A few weeks ago, as part of my birthday celebration, we decided to take a little trip, both to rest and to visit another part of Iceland. The main reason was to try to get a little more sun, since the capital has been covered by endless gray clouds, which seem determined to keep us in perpetual darkness. On the other hand, the decision of where and how was completely the idea of A., who organized the entire journey. To my surprise, it was one of the trips within Iceland that I liked the most. Visiting Reykholt is not the typical visit to modern Iceland, the Iceland that wants to be photogenic for Instagram, the ecotourism one. No. Reykholt is witness to the origin of a culture that is founded through language, which is distinguished by documenting everything, from the stories between fights and family achievements, and the pleasure of bathing in hot springs. Today I share with you one of the reasons why, if you come to Iceland, it is important to visit Reykholt, in a nutshell: Snorri Sturluson.
1. The art of writing
Snorri Sturluson, descended from a significant lineage (the Sturluson clan), and had very few things to do, so he devoted much of his life to documenting the stories from his time. Sturluson is considered a historian, but in reality we could say that words were his art, as he had the gift of telling stories. Perhaps this today sounds like a small thing, but his writings are an important part of the puzzle pieces to understand not only Iceland, but also other European countries. Snorri wrote about mythology, about his ancestors, about kings and the history of their lineages. Thanks to him we have information about the life, ideas and legends of Icelandic society during the Middle Ages.
Snorri is thought to have written the Prosaic Edda (also known as the Snorri Edda) which tells the stories we know about Norse mythology; in addition the Saga of Egil Skallagrimsson is attributed to him, considered one of the best Icelandic Sagas (by its literary aspect). Snorri is the author of Heimskringla or "Circle of the world", which are the stories about the kings of Norway and Sweden. The stories in all these sagas start from an oral tradition, between legends and myths that, like all great stories, are based on reality and sweetened with a good dose of fiction. Today it is known that they are not entirely factual, but they have been supplemented with other information collected, documents of the time, as well as with archeological studies that give us an understanding of what the life of these societies was. The interesting thing, is that Snorri knew perfectly well that some of the stories, although incredible, could be false and be part of a collective imagination. This does not mean that they are no longer important. In the preface to Heimskringla Snorri tells us:
“In this book I have had old stories written down, as I have heard them told by intelligent people, concerning chiefs who have have held dominion in the northern countries, and who spoke the Danish tongue; and also concerning some of their family branches, according to what has been told me. Some of this is found in ancient family registers, in which the pedigrees of kings and other personages of high birth are reckoned up, and part is written down after old songs and ballads which our forefathers had for their amusement. Now, although we cannot just say what truth there may be in these, yet we have the certainty that old and wise men held them to be true.”
2. The Jacuzzi as a public space
Not only was he a great poet, he also stood out in his role as a man of law in front of the parliament or Alþingi. Snorri was invited by the Norwegian royalty to visit them, being welcomed by King Haakon IV, a.k.a "The Old Man" (who was then a teenager), giving him a ship. For his part, Snorri, in gratitude, writes him a poem. Sturluson traveled to Norway a couple of times, but he established his home in Reykholt. There he built what he describes as a small fortress. On the outskirts, there was a small thermal water, which Snorri used to bathe in, which is perhaps the oldest used for these purposes by the Icelanders. Such was his love of getting into the warm water that he designed a tunnel to go directly from his home to the Jacuzzi created by nature. There he used to bathe accompanied by his guests to talk about politics and other public issues. As a curious fact, at present, Icelanders - especially the elderly - like to go to public spas, where there are precisely jacuzzis, these being an important part of their socializing spaces. Snorri's pool was recently restored, evidently, the reconstruction was made from those described by Sturluson, so it is likely that the place was relatively different. It is worth mentioning that you shouldn’t enter the pool since, on one hand, you can annoy those in charge of maintaining the historical space, and on the other, because the temperature of the water contained in it fluctuates to such a degree that it can result in serious burns.
3. To Norway, with love
Snorri's writings are as important to Icelanders as they are to Norwegians, since, as I have described above, he collected information about the lineage of the kings and the histories of that territory. But the story did not stop there. Snorri was appointed a baron by Skule Bårdsson, who wanted to dethrone "The Old Man", securing an alliance and sowing discord within the Icelandic parliament to join the Norwegian dominions, under the possible mandate of Bårdsson. Many, many years later, to be exact in 1947, Norway would honor the importance that Snorri had for its own history with a picturesque statue of the historian, which was gifted to Iceland, which is a replica of a statue that lies in Bergen. And you have to understand one very important thing, Norway would not be the same without Snorri's contributions, since the romantic ideals of Norwegian nationalism (expressed during 1840 to 1867) were founded on nostalgia based on Heimskringla, to encourage the feeling of independence of the nation, separated from the ties that unite them with Denmark and Sweden. We already deviated, let's go back to our story. Snorri's intentions were not well received back at the Alþingi. So this is when Snorri's ties begin to get complicated, who little by little, dug his own grave.
4. From pen to sword
Snorri's power was frowned upon by his own family, the Sturlungar, opposing Snorri's purposes. Here began a conflict in Icelandic territory, which Haakon tried to mitigate from a distance. On the other hand, Snorri returned to Norway, at a time when Haakon and Skule were already having their own conflicts (as I have mentioned, Skule was trying to become king). King Haakon forbids Snorri from leaving Norway, once the historian shows signs of his nefarious plans, especially for wanting to return to Iceland. Snorri disobeys, returns to Reykholt and continues with his affairs for a time. After the assassination of Skule, "The Old Man", like all vengeful king and consistent with his time, decides that it is better to be safe than sorry, and sends a statement to Icelandic land to kill or capture Snorri. And so the end of this story ends where it started: Reykholt. Right in his own residence, he was surprised, his last words being "Don't chop my head off!"
In Reykholt is the Museum of Snorri or Snorrastofa, dedicated to the writer and his work. If you have the opportunity, it is not a waste they also have an interesting selection of texts about Iceland, available mainly in English, to learn about this and many other topics.
