Background
Snorri Sturluson was born in Hvammur into the wealthy and powerful Sturlungar family of the Icelandic Commonwealth, in 1179. His parents were Sturla Þórðarson the elder of Hvammur and his second wife, Guðný Böðvarsdóttir. He had two older brothers, Þórðr Sturluson (b. 1165) and Sighvatr Sturluson (b. 1170), two sisters (Helga and Vigdís) and nine half-siblings.
He was brought up by a powerful chief, Jon Loptsson, in Odda, who seems first to have awakened in him an interest for history and poetry.
Education
Snorri received an excellent education. He attended the school of Sæmundr fróði, grandfather of Jón Loftsson.
Career
His career begins with his marriage, which made him a wealthy man; in 1206 he settled at Reykjaholt, where he constructed magnificent buildings and a bath of hewn stones, preserved to the present day, to which water was conducted from a neighbouring hot spring. He early made himself known as a poet, especially by glorifying the exploits of the contemporary Norse kings and earls; at the same time he was a learned lawyer, and from 1215 became the lOgsiigumaar, or president of the legislative assembly and supreme court of Iceland. The prominent features of his character seem to have been cunning, ambition and avarice, combined with want of courage and aversion from effort. By royal invitation he went in 1218 to Norway, where he remained a long time with the young king Haakon and his tutor Earl Skuli. When, owing to disputes between Icelandic and Norwegian merchants, Skuli thought of a military expedition to Iceland, Snorri promised to make the inhabitants submit to Haakon of their own free will. Snorri himself became the vassal or baron, of the king of Norway, and held his lands as a fief under him. On his return home Snorri sent his son to the king as a hostage, and made peace between Norway and Iceland, but his power and influence were used more for his own enrichment and aggrandizement - he was logsogumaar again from 1222 to 1232 - than for the advantage of the king. Haakon, therefore, stirred up strife between Snorri's kinsman Sturla and Snorri, who had to fly from Reykjaholt in 1236; and in 1237 he left the country and went back to Norway. Here he joined the party of Skuli, who was meditating a revolt. Learning that his cousin Sturla in Iceland had fallen in battle against Gissur, Snorri's son-in-law, Snorri, although expressly forbidden by his liege lord, returned to Iceland in 1239 and once more took possession of his property. Meanwhile Haakon, who had vanquished Skuli in 1240, sent orders to Gissur to punish Snorri for his disobedience either by capturing him and sending him back to Norway or by putting him to death. Gissur took the latter course, attacked Snorri at his residence, Reykjaholt, and slew him on the 22nd of September 1241.
Views
Quotations:
“And now, if you have anything more to ask, I can't think how you can manage it, for I've never heard anyone tell more of the story of the world. Make what use of it you can. ”
“To Odin many a soul was driven, to Odin many a rich gift given. ”
“But Loki's relations with Svadilfari were such that a while later he gave birth to a colt. ”
“Who has ever wandered through such forests, in a length of many miles, in a boundless expanse, without a path, without a goal, amid their monstrous shadows, their sacred gloom, without being filled with deep reverence for the sublime greatness of Nature above all human agency, without feeling the grandeur of the idea which forms the basis of Vidar’s essence?”
Connections
It was a marriage in 1199 between Snorri and Herdís, the daughter of Bersi Vermundarson. From her father, Snorri inherited an estate at Borg and a chieftainship. He soon acquired more property and chieftainships. The marriage succumbed to Snorri's philandering, and in 1206, he settled in Reykholt as manager of an estate there, but without Herdís.
In 1224, Snorri married Hallveig Ormsdottir (c. 1199–1241), a granddaughter of Jón Loftsson, now a widow of great means with two young sons, and made a contract of joint property ownership (or helmingafélag) with her. Their children did not survive to adulthood, but Hallveig's sons and seven of Snorri's children did live to adulthood.