Snorri Sturluson 141 



Odd, the monk, and Gunnlang the monk, were authors 

 of Latin lives of the two Olafs — Olaf Tryggvason and 

 Olaf the Saint. 



Then arose the greatest figure in Icelandic literature. 

 This is Snorri Sturluson (a.d. 1178-1241). His age is, 

 in Norse history, the age of the end of the Civil War, 

 when (as we shall see in Chapter xi.) the long disputes 

 of rival dynasties were closed by the elevation of Hakon 

 Hakousson (Hakon iv.) to the Norwegian throne, and 

 the suppression of his rivals. Snorri was much in 

 Norway, and took an active part in Norwegian politics. 

 For the politics of Iceland hung close upon the politics 

 of Norway in those days ; the rival parties in the 

 northern kingdom being associated with rival parties 

 in the daughter republic. Snorri sided against Hakon 

 and with Earl Skuli, Hakon's rival. Skuli fell in 1240, 

 and, at the instigation of Hakon, Snorri was murdered 

 in Iceland the following year. This opened the way 

 for the formal annexation of the republic to the Norse 

 kingdom (see Chapter xi.). 



Snorri's great work has always been supposed to be 

 the Heimskringla Saga, one of the compilations of the 

 Kings' Lives (of which there are variants) which is 

 considered the most trustworthy. There is but small 

 external evidence to support this attribution ; but the 

 internal evidence for it is strong, and has convinced those 

 best able to form an opinion. We must consider the 

 later lives, from Olaf Tryggvason to the death of Sigurd 

 Jorsalfari (see Chapters viii.-x,), as actually Snorri's 

 work ; the earlier Sagas as abridgements only. 



The Prose Edda, which consists of three parts ; first, 

 the Gylfaginniiig (see Chapter iv.) ; secondly, the 



