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Old Icelandic skald and historian
DATE OF BIRTH 1179
PLACE OF BIRTH Hvammur í Dölum , Iceland
DATE OF DEATH September 23, 1241
Place of death Reykholt , Iceland