Snorri Sturluson
Icelandic historian, poet and politician (AD 1179–1241)
Snorri Sturluson (Old Norse: [ˈsnorːe ˈsturloˌson]; Icelandic: [ˈstnɔrːɪ ˈstʏ(r)tlʏˌsɔːn]; 1179 – 23 September 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet, knight, and politician. He was elected twice as lawspeaker of the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He is commonly thought to have authored or compiled portions of the Prose Edda, which is a major source for what is today known about Norse mythology and alliterative verse, and Heimskringla, a history of the Norse kings that begins with legendary material in Ynglinga saga and moves through to early medieval Scandinavian history. For stylistic and methodological reasons, Snorri is often taken to be the author of Egil's Saga. He was assassinated in 1241 by men claiming to be agents of the King of Norway.
Biography
Early life
Snorri Sturluson was born in Hvammur í Dölum (commonly transliterated as Hvamm or Hvammr) as a member of the wealthy and powerful Sturlungar clan of the Icelandic Commonwealth, in AD 1179. His parents were Sturla Þórðarson the Elder of Hvammur (also known as Hvamm-Sturla) and his second wife, Guðný Böðvarsdóttir. He had two older brothers, Þórðr (b. 1165) and Sighvatr Sturluson (b. 1170), two sisters, Helga and Vigdís, and nine half-siblings. Snorri was raised from the age of three or four by Jón Loftsson, a relative of the Norwegian royal family, in Oddi, Iceland.
Key to his political and cultural education was his fosterage at Oddi, which resulted from a settlement regarding his father's legal dealings.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Snorri Sturluson” is icelandic historian, poet and politician (AD 1179–1241). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Snorri, Sturluson and Icelandic, not as a finished interpretation.
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The phrase “icelandic historian, poet and politician (AD 1179–1241)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q102323. VIAF identifies the subject as 89085541. The Library of Congress control number is n50000553. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1179, 1241, 1165 and 1170.
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This entry incorporates text from “Snorri Sturluson” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.