Song of the Vikings
Book Review – Song of the Vikings: Snorri and the Making of Norse Myths by Nancy Marie Brown, New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.
With our planned tour of Iceland in June led by Nancy Marie Brown, I was drawn to reread her book, Song of the Vikings. She used many diverse and obscure sources to write this story of Snorri Sturluson, a story that portrays him as a fat and indulgent Icelander whose life goal was to be rich and respected. Early in this story his return trip to Iceland from Norway was on a ship given him by a Norwegian Earl for his writing of a poem of praise, and he was given the title of Baron given him by the king of Norway. Home in Iceland the people valued being free of a king so he was ridiculed for his title and accused of treason and selling out to Norway. Snorri though, in a continued struggle for power, became revered as Iceland’s most important poet and writer, revered over the world for his mythological writings: The Prose Edda, Heimskringla or the Lives of the Norse Kings, and The Egil’s Saga, stories of gods, heroes and kings.
As a psychologist I have found the Prose Edda a beautiful map for the journey to overcome the tormentors of obsessive worry (Fenrir), fear (Jormungand), and guilt (Hel), a map described in my unpublished manuscript, Loki’s Children. Also, the Lost Edda of the Vanir, found in my book Baldr’s Magic, describes what life could be like in the coming New Age with the return of the Goddesses and Gods of the Vanir and the innocent Baldr. With Brown’s description of Heimskringla I have moved it from its place on a shelf to my stack of books to be read along with rereading Egil’s Saga.
In Snorri’s Prose Edda, in the creation of Earth Surt from the burning South came to melt the ice of the North, an image of the volcanic nature of Iceland unlike volcano-free Scandinavia, the home of the earlier orally passed stories of the gods and goddesses. The Scandinavian stories venerate first the strength of Thor, though the Prose Edda puts Odin at top of the pyramid of deities, a god of aristocrats. Song of the Vikings reviews a number of the Sagas and examines earlier rune engravings, images, and poems composed with kennings that required knowledge of the ancient Nordic myths thus validating the existence of these stories in the earlier era when the myths were passed orally. But there are also many elements of these stories of Thor and Utgard-Loki, of Baldr’s death and the final battle, the lay of Hymir, and others that are clearly Snorri’s own creation.
With Brown’s described conflicts between the Icelandic chieftains, peace was often attained by fostering children to other chieftains thus forming a close bond between families. At a young age Snorri was fostered to the uncrowned king/chieftain Jon Loftsson and grew up on his estate of Oddi. Jon was of royal blood with his mother being an illegitimate daughter of a Norwegian King. Snorri, living on Jon’s estate with its several churches, was educated by priests, though he did not seem versed in Latin as he wrote exclusively in Icelandic.
Snorri’s marriages for inheritances, wealth and property took him from Oddi to Borg and then to Reykholt with his great and diverse income coming from tenant farmers, driftwood, cattle, sheep, iron bogs, fishing and grazing rights. These moves also added to his chieftainships. His fame was in his ability to wheel and deal to increase his wealth. I am eager to visit and experience in ecstatic trance Snorri’s estate at Reykholt on our tour of Iceland. Egil accumulated wealth at Borg before his estate was inherited by Snorri, a saga that parallels Snorri’s own story and may to more about him than Egil. Snorri though, unlike Egil, was not a fighter. He found ways through legalities and negotiations to avoid a fight. In 1216 Snorri attained the respected status of Lawspeaker at the Althing, but over the years he also made enemies.
The stories of the Prose Edda in ways reflect the life of Snorri. Neither Odin nor Snorri ever had enough. They always wanted more. Both were impulsive, proud, hospitable, rich but greedy, and not fighters. By the age of 40 Snorri held more power than any before him, holding seven chieftaincies with the ability to call thousands of men to his defense. The raiding Viking voyages along the coastal countries of Europe brought Snorri great wealth in gold, jewels, silver, and weapons, wealth that he would give away at his feasts.
Iceland stood separate from the Catholic Bishopric of Norway in that the Icelanders did not prevent Chieftains from becoming priests and the clergy were not exempt from Icelandic laws though they had the power to excommunicate. Snorri being Lawspeaker put him at the center of these conflicts in his attempts to bring certain clergymen under the rule of law, though in his way of negotiating he found ways around these conflicts. In 1218 Snorri took leave of his responsibilities as Chieftain and Lawspeaker to travel to Norway, returning home in 1220. In his travels he collected much of the history and stories of the kings of Norway that make up his Heimskringla.
Snorri’s writing of skaldic poems is described in some detail, of the nature of the fixed rhythm pleasing to the ear and the opaqueness of three kinds of riddle-like kennings. These poems were thought of as enjoyable propaganda in the courts of the Kings and while sitting around the skaldic fires, but they were not to be used in the Althing deliberations. Yet no man was considered learned who was not also a poet. Inconsistencies in the sequences of events in the Prose Edda were noted as a problem, but with my study and love for the myths I recognize that myths are free of time and place as are our nighttime dreams.
Snorri continued compiling his strength and wealth by gaining more chieftainships through the marriage of his sons and daughters, inheritances, continued battles, estate burnings, and deaths, but as it turns out his three living sons-in-law are the ones who eventually kill him. His position as Lawspeaker lasted until 1231. He was the most powerful Icelander of the North, West and South, three-quarters of the island. But at the Althing of 1229 he stayed in his booth with the recurring skin disease erysipelas that turned his cheeks the color of orange peel. His refusal to give his grown son his rightful inheritance was an example of his critical flaw: greed. He was good at amassing wealth but incapable of sharing it, a person who sounds much like our current uncrowned king of the United States.
By 1232 battles and the end of marriages took their toll with the loss of many of Snorri’s alliances, situation’s over which he took little control and from which he ran and hid. His power and wealth rapidly deteriorated and then in 1241 his beloved Hallveig died, a death from which he did not recover. Soon his enemies came after him, and with his guard down he was murdered. Though others attempted to fill the void left by Snorri’s death, chaos prevailed and in 1262 the chieftains of Iceland swore oaths of loyalty to King Hakon of Norway, agreeing to his taxation. Pulling together bits and pieces from a number of the Icelandic sagas, Brown skillfully describes in an exciting manner the rise and fall of Snorri Sturluson.
Over the next three centuries the Icelandic manuscripts were forgotten. When they eventually resurfaced they were derogatorily described. The poetic kennings were found incomprehensible. Only in the late 1500s did some historians and literary people begin to find value in the Sagas and Eddas, in particular the history of the kings of Norway, which lead to a search to amass the ancient manuscripts. The growing respect for these Nordic stories was eventually high-jacked by nationalist Germany as a piece of their mythical heritage. But beyond this Nazi connection, many other literary people especially in England at such universities as Oxford brought these stories to life. Sir Walter Scott was inspired by the eddic stories told by the Brothers Grimm, and later they became central in the works of C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien and Wagner’s opera The Ring of the Nibelung.
The Song of the Vikings brings Snorri Sturluson to life as never before told in other writings. Much of his life was unknown until now, a life beautifully pieced together by Nancy Marie Brown.
With our planned tour of Iceland in June led by Nancy Marie Brown, I was drawn to reread her book, Song of the Vikings. She used many diverse and obscure sources to write this story of Snorri Sturluson, a story that portrays him as a fat and indulgent Icelander whose life goal was to be rich and respected. Early in this story his return trip to Iceland from Norway was on a ship given him by a Norwegian Earl for his writing of a poem of praise, and he was given the title of Baron given him by the king of Norway. Home in Iceland the people valued being free of a king so he was ridiculed for his title and accused of treason and selling out to Norway. Snorri though, in a continued struggle for power, became revered as Iceland’s most important poet and writer, revered over the world for his mythological writings: The Prose Edda, Heimskringla or the Lives of the Norse Kings, and The Egil’s Saga, stories of gods, heroes and kings.
As a psychologist I have found the Prose Edda a beautiful map for the journey to overcome the tormentors of obsessive worry (Fenrir), fear (Jormungand), and guilt (Hel), a map described in my unpublished manuscript, Loki’s Children. Also, the Lost Edda of the Vanir, found in my book Baldr’s Magic, describes what life could be like in the coming New Age with the return of the Goddesses and Gods of the Vanir and the innocent Baldr. With Brown’s description of Heimskringla I have moved it from its place on a shelf to my stack of books to be read along with rereading Egil’s Saga.
In Snorri’s Prose Edda, in the creation of Earth Surt from the burning South came to melt the ice of the North, an image of the volcanic nature of Iceland unlike volcano-free Scandinavia, the home of the earlier orally passed stories of the gods and goddesses. The Scandinavian stories venerate first the strength of Thor, though the Prose Edda puts Odin at top of the pyramid of deities, a god of aristocrats. Song of the Vikings reviews a number of the Sagas and examines earlier rune engravings, images, and poems composed with kennings that required knowledge of the ancient Nordic myths thus validating the existence of these stories in the earlier era when the myths were passed orally. But there are also many elements of these stories of Thor and Utgard-Loki, of Baldr’s death and the final battle, the lay of Hymir, and others that are clearly Snorri’s own creation.
With Brown’s described conflicts between the Icelandic chieftains, peace was often attained by fostering children to other chieftains thus forming a close bond between families. At a young age Snorri was fostered to the uncrowned king/chieftain Jon Loftsson and grew up on his estate of Oddi. Jon was of royal blood with his mother being an illegitimate daughter of a Norwegian King. Snorri, living on Jon’s estate with its several churches, was educated by priests, though he did not seem versed in Latin as he wrote exclusively in Icelandic.
Snorri’s marriages for inheritances, wealth and property took him from Oddi to Borg and then to Reykholt with his great and diverse income coming from tenant farmers, driftwood, cattle, sheep, iron bogs, fishing and grazing rights. These moves also added to his chieftainships. His fame was in his ability to wheel and deal to increase his wealth. I am eager to visit and experience in ecstatic trance Snorri’s estate at Reykholt on our tour of Iceland. Egil accumulated wealth at Borg before his estate was inherited by Snorri, a saga that parallels Snorri’s own story and may to more about him than Egil. Snorri though, unlike Egil, was not a fighter. He found ways through legalities and negotiations to avoid a fight. In 1216 Snorri attained the respected status of Lawspeaker at the Althing, but over the years he also made enemies.
The stories of the Prose Edda in ways reflect the life of Snorri. Neither Odin nor Snorri ever had enough. They always wanted more. Both were impulsive, proud, hospitable, rich but greedy, and not fighters. By the age of 40 Snorri held more power than any before him, holding seven chieftaincies with the ability to call thousands of men to his defense. The raiding Viking voyages along the coastal countries of Europe brought Snorri great wealth in gold, jewels, silver, and weapons, wealth that he would give away at his feasts.
Iceland stood separate from the Catholic Bishopric of Norway in that the Icelanders did not prevent Chieftains from becoming priests and the clergy were not exempt from Icelandic laws though they had the power to excommunicate. Snorri being Lawspeaker put him at the center of these conflicts in his attempts to bring certain clergymen under the rule of law, though in his way of negotiating he found ways around these conflicts. In 1218 Snorri took leave of his responsibilities as Chieftain and Lawspeaker to travel to Norway, returning home in 1220. In his travels he collected much of the history and stories of the kings of Norway that make up his Heimskringla.
Snorri’s writing of skaldic poems is described in some detail, of the nature of the fixed rhythm pleasing to the ear and the opaqueness of three kinds of riddle-like kennings. These poems were thought of as enjoyable propaganda in the courts of the Kings and while sitting around the skaldic fires, but they were not to be used in the Althing deliberations. Yet no man was considered learned who was not also a poet. Inconsistencies in the sequences of events in the Prose Edda were noted as a problem, but with my study and love for the myths I recognize that myths are free of time and place as are our nighttime dreams.
Snorri continued compiling his strength and wealth by gaining more chieftainships through the marriage of his sons and daughters, inheritances, continued battles, estate burnings, and deaths, but as it turns out his three living sons-in-law are the ones who eventually kill him. His position as Lawspeaker lasted until 1231. He was the most powerful Icelander of the North, West and South, three-quarters of the island. But at the Althing of 1229 he stayed in his booth with the recurring skin disease erysipelas that turned his cheeks the color of orange peel. His refusal to give his grown son his rightful inheritance was an example of his critical flaw: greed. He was good at amassing wealth but incapable of sharing it, a person who sounds much like our current uncrowned king of the United States.
By 1232 battles and the end of marriages took their toll with the loss of many of Snorri’s alliances, situation’s over which he took little control and from which he ran and hid. His power and wealth rapidly deteriorated and then in 1241 his beloved Hallveig died, a death from which he did not recover. Soon his enemies came after him, and with his guard down he was murdered. Though others attempted to fill the void left by Snorri’s death, chaos prevailed and in 1262 the chieftains of Iceland swore oaths of loyalty to King Hakon of Norway, agreeing to his taxation. Pulling together bits and pieces from a number of the Icelandic sagas, Brown skillfully describes in an exciting manner the rise and fall of Snorri Sturluson.
Over the next three centuries the Icelandic manuscripts were forgotten. When they eventually resurfaced they were derogatorily described. The poetic kennings were found incomprehensible. Only in the late 1500s did some historians and literary people begin to find value in the Sagas and Eddas, in particular the history of the kings of Norway, which lead to a search to amass the ancient manuscripts. The growing respect for these Nordic stories was eventually high-jacked by nationalist Germany as a piece of their mythical heritage. But beyond this Nazi connection, many other literary people especially in England at such universities as Oxford brought these stories to life. Sir Walter Scott was inspired by the eddic stories told by the Brothers Grimm, and later they became central in the works of C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien and Wagner’s opera The Ring of the Nibelung.
The Song of the Vikings brings Snorri Sturluson to life as never before told in other writings. Much of his life was unknown until now, a life beautifully pieced together by Nancy Marie Brown.
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