title: Heimskringla: The Chronicle Of The Kings Of Norway
author: Snorri Sturluson
description: 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 Skldskaparml, a book of poetic language, and the Httatal, 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. (wikipedia)
zlib_text: EARLY KINGS OF NORWAY.
  1
  EARLY KINGS OF
  NORWAY.
  by Thomas Carlyle
  
  EARLY KINGS OF NORWAY.
  2
   The Icelanders, in their long winter, had a great habit of writing; and
  were, and still are, excellent in penmanship, says Dahlmann. It is to this
  fact, that any little history there is of the Norse Kings and their old
  tragedies, crimes and heroisms, is almost all due. The Icelanders, it seems,
  not only made beautiful letters on their paper or parchment, but were
  laudably observant and desirous of accuracy; and have left us such a
  collection of narratives (_Sagas_, literally "Says") as, for quantity and
  quality, is unexampled among rude nations. Snorro Sturleson's History of
  the Norse Kings is built out of these old Sagas; and has in it a great deal of
  poetic fire, not a little faithful sagacity applied in sifting and adjusting
  these old Sagas; and, in a word, deserves, were it once well edited,
  furnished with accurate maps, chronological summaries, &c., to be
  reckoned among the great history-b