12th-Century Icelandic People - Snorri Sturluson, Gu Mundur Arason, Saint Thorlak, Kolbeinn Tumason, Ari Orgilsson, J N Gmundsson (Paperback)

Chapters: Snorri Sturluson, Gu mundur Arason, Saint Thorlak, Kolbeinn Tumason, Ari orgilsson, J n gmundsson, Gissur sleifsson, J n Loftsson, Kl ngur orsteinsson, Magn s Gissurarson, P ll J nsson, Sturla Sighvatsson, orl kur Run lfsson, Magn s Einarsson. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 44. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Snorri Sturluson (1179 23 September 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was twice elected lawspeaker at the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He was the author of the Prose Edda or Younger Edda, which consists of Gylfaginning ("the fooling of Gylfi"), a narrative of Norse mythology, the Sk ldskaparm l, a book of poetic language, and the H ttatal, a list of verse forms. He was also the author of the Heimskringla, a history of the Norwegian 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 Egils saga. As a historian and mythographer, Snorri is remarkable for proposing the theory (in the Prose Edda) that mythological gods begin as human war leaders and kings whose funeral sites develop cults (see euhemerism). As people call upon the dead war leader as they go to battle, or the dead king as they face tribal hardship, they begin to venerate the figure. Eventually, the king or warrior is remembered only as a god. He also proposed that as tribes defeat others, they explain their victory by proposing that their own gods were in battle with the gods of the others. Snorri Sturluson was born into the wealthy and powerful Sturlungar family of the Icelandic Commonwealth, in 1179. His parents were Sturla r arson of Hvamm and Gu n B varsd ttir. He had two older brothers, r r Sturluson (the olde...More: http: //booksllc.net/?id=23408931