Heimskringla

Yet it is well to remember that in his own lifetime, not his natural prose, but his artificial poetry was famous throughout the North.

Snorri's greatest work is undoubtedly the Heimskringla.

Beginning with a rationalized account of the founding of Northern civilization by the ancient gods, he proceeds through heroic legend to the historical period, and follows the careers of his heroes on the throne, in eastern courts and camps, or on forays in distant lands, from the earliest times to the reign of Sverrir, who came to the throne in 1184, five years after the author's birth.

The materials at Snorri's disposal, says Magnussen, were oral tradition, written genealogical records, old songs or narrative lays, such as Tyldolf's tale of the Inglings, and Eyvind's Haloga tale, poems of court poets, that is, historic songs, which people knew by heart all from the days of Hairfair down to Snorri's own time.

The seed of cause sown in the preceding must yield its crop of effect in the succeeding reign.

This the writer of Lives of Kings must bear in mind.

And so Snorri addresses himself to writing the first pragmatic history ever penned in any Teutonic vernacular, the Heimskringla.

The evidence for Snorri's authorship of Heimskringla is not conclusive.

One of the most important sources for his adult life are the writings of Snorri Sturluson, the greatest Norse poet and chronicler of medieval times, who lived in Iceland in the late 12th and early 13th centuries.

He composed a work called the Heimskringla, which transliterates as The Circle of the World.

It was a history of the Norse kings of Norway and Sweden, and Harald features prominently in some sections.

For his time in Eastern Europe and at Constantinople, the Russian Primary Chronicle, a set of annalistic chronicles of the history of Kievan Rus' and other Norse settlements in Eastern Europe- Is useful, while for his time involved in English politics, both the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and the Bayeux Tapestry are invaluable.

In this podcast, I do love to find the links between myth and history and have done so quite often with the Norse gods, mainly with Odin and his ancestry to many of the kingdoms that still exist in Europe today.

However, to find those links, I do need to use the humanized versions of those gods with the text that Snorri Sturluson gives us in Heimskringla and his Prosa Edda, with Snorri as a Christian writing in his Christian worldview.

What he did was he minimized the power of gods to be simple mortals that had magical traits that caused other people to follow them, and then per Snorri, incorrectly worshiped them as gods.

The Book of Invasions sorta did the same thing with some of the invaders.

Yet it is well to remember that in his own lifetime, not his natural prose, but his artificial poetry was famous throughout the North.

Snorri's greatest work is undoubtedly the Heimskringla.

Beginning with a rationalized account of the founding of Northern civilization by the ancient gods, he proceeds through heroic legend to the historical period, and follows the careers of his heroes on the throne, in eastern courts and camps, or on forays in distant lands, from the earliest times to the reign of Sverrir, who came to the throne in 1184, five years after the author's birth.

The materials at Snorri's disposal, says Magnussen, were oral tradition, written genealogical records, old songs or narrative lays, such as Thiodolf's tale of the Inglings, and Eyvind's Haloga tale, poems of court poets, that is, historic songs, which people knew by heart all from the days of Herfar down to Snorri's own time.

The seed of cause sown in the preceding must yield its crop of effect in the succeeding reign.

This the writer of lives of kings must bear in mind.

And so Snorri addresses himself to writing the first pragmatic history ever penned in any Teutonic vernacular, the Heimskringla.

The evidence for Snorri's authorship of Heimskringla is not conclusive.

Sturla Sigvatsson, Snorri's nephew, made a pilgrimage to Rome and visited Germany.

And Snorri himself shows, in the opening pages of his Heimskringla, or History of the Kings of Norway, the influence of that great romantic cycle, the Matter of Troy.

Snorri Sturluson was in the fullest sense a product of his time.

The son of a turbulent and ambitious chieftain, Sturla Thordsson, of Fahm in western Iceland, he was born to a heritage of strice and avarice.

Poet he was, too, though the codified rules, the cryptic phrase, and conventional expression, which indeed bound together the words of the singers of ancient Scandinavia, must spoil his verse for us.

Yet it is well to remember that in his own lifetime, not his natural prose, but his artificial poetry was famous throughout the North.

Snorri's greatest work is undoubtedly the Heimskringla.

Beginning with a rationalized account of the founding of Northern civilization by the ancient gods, he proceeds through heroic legend to the historical period, and follows the careers of his heroes on the throne, in eastern courts and camps, or on forays in distant lands, from the earliest times to the reign of Sverrir, who came to the throne in 1184, five years after the author's birth.

"And what is the title of this marvelous work?" I asked with an affected eagerness which he must have been very blind not to see through.

"This work," replied my uncle, firing up with renewed enthusiasm, "this work is the Heimskringla of Snorre Turlesson, the most famous Icelandic author of the twelfth century.

It is the chronicle of the Norwegian princes who ruled in Iceland." "Indeed," I cried, keeping up wonderfully.

"Of course it is a German translation." "What?" sharply replied the professor.