High Middle Ages · Europe · Culture

1220

Snorri Sturluson travels to Norway

1220

The Icelandic chieftain and author visited the court of young Haakon IV and spent years there, drinking mead and memorizing skaldic verse. He would return home to compose the Prose Edda, the single most important source for Norse mythology and poetic craft. Without Snorri's careful transcription of oral tradition, most of what we know about Odin, Thor, and Ragnarok would be lost.